When Daniel Diaz was 13, he began showing up after school at a new community space his older brother had discovered two blocks from their home in Jocotenango, Guatemala. There, he stepped off the street into a bright and colorful sanctuary where he found help with his schoolwork, exposure to a variety of arts and sports, and a safe place to learn and laugh with other children.

At the time, Los Patojos, just two years old, was held in the garage of Juan Pablo Romero Fuentes’s family home. Now known as El Patojismo, the community center has since grown from an enrichment center into an accredited school and vocational training center that also offers meals, enrichment activities, sports and health care. It continues to provide children an escape from the gangs, drugs and violence all too common in that area, as it did for Daniel when he started attending in 2008. 

“It was a better place than the public school,” Daniel said through a translator. “I had more support from the teachers in Los Patojos than the public school. In Los Patojos the teachers were like friends that made us feel more comfortable and confident.”

In 2015, UNICEF Ambassador and actor Michael Sheen called Guatemala “one of the worst places for children” after decades of civil war that had normalized violence. The murder rate of children was second only to El Salvador. But in Jocotenango, one small spot of the country’s highlands, all of that was starting to change thanks to community leader Juan Pablo.

“Juan Pablo invited me to go to Los Patojos all week to improve my studies, and he invited me to learn more things, like culture, linguistics,” Daniel said. 

Juan Pablo recalled “Danny” and his friends arriving after school for lunch. “They stayed all the afternoon and almost the nights, from Monday to the weekend,” Juan Pablo said. “These kids loved the place, and they created the juggling program.”

Although Danny was shy as a child, Juan Pablo remembers him being very smart and eager to take advantage of the opportunities at Los Patojos. Through them, he began to develop faith in himself, in others, and in his possibilities.

“He was one of the best kids we had in terms of discipline, respect, love,” Juan Pablo said. “During these years that he was part of our program, his social skills developed. He learned to have more confidence in himself through the arts. Back home he was having problems; he was not able to talk, but he found how to express himself through juggling, art, theater, photography. He was able to express and channel the energy and pain and sadness he was having as a young kid back home.”

Daniel became a master juggler, performing in festivals, schools and shows around the city. His transformation made him a role model and inspiration for other children. 

“He was very successful at art and juggling skills, which require discipline, training and time,” Juan Pablo said. “So this was a kid who came from pretty much silence to a lot of public attention. He became very self confident, and I believe that because of these years, Danny evolved from a very shy person to a very self-confident teenager and now a young man, and obviously we can see the results.”

As Daniel grew up, he worked to support other children and share what he’d learned in his studies, his art, and the moral values Los Patojos had taught him. 

Follow your dream

Juan Pablo inspired Daniel and the other children to follow their dreams, even as his own ambitious vision to heal the country he loved was taking shape around them.

Only 81.5% of Guatemala’s population is literate, with even lower rates in the Guatemalan Highlands, which includes Jocotenango. Although education is technically free, the government devotes less than 3 percent of its annual GDP to it, and financial and transportation barriers keep many children from attending school. Juan Pablo said that most people do not complete their education beyond sixth grade, which he set out to change, starting with the creation of a safe, welcoming place for the town’s youngest children. 

“[Danny was part of] the first group of teenagers that started helping kids in a project-based learning experience that we have now as an official strategy,” Juan Pablo said, “meaning the kids were leading other kids in the streets, through the arts, sports, nonviolent activities, seeking peace and equality.”

The streets were especially dangerous during Daniel’s teenage years, Juan Pablo recalls. “When a dangerous situation happened, the next day we went there with art, to make people have a little bit of hope and to decrease the negative environment that was created the day before,” he said. “Danny and his friends were part of that social transformation, so it’s a very important thing he did for our town. He’s not just a kid who grew up, he’s part of the positive history of the entire community.”

Applying skills 

Through Los Patojos, Daniel met and found support in people like Olympic show jumper Juan Andres Rodriguez, a JustWorld Ambassador who would later play an important role in his life.

After graduating in 2016, Daniel met JustWorld Ambassador Herman Herbruger, a Guatemalan entrepreneur who was starting a new business involving personal care products, including shampoo and cosmetics. 

“[Herman] wanted to help us to get a new job, and the purpose was to have more responsibilities, where we could apply all the things we learned in Los Patojos,” Daniel said. 

After working for Herbruger for six years, Daniel reconnected with Juan Andres in 2021, and accepted a job offer at his Equus tack store. Daniel has lived in Guatemala City, where the store is located, ever since.

“Now [in this job], I apply all the things I learned at Los Patojos, like working hard, teamwork and how to express myself,” Daniel said. 

He is thankful for the opportunity, which he said provides well for his family, including his mother, brothers, wife and 7-year-old son. He’s also excited to continue learning.

“I didn’t know anything about the horse world, and now thanks to Juan Andres, I have learned a lot of things about horses,” he said. “I am very happy because now I can help and support my family.”

Daniel, who also travels with the tack store booth to competitions, hopes to remain in the horse world. “It’s a very interesting place,” he said.

He credits Los Patojos with giving him the confidence and skills he needed, and now, he hopes to pay it forward.

“I like to support my friends, help them to find more or new jobs, help people to find new opportunities,” he said. 

The cycle of giving back is part of Juan Pablo’s vision to rebuild the social fabric of a nation once torn apart by war one student at a time. El Patojismo provides not just education but also the confidence and support students need to sustain independent lives, continuing their educations, finding jobs, or starting businesses that build a better Guatemala.

“They always instructed me to follow my dreams and to put into practice all the things that I learned,” Daniel said. “For all of us, Los Patojos was like a second home. We can say we found our second family in Los Patojos.”

Daniel is thrilled with the development and expansion of the medical center and school, which has now graduated more than 1,000 students.

“The people now who go there have more support to reach their goals,” he said. “Now they also have vocational training and support with food for breakfast. They have more tools to learn more things, more access to technology and new methods of learning.”

Daniel said the school has a positive impact on the community, making it easier on families with children. “The parents of children don’t have to pay a lot for a good education. It's a very important thing for that community, because that place is more accessible for people who have less resources,” he said.

He believes there are many communities in need of these opportunities—and that those solutions may someday come from El Patojismo graduates. “They have an opportunity to be leaders so they can open more places like El Patojismo,” he said. “Because according to my experience, there are a lot of communities in Guatemala that need more support.”

Daniel hopes to return to the school to give back, but Juan Pablo said he’s already realizing the dream that inspired the school, of teaching young Guatemalans to discover their powers as changemakers, creating a new narrative of hope and dignity. 

“Because of the project he has a decent job, is a good citizen, and that’s the type of role model and example we are giving back to society,” Juan Pablo said. “He’s a kid who is looking for a job, constantly trying to fix problems, not involved in drugs or violence but a Jocoteco who is making his life through skills he has developed. I’m happy to know after all these years he remains strong.

“He’s part of the group of kids who have made it in life,” Juan Pablo  added. “Now they come back and give back to the community what they have learned. It’s a cycle of love, and it’s never done.”