Tallering and shout-outs

I have returned to Suchil after our 1.5 day taller (workshop) in Oaxaca City. It was a blast to see all of the other volunteers and hang out a little. We finally got to go to the Zòcalo and besides from the teacher`s revolution and no poinsettas everything looks pretty similar since I was last there in December.

While at times it felt as if time was passing really slow, after this taller I`ve realized that we`ve got not much more left - only one month! The next weeks are going to be busy as always, and I think we brought back a lot of good ideas from other vols as well.

Coming up in the next few weeks:

• Finally using a internet cafè for our tech classes
• Taking digital family portraits for fundraising
• Amaranth classes w/ women
• Working w/ older youth on the community-cultural blogs

I also want to send out a special hello to the AMIGOS International Board and staff who came to visit our community today. Hope y`all had a good time here!

Also a big thank you to all of those who have been reading my blog back home. I love getting comments, and it`s so nice to hear your support and kind words! You rock!

With warm regards,

Apoorva

What a day!

Today was probably one of the most ridiculous, crazy, exciting, and utterly confusing days yet in Suchilquitongo. Get ready for a kicker:

PART I (lighthearted, fun, and joyful!)

This morning, we took the kids from our digital photography class on a field trip to the ruins in our town. The Cerro de la Campana, as they are called, is up on top of a mountain and it takes about 45 minutes to walk there. Getting 16 kids to keep up, not break the cameras, and not kill each other is a interesting task.

The trek was pretty intense in the bright heat of the mid-morning, but the views just kept getting better and better as we got higher up. Soon, we could see all of our community and our houses looked like little toys.

The Cerro de la Campana ruins are from pre-Columbian times and this particular area was a military stronghold for the Zapotecs. There is also an enchanting tomb in the ruins, but the government has it locked and only archaeologists can enter.

In many ways, the Cerro reminded me of a rough and unrefined version of the ruins at Monte Alban. From the top of the highest ruin, you can see literally everything, and when you look down, you see all the ruins, many un-excaved. When I`m up there, all I could think about was what life was like back then, and how these ruins have in a way kept that society frozen in time. It`s very tought-provoking and yet kind of spooky at the same time.

So the kids took tons of pictures and we even found a soccer ball, so I got to play probably the only soccer game of my life on pre-Columbian ruins. The kids in our class have become so extroverted and some are simply hilarious. I will miss them a lot when we leave.

PART II (intense, crazy, and the type of event that makes you go, "What the hell just happened?")

The 2nd part of our day was something we were fearing ever since we set it up a few weeks ago. So we had been told that people were interested in coming up with a solution about the trash problem in the community. Many people burn their trash and ever since this new town president came to power, the trash truck hasn`t come to pick up trash.

So a few weeks ago, we went to talk to the Regidor de Salud (remember this guy, he plays a key role later on in the story) in the community and see if he could help us set up a meeting with community members. He said he could, and that he would call a meeting of women affiliated with the Oportunidades program in the community. (Oportunidades is a government benefits program that in my opinion is kind of sketch, but we didn`t know that then) This was the meeting that was set up for today, 6 PM.

So we were kind of scared about what we would say or do at this meeting, and we just decided we`d try to create discussion and see if community members had ideas. Well...as we head towards the Town Municipio, we start seeing women - everywhere. So apparently Oportunidades has about 600 members in the town, and about 300 decide to show up. Yes, 300. (Note to self: People always show up when you hope they don`t - Another lesson from Mexico)

We are scared out of our minds, and there is no town authority anywhere to be seen. We say hell, we gotta do something, and we begin the meeting. All 300 people crowd around us, we explain AMIGOS, what we`re doing here, and why we`re talking today. They start shouting out problems about trash, and how the town government doesn`t do anything. We try to ask them to think of solutions...things aren`t going too bad, and then the Regidor de Salud shows up...

This man is far too drunk to be speaking to 300 women, and he starts going off about crap - we have no idea what he`s talking about. Of course all the people get angry and frustrated. Then it starts raining... All of a sudden we are surrounded by women. They are everywhere.

The Regidor still keeps his drunken tirade going, and there are people shouting everywhere. Maya, Lindley, and I are speechless and scared out of our minds. What do we do?

At this moment, thank god, the Town President shows up and tells the Regidor to chill out. Things get a little normal, and finally we decide to only meet with the representatives from each barrio, 12 people instead of 300. The prez tells everyone else that the meeting is over.

Here`s where things began to change. We walk into the community meeting room with the President and the 12-14 women representatives, and soon the discussion comes to the fact that more public education on trash is necessary and a truck is also needed to pick up the trash.

After many long minutes of discussion, the President busts out a paper and writes down the days Monday-Friday. They begin to discuss which days will be what trash. (This is good, we`re getting somewhere) After more deliberation, it`s confirmed that starting next Monday, a trash truck will come to the community and pick up plastics, then metals, then glass products, and so on, day by day.

If this actually happens, I will be amazed and very proud of ourselves. There hasn`t been a trash truck that has come through this community for 1.5 years!! Somehow, someway, we got through it, and we may have actually helped start the clean-up of this community. I`m going to be skeptical until Monday, though.

FIN

P.S. Tomorrow we go to Oaxaca City for a Taller until Friday evening, and we`re gonna get a chance to hang out with the other vols and relax! (I`m excited to see everyone!!)

I`ll post pictures soon of the Cerro de la Campana. Unfortunately, I do not have pictures of the mass of women who surrounded us and the borracho Regidor de Salud.


What a day, indeed...

A little disappointment...

Well you know they say "mo money`, mo`problems," and I guess if that`s true, this community`s gonna have one less problem. Unfortunately, our grant application didn`t get passed on for consideration. Yeah it sucks a little, but it`s a good lesson learned and I don`t think it`s totally our fault. I thought we wrote a pretty damn good proposal.

I am looking forward to the mini-midterm on Thursday. It`ll be nice to see some other Amigos and just chill in the city. It`s been a pretty boring and uneventful weekend otherwise. The Presidential Elections here went pretty chill, and I think the race is still too close to call. I`ve had enough protesting for one summer, so I`ll be very happy if this is over with pretty quickly.

Apparently, the teachers have no plan to stop their strike anytime soon. Kinda screws up our whole use of computer lab in the school plan.

But things will get better, they always do. A good lesson on patience I`ve had this week!

With love,
Apoorva

Foundation Grant Application...turned in!

A great way to end the week, we finally turned in the application for the AMIGOS Foundation Grant. So far, we have received good comments about it, and we`ll find out if we get the grant sometime soon, hopefully.

Here`s some interesting facts about our application:

Name of project: The Renovation and Rebirth of La Casa de Cultura

What we`ll do with the money: Buy material resources (sewing machine, stove, cd player, tables, etc.) for classes held at the Casa. We believe these purchases will support the community`s interests in preserving their historical and cultural traditions. Santiago Suchilquitongo is an increasingly fragmenting community, and the classes the Casa provides serve as a way to unite citizens, empower women, and create new youth leaders.
All of the classes are taught and led by either women or young people my age. It`s an amazing thing.

We are also planning to integrate technology by having kids take digital photos of the classes and its participants as a way to decorate the Casa. We also want to work with the youth to create a Casa de Cultura blog/website with podcasts, pictures, folklore, etc.

Ciao!

Amazing photographers

During our morning class today, we gave the kids the opportunity to take digital photos with the camera Ross brought to us yesterday.

Here are our students:

First, we explained the rules to them:

1) Always wear the camera strap around your wrist
2) Take turns taking pictures - one at a time
3) Always turn the camera off when not using it
4) If you catch someone not obeying one of the above rules, call them out!

It was hilarious, they figured out the camera almost right away and policed themselves about all of the rules and about whose turn it was. Soon, they were outside taking pictures at a whim of everything imaginable.

Kids learn technology so fast, and it`s amazing how much inherent understanding they have about taking pictures and following the rules. While some pictures were just goofy: a picture of their bikes, of trees, etc., some were kind of amazing.

This was taken by one of the kids:

This one too (the guy on the moto was going fast too):

Not bad for just the first day! I`m impressed - a great way to end a hard week.

Challenges and progress...

There has been a lot that has happened since my last post. Times have been tough and hectic, but rewarding. Working with the Municipality of Santiago Suchilquitongo is absolutely ridiculous and we still haven`t met the town president. Pretty much everything in this town moves very slowly, and although that`s perfectly normal and expected, it`s hell when you have a four-page AMIGOS Foundation Grant application due in three days.

Because of our time constraints, the teacher`s strike which means we can`t use the school computer labs, and previous attendance troubles for our classes (7 kids showed up to class this morning and yesterday - that is encouraging), we have all been pretty stressed.

However, our supervisor Ross (of Paraburger in Cheesedise fame) came yesterday, and talking to him helped us out a lot. We needed someone with an outside perspective to talk (and vent) to and get advice from. And today, we finally finished the whole grant application and are pretty much ready to turn it in. We`ll find out if we get it in the next two weeks.

All of these things happening all at once is challenging personally, for our partnership, and certainly for community members not used to dealing with three crazies like us. Getting the grant would certainly be the best reward, but in either way, we`ve learned a lot.

I can`t wait to watch some football and relax this weekend!

Love,
Apoorva

Exciting update!

So after yesterday`s not so productive classes, mis parejas and I got a chance to meet with the Casa de Cultura parents group and comite. We introduced ourselves to the parents and then observed as they spent 3 hours (literally) talking about the Casa and the student fees.

However, it was good because my host mom (the director of the Casa) explained to the parents that we weren`t comfortable with giving English classes. I`m very, very happy she addressed our concerns and understands that we aren`t here to teach English. Now we will be able to focus our classes on technology, youth leadership, and the `rescue` of the Casa.

The 2nd meeting of the night, with the comite, went amazingly well. We explained the AMIGOS Foundation grant to them, and they seemed to understand almost immediately. They decided that the best direction would be to request the grant for a `Renovation and Rescue of the Casa de Cultura.` They even started throwing out prices of different materials they need and began a pseudo-budget! I`m going to explain our application even more in a later post.

I think this is a great idea, and will probably be more realistic and sustainable than a Tourism Center. We are going to start working on the Grant Application tonight so we can turn it in before the 30th...Friday!

We have classes in a few minutes, let`s hope people show up!