Winds of change

This week we welcomed Hugo to the team and in a couple of weeks there will be a third member with us, our projects gain a new rhythm and the kids learn so much through their questions to the newly arrived!

Welcome Hugo!

On the other hand, we started our info sessions cycle, which did not go exactly as expected…in spite of info dissemination trough, several community meetings and spaces the truth is that the attendance was much lower than expected. On the bright side, the attendants shared many of their stories and we were surprised to notice that some women in the community are aware that girls have the same rights to study as boys, that studying is fundamental to have better opportunities and improve life standards and quality. We are negotiating with the speaker the possibility of a second info session where we would make sure, through our scholarship projects, that at least those parents would attend, this would amount to 22 parents (youngsters invited too).

What about reptiles?

The kitchen gardens projects suffered a bit of a low moment: there was a problem with the community’s water source and part of the structures had to be cleaned, so for several days they had no water for themselves, excused to say that to water their kitchen garden neither. This causes frustration and the draught killed some plants. 

 

Instructions to prepare organic insecticide

Preparing organic insecticide

Now water is back and motivation too, last Friday we had a meeting were women learned how to do organic insecticide and to discuss the future of the project. To be sustainable the only key part missing is the seed bought. We have been doing it until now and though from the second round of planting the families give a small contribution (responsibility and engagement levels as well as ownership are strengthen trough that contribution – but could they find a way to do it by themselves? The reactions were mixed, but most were afraid of that opportunity for independence. As this is brainstorming on the future we calm them down as all we want is to hear from them and, together, find the best solution. After all, sustainable development requires the projects to be as self-sufficient as possible, empowering the people as the agents of change in their own lives.

Our partnerships are moving forward and stronger and we will welcome a new member to the team in some weeks. Keep checking our blog and facebook out for the latest!

 Best from Mercedes

Guess what...

Our radio silence was due to heavy work these weeks, plus a week off for Semana Santa (21-26^th march) when the school was closed. The week before the school had just received missing school materials, the materials are delivered freely by the Government as families can’t afford to buy it. However it often happens that there is a delay, and school started around the 18^th of January whilst this so needed materials were received two months after. A lot of catching up for the students!

Easter Break!

Easter Break

On the school front we had to reduce a little our activities as we are low on staff, so until our team grows stronger we hold activities three times per week plus our weekly visits to the Kitchen Garden project and other interactions with the community.

 Sudoko, recycling and manual works, as painting and doing origami, have keept us busy on the activities front whilst we are working on getting new laptops on one hand (immediate solution), to continue our precious IT classes, and to have an IT center on its way (long term project).The kids keep on asking for the IT classes and they know we are working on it. Searching for partners, donors, projects and entities that can reach out for us have taken up a chunk of my time. We are advancing with contacts and confident to have both immediate and long-term solutions figured out very soon.

Learning the colours in english, our models?Coloured baloons hanged on the board :)

Creativity!

Sudoku and simple maths for smaller ones

 There is also news of several members joining the team for the next months and this will allow the activities to go back to its regular flow, you will get the news and pics of the newly arrived first hand.

The Kitchen Garden project has registered encouraging results and the participants are enthusiastic. We have welcomed 7 new families this month, which take us up to 15 participating families, with one candidate family we will visit next week. Our weekly visits are extended to after sundown so that from around 4 PM to 6.30 PM we can cover the maximum number of families, keeping a rotation system so at least once in two weeks every family receives a visit. This has been proven a challenge but the support is essential, and not even the inevitable mosquito attacks in the kitchen gardens after sundown can keep us from getting where we need to be. Edwin, our local technical volunteer, also shows signs of no fatigue when it comes to instruct, help and assist, it is great to count on his support!

Olga Ical's Kitchen Garden, welcome to the project!

Candelaria working on extending the Kitchen Garden space before planting

We have also identified two new grantees this month, so we are already supporting another student pursuing her studies in Diversificado (one of the only girls in the community reaching this level of education) and finalizing the procedure to assist another student who asked support to keep studying at Basico level.

This week will also be shorter as one of our co-funders and I am meeting some partners in Guatemala City, so we can advance on our partnerships and solutions, which will benefit the community in the longer term. I hope to shorty have good news on this to post.

On a last note, we had access to some interesting numbers on the last census (10.06.2015)…if you were re-directed here from our facebook post this is the end of your crusade! The communities of Nueva Mercedes and La ceiba (were we implement our projects) amount to 568 people, 106 families. Learning that our community has grown so much (our last numbers indicated 300/400 people) fills us up with energy so that our projects might reach more and more people who are interested in participating.

Li Ch'utam's Projects in the Polochic Valley

Our Projects in the Polochic

We rolled in to Nueva Mercedes last night after a few hop, skips, and jumps through the mountains. The kids ran up to the fence to welcome us back as we played soccer with the adults…5-4, I let in the last goal, but it’s more about laughs and time spent together as a community. We are happy to be back in school with the kids everyday trying to be good examples for the 1&2 grade teachers who are making class more creative and efficient… poco a poco (little by little.)  They kids don’t learn much in class, but it’s something we’re working to fix every day and show them that learning can be fun, interesting, and challenging.

They are so fun to be with when they are learning new things; their faces are so bright and amazed to see the photo they’ve just taken, or a sentence they’ve written on a computer, or play a new sport.  We’ve been very lucky so far to have such good friends passing by to meet the community and have fun on a cultural exchange.  One of our Australian friends from Mexico even decided to stay as a 1-3 grade teacher for our friends at Sepur private school a few rivers down.  Now we are working in two sites in the Polochic and have a great team of people trying to improve the local primary education. Any and all ideas can be adapted for both groups. We are happy to welcome Li Ch’utam’s next volunteers in early March. They are Northeastern students who are happy to help and practice their own style of sustainable development. As I type they are surrounding a table at Espresso Royal Café in Boston planning a week-long photography/phys ed curriculum playfully dubbed Kodaks and Crayons that will help the kids look at life through a different lens. This will be part of our after-school program for anyone who wants help with their schoolwork, wants extra work, or is just curious as to what the big fuss is all about.

This after school program is intended to help more students develop their education past the 6^th grade where the majority ends their studies each year.  Kids who wish to pursue their education and interests will have access to tutors, computers full of educational software, books, and fun projects to grow individual & community development. Any ideas about creative, interesting after school activities or curriculum would be warmly accepted and likely adapted for our curriculum if relevant, so please do send those comments to my facebook page or e-mail, kando.d@neu.edu.

 In the name of innovation and sustainable development we have been exploring with our partners at Campus Tec in the city some very interesting possibilities for educational technology. We were invited to Maria Zaghi’s Innovation class at Universidad del Valle in Guatemala City this past week. Her students were wonderful and have decided to develop an open-source software for cheap tablet pc’s that will put the nation curriculum for all Guatemalan primary school students into an interactive adventure video game that will allow students to  journey through an educational world using the touch screen tablets and pens. I’m sure they will do a great job and enjoy their experience working as a team and producing something with so much potential for replicability.  Our feet are firmly planted in the fertile soil of Nueva Mercedes where we will work with the people to develop local educated leaders, and in the name of innovation as global social entrepreneurs we’re reaching for the stars. 

Lichutam.org

Li Ch'utams vision is to promote sustainable development and poverty alleviation while improving possibilities and conditions for inhabitants through creative, community-led projects.

We are located in a mountain valley at the south-eastern part of Alta Verapaz, where the Polochic river flows through a magnificent rainforest region culminating into the the Lago Izabal (largest lake in Guatemala.) Unfortunately the potential for economic development and prosperity for the people of the region is hampered by very poor levels of infrastructure (e.g. there are no asphalt roads; water and electricity are scarcely provided) rising unemployment and very low educational standards.

Caleb Winship and I (David Kando) will be living amongst the people of Nueva Mercedes for the next 6 months where we will design and oversee the implementation of several pilot projects designed to combat poverty in this beautiful region of Alta Verapaz. 

We invite you all to follow our progress as we become part of the local community/culture and identify serious needs, obstacles, and resources available to put together sustainable projects regarding local education, agriculture, healthcare, and livelihoods.

As part of our new global exchange initiative we invite you to contact us and begin a discussion to coordinate short/long-term site visits, village guests, or volunteer experiences. As a volunteer we would be interested in program coordinators to stay for 1 year or longer or 2-month volunteers who would hold less responsibility and be essential in the implementation of projects + growth of the organization.

If you are interested in learning more you can contact us on Facebook - David Kando or Caleb Winship or send an e-mail at kando.d@neu.edu or winship.c@neu.edu.