So much has been going on in the Polochic Valley ever since
Caleb and I have returned from renewing our visas. We had a chance to hit the
open road for a week or so and talk to all sorts of people about all sorts of
ideas regarding Li Ch’utam. After discussing
the project with so many people and running everything over in my head for days
on buses from Mexico City back down to Guatemala I returned to the volunteer house
in the Polochic more impassioned than ever. The timing is perfect as well,
because all of the seeds we planted in our first few careful months here are
now coming to fruition in these months before we have to say goodbye. When we
first got here all we had was a great big house on a hill that none of the
people were allowed to come into. We
started playing sports with the kids every day and then the adults invited us
to their daily soccer games. This initial connection to the people led us to
the town hall gatherings and the parent/teacher meetings where Caleb and I were
asked to help out in the 1st and 2nd grade. After 4
months in the classrooms, we both have seen great progress in the students as
well as the teachers. Not only do they show up every day to work, which was the
biggest issue in the first months, they even stayed with us after hours this
week to construct a huge float for the kids to ride in the big parade in
Teleman. A big issue in local education
is that the majority of the kids still can’t read, so the school definitely has
a ways to go before everything is A-ok, but with 3 volunteers helping out in 4
grades we are currently as effective as we have ever been in improving the
local primary schooling.
Since opening the doors of the house to the kids every
afternoon some very interesting projects have risen as they explore different
interests and activities. Our most recent project is a compost and garden in
front of the house which will give us plenty of vegetables for free cooking
classes and restaurant/movie nights. All of the kids helped us plant various
seeds in old tin cans that we poked holes in. With pulp from cleaned coffee
beans and great soil from a lombri compost the plantation provided us with the
perfect mix for our new plants. About one week has passed and the plants are
ready to be transferred directly in our garden which is sectioned off with
fallen banana trees.
It has become a tradition for Osman, Caleb
and I to take the kids to the river for a swim every weekend. It’s so hot here,
but no one really minds the long walks because we all know what’s waiting at the
end of that long dusty road…We have our own hidden swimming hole tucked into a
quiet corner of the woods. It came fully equipped with a white sandy beach, a
nice tall rock to jump off of, a clean not so strong current to play in, and 20
funny, fearless kids learning how to swim.
Osman, our newest volunteer from Guatemala,
is an artist and has brought an interesting dynamic to the house. The kids have
been painting and incorporating natural materials like rocks, leaves, and twigs
into their designs. Also on walks to the river and in the hills we collect things
like seeds from the corosso palm and rubber tree saplings to craft rings and
earrings with some tools we picked up in the neighboring town. Hopefully all of
the kids will have made their own rings by mother’s day…
The computer literacy program has been
running for close to 2 months. By now everyone is familiar with the keyboard,
knows how to handle the computers, and can find the programs they need to
practice their typing and upload/view photos they’ve taken with various
volunteers who have visited. The kids have the majority of the letters and keys
memorized (we make sure they aren’t cheating by covering their hands and
keyboards with mats) which is a huge accomplishment since most of them didn’t
know the alphabet very well before the computer classes started. This means the computer classes have helped
with basic literacy as well as giving the kids an advantage for future careers,
entrepreneurial endeavors, and the challenges posed by modern society in the
age of information and technology. There are 18 students from 1st
through 6th grade that have been attending the 2 hour classes 5
times a week for the last 2 months. Six of those students are typing close to
or above 10 words per minute while the majority is typing at 5-6 words per
minute.
Caleb and I have 2 months left with Li
Ch’utam before our Co-op with Northeastern is over. That puts us right on
schedule to maintain our pilot projects in technology, art, agriculture, and
primary education while linking our project to the national leaders in
educational reform at the Universidad del Valle convention in May and at Tech
Camp Guatemala in July. We will speak at these events with a team of local
leaders from the community (ages 13-26.) This will be a good opportunity to
transfer some of the ownership and management of Li Ch’utam over to the people
who live in the Polochic Valley. This will assure sustainability and relevance
of projects as new volunteers take over as 6-12 month consultants to the local
leaders.
We give a big thankyou and hug to all of
the people who have ever read a Li Ch’utam blog post, thought about our
project, or came down to visit and share this amazing year with us.
1 Love – Li Ch’utam 2012
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