“In a subtly powerful moment towards the end of Granito, we are allowed to share an intimate moment with a Mayan compañero as he rests against a tree in his mountain stand post. He tells us why he is there, why he chose to join la lucha. We learn that “granito” is a Mayan concept in that each of us has a tiny grain of sand – a tiny granito – to contribute to positive social change. As Pamela later said of her work to bring justice to Guatemala: “I alone can’t change things, but I have my tiny grain of sand to contribute. Granito the film is meant to inspire the next generation…what is my granito? What can I do for positive social change?””

The above excerpt is from a recent blog post by Philanthropiece’s Director of Programs, Katie Doyle Myers, about the documentary film Granito. The full post can be found on The Righters blog here.  Philanthropiece is thrilled to be a part of bringing Granito to the Boulder International Film Festival 2012 as part of the Call 2 Action program.  This film “is a story of destinies joined by Guatemala’s past, and how a documentary film intertwined with a nation’s turbulent history emerges as an active player in the present.”

Please join us at BIFF on Friday, February 17th, at 10am at the Boulder Theater for the Boulder Premiere of Granito.  We will have a follow up discussion in the Call 2 Action tent, on the Pearl Street Mall immediately afterwords.  We would love to hear what you thought of the film and what your granito is.

YGL at the Holiday World Market!

August was a month of health, heat, and shade! We tackled the Rural Health Promotion Program despite the worsening heat.  No surprise that the most consistent expressed need is for dehydration treatment, and information on how to keep from becoming dehydrated.  Thankfully, we finished building a palm-frond porch/shade on my own place that made a great difference in my own personal comfort, and attempt at keeping hydrated.

My girlfriend Diana, a nurse from Australia, arrived fresh off a three month tour of South America and was a great help in gathering information on the health programs in the lagoon, and in beginning to design mini health “courses” that will be given under the direction and organization of the local health coordinators.  These courses will include topics such as basic first-aid and CPR, dehydration, poisonous insect and animal bites, exercise, etc.

We traveled to Santa Rosalia to visit the hospital, which is the closest hospital to the lagoon (two hours away), and were able to speak with the director of all the hospitals in the area.  He provided great information on the ongoing rural health programs that are in the area, including a number of fully equipped trucks that visit the isolated ranchos about three times a month.  These trucks are staffed with a driver/promoter, doctor, nurse, and sometimes a dentist.  It would be a great opportunity to go on a ride-along with one of these trucks, and we hope to do so.

We were also able to introduce ourselves to the people at the Cruz Roja Mexicana (Red Cross) in Santa Rosalia. They too offered help, support, and any materials they may have at their disposal.  Both the hospital director and the Red Cross were very excited to hear about Philanthropiece’s health efforts here in the lagoon.  The lagoon is so isolated that it is very difficult to have consistent health care.  In the case of an emergency, one must travel the two hours to Santa Rosalia, or the six hours to La Paz which has a much larger and better equipped hospital.  Many people seem to forgo Santa Rosalia and head straight to La Paz for serious medical attention.

The government does provide twenty health consultations a week here in the lagoon, free of cost, at la Casa de Salud. In August, the health team came as scheduled, every Thursday.  What the team offers is minimal, yet sufficient.  The pharmacy appears to be stocked with enough medicines for the most common ailments: flu, cold, dehydration, parasites, and gastro intestine infection.

A Mexican couple, a paramedic and a nurse from the Mexican Marine’s just moved to the lagoon as well.  Through their contacts throughout the country, they are working hard to secure an ambulance for the lagoon.  They are also excited to be working with Azalia and Yvon, the health coordinators here, on the mini health courses that will begin in early October.

Despite the relentless heat and sun, we were able to start an informal “Summer Club” that consisted of anywhere from two to eight kids who remained in the lagoon for summer vacation.  Bingo was a big hit, despite the kids not knowing what Bingo actually was, only that you get to yell BINGO! when you win.  It turns out, they did in fact know what Bingo was, but it is called Lotería and you yell BUENA!. Regardless, the kids loved the hand drawn photos Diana painstakingly drew while battling the scorching heat of Santa Rosalia.   The most common question was, “is this the spoon, or is this the spoon?”.  We played a lot of baseball.  The no-slide rule doesn’t   seem to keep anyone from diving face-first into the bases, despite the rocks and sticks we use for bases; nor does the backhoe that has stood between 3^rd and home all summer.  The Beach Day had the largest turn out.  As expected, it was nearly impossible to convince the kids to leave.  We finally left with a bag of fresh scallops and handfuls of seashells the kids “found” for us.  We learned how important it is to check the shells more thoroughly for living creatures, as the next day we found two hot, shell-less, hermit crabs crawling around the porch…. Don’t worry, we gave them a ride back to the beach.

The most difficult thing these days, is finding ways to explain to the kids, who stop by throughout the day, why we can only go to the beach once a day….  That, and staying sane in the relentless summer heat (and hydrated, of course).

Chris Cottle is the newest member of the Philanthropiece team and has been working as the Community Liaison in Laguna San Ignacio, Baja, Mexico, since June 2011.  Chris is looking forward to using his Masters degree in International Development, his extensive background working on development issues, and passion for international development to the communities of La Laguna.  He will be focusing in the areas of small business loans, Community Banks, environmental education, rural health promotion, appropriate technologies, and English language lessons, just to start.

July was highlighted by a visit from my mom to the lagoon.   This is one of the few places I have ever been where words and pictures truly do no justice, so it was great to have her here and to see and witness all that is daily life in LSI.   In just over a week she had a full dose of life in the lagoon, and immediately felt the welcoming and generous nature of the people here.   I think the local loan coordinator in El Datil, Minerva, indirectly (directly?) assured my mom that I am in good hands here when Minerva told me to shave my moustache and cut my hair…, then gave us an entire shark for shark tacos (it was a small shark, but large enough to give half away and have three shark-meals for two….).   Clearly mothers know best, regardless of nationality, when it comes to appearance and food….

The only advice I could give my mom in preparation before she came was, “Ignore the heat, forget about staying cool, embrace the sweat”.  I think it worked.  But, with July and August came the heat in earnest.  Days when the temperature inside what I lovingly call The Shack (where I live), regularly reach 110° F, 42° C, are now the norm, and force me to put my own advice to the test.   The clouds that would bring an always appreciated shade or shower sit tauntingly over the Sierras in the too-far distance.  The sand streets are blaringly empty thanks to summer vacation, the heat, and the dust-filled wind.

But with the sun and wind comes electricity!  The communities of the lagoon are not connected to any source of electricity, running water, sewer lines, phone lines, or trash services.  The electricity comes from small wind turbines or, more commonly, from personal solar systems (I am learning a lot about solar system maintenance and just how long into the hot night I can run a fan on my little solar system…).  Washing water comes from a desalination plant that uses water from the lagoon (from which you then fill up your own barrels to bring home), while drinking water is trucked in from San Ignacio (about an hour away over a partially paved, partially sand, partially salt-flat, partially washboard dirt road).  Latrines leave little to the imagination of where human waste comes from, or where it goes.   You take your personally produced garbage to the dump and, under advice from all, set it on fire.

The small “systems” of Western life, which are so easy to take advantage of, or to forget about entirely, are in full view here in the lagoon.  Even where, and when, food comes from is on full display.   Scallop season recently began, and trucks full of scallops (still in shell) “clog” the streets on their way to the many cleaning-stations that seem to have popped up over night.  The piles of empty scallop shells in the desert seem to be multiplying daily.

The price difference between fruits and veggies, which don’t grow here, and the price of fresh scallops, which you can find on the beach at low tide, is a telling example of the connectedness between environment and person.  A kilo of avocados, about 4, from the tienda is $74.00 pesos.   A kilo of scallops, about half a grocery bag, direct from the fishermen is just over $100.00 pesos.   And, if you show enough interest, they will proudly give you some straight from the shell to eat on the spot so they can see on your face just how good and fresh they are.  One must be smart with their money in a situation such as this- eight avocados?  Or half a grocery bag of fresh scallops?   This all makes me quite excited for lobster season in October…!

Life is just a little harder here, even for the dogs.   A recent baseball game with a handful of 11 year olds was interrupted by the death of the family dog of one of my teammates, apparently of natural causes.   I did everything I could to keep the game alive, opposed to running over to see the dog, named Yum, and helping to “carry it into the field”.  As soon as we arrived, the kids produced a rope and began to tie the rope around the dog to drag it into the monte, all the while asking why I wasn’t helping.  I stood uncomfortably on the outskirts of the group a bit unsure of how to feel or act.   The lack of emotion and ceremony expressed by these kids was another stark realization of the truncated circles of life here in the lagoon.   After watching all these little kids struggling to drag the dog away, I finally had to help, and the game resumed a half hour later.  The girl whose dog it was managed to hit surprisingly well, while I managed to strike out against a 10 year old pitcher.

All of these systems are on full display here in LSI.   You see, and are an intimate part of all aspects of these systems, A to Z.  It is impossible not to feel both connected, and slightly at odds with them all.   When they work, it is perfect harmony; when one part of any of them fail, it‘s hard not to feel like you are on the losing end of a battle when the other side knows all your weaknesses (water, food, electricity).
I will be the first to admit, at “home”, I had little knowledge about these systems of everyday life, but it has been great getting to know where all of these things come from, and where they go.   There is an art to life here, an art to being happy and an art to mastering all these important life-systems.

Chris Cottle is the newest member of the Philanthropiece team and has been working as the Community Liaison in Laguna San Ignacio, Baja, Mexico, since June 2011.  Chris is looking forward to using his Masters degree in International Development, his extensive background working on development issues, and passion for international development to the communities of La Laguna.  He will be focusing in the areas of small business loans, Community Banks, environmental education, rural health promotion, appropriate technologies, and English language lessons, just to start.

After a very positive experience in the 2010-11 school year, I am excited to continue supporting, along with my 8th-grade Spanish 2 students, the education of Jeremías, a student from Chajul, Guatemala.  Our collaboration with Limitless Horizons Ixil (Philanthropiece’s partner in Chajul) is a great example of kids rallying to help other kids.  With a little guidance, 8th graders can make a positive impact on the life and future of others.

The 8th-grade year is an important time developmentally, when Summit students start to develop what I might call a social conscience—an awareness, extending beyond their immediate experience, of people and life, with all of its inequalities and injustices.  8th-graders crave real-world experiences in their education and the chance to make a difference, addressing the global issues that they are just beginning to grasp.  As much as 8th-graders want to make in difference globally, the reality is that the chances to do so in the classroom are few and far between.  Thus, after learning about life in Chajul, Guatemala and the many challenges faced by those who live there, the opportunity to help provide Jeremías with a scholarship was met with resounding approval.  With the participation of every student, my classes held three very successful bake sales and managed to help Jeremías attend high school.  Not only has our collaboration with LHI allowed Summit 8th-graders to make a concrete difference in the life of a Guatemalan kid, but the letters, drawings and, most of all, the video from Jeremías have enriched the experience, allowing my students to come to know the student that they support.  After viewing the video in which Jeremías introduces himself to my students, one of my students, Annie Janda, suggested that we should make a video for Jeremías.  I took her up on the idea and she put together a short video describing the life of a Summit Middle School student.  My hope is that Jeremías will get a chance to view this movie and we’ll look forward to hearing more from him throughout the school year.

I lived in the Valle del Chota town of Ambuqui as a Peace Corps Volunteer between the years of 2005-2007. This is when “La Selección de Ecuador” was electrifying soccer pride to an unprecedented level for their country. This was when foreigners were asking what African nation Ecuador belonged to. This was also when I was teaching English in six different schools in the Valle del Chota and I was able to witness what soccer truly meant to this area. Soccer is a sport that brings the community together. Wives, husbands, grandparents, children, vendors, and even the local dogs participate in the culture of weekend soccer matches. The definition of passion does not do justice to what soccer really means to a community like this. Soccer is not a way of life, it is life. For example, a typical punishment to a student would be to say, “No soccer at recess,” or “I will take your soccer ball away.” While these techniques work to transform children’s behavior, everybody knows that it would be considered sacrilegious to actually follow through with the threat.

In the midst of my Peace Corps tenure, I was fortunate to witness Ecuadorian soccer-fervor on the international level. Thanks to a sports-fanatic brother who gave me the amazing opportunity, I traveled to the 2006 World Cup in Germany.  With nine out of eleven of the starters on the Ecuadorian team of African descent, the question posed round the World Cup venues was: “Wow, what part of Africa are those Ecuadorians from?” I was blown away by the misconceptions surrounding the country I had grown to love and respect.  Here, I was in Germany with people from all corners of the globe, and I had an insider perspective due to my unique experience as an American living as a current resident of the Valle de Chota.  Daily, I experienced the life of an Afro-Ecuadorian, and it was astonishing to witness how the world was viewing these “African” people. What these people weren’t seeing was that the people of the Valle de Chota – including the spectacular soccer players – come from poor, rural communities, from a people who have faced centuries of oppression and racial discrimination.

DreamTown has the awesome potential to create an awareness of the Afro-Ecuadorian people of the Valle de Chota, as well as to provide a greater understanding of marginalized people everywhere.  This story – and stories like this – need to be told.  DreamTown can expose the truth about the success of a few professional Ecuadorian soccer players…and more importantly, it can reveal the story of the reality of a typical soccer player from the Valle de Chota.  The fact still remains the same: poverty is rampant and soccer is an outlet for rising above it.  The Afro-Ecuadorian soccer professionals are an inspiration for the Valle de Chota, they are an inspiration for their entire country…and DreamTown will allow their story to inspire the world. As the locals always say, “Sí, se puede!”

As another school year is right around the corner, I’m looking forward to renewing the pen-pal exchange between 8^th-grade Spanish students at Summit Middle School and students in Laguna San Ignacio.   Thanks to Philanthropiece, I am able to provide my students with opportunities for authentic exchange and connection with Spanish-speakers from outside our immediate community.

The experience of sending and receiving letters to and from a remote town in Baja is one that brings the Spanish language, it´s speakers and their culture to life in the classroom.  The bustling excitement that characterizes my students as they are reading and writing pen-pal letters is a clear indication of their enthusiasm for making real-world connections with their friends in Laguna San Ignacio.  I´m looking forward to hearing my students inquire, with nagging frequency, “¿Cuándo vamos a recibir las cartas?”, knowing that the pen-pal exchange will manage to engage all of my students,  as they put their newly acquired language skills to use.

LSI students showing off their penpal letters

The photo of the week is back, after a little summer hiatus, with what might be my new favorite photo!  (Actually, the whole Philanthropiece blog slowed down a bit this summer.  Isn’t that how things should be?  I seem to recall something about the lazy days of summer but I think the last time I experienced that  was when I was a kid).

Executive Directors, Libby and Joanie, along with Director of Programs, Katie, recently traveled to Chajul, Guatemala to check in with our on the ground partner, Limitless Horizons Ixil.   They packed a lot of extras in their suitcases, including these amazing solar light bulbs from Nokero (the N200 to be exact).   The light bulbs were a huge hit!  Pictured here are LHI staff members, Veronica, Katie and Edilma, showing off the power and intensity of the light bulb.  These bulbs are marketed to be more durable, longer lasting, with more economic value, than any other solar lantern on the market.  Both Edilma and Aracely (the Saber Sin Limites librarian) were ecstatic with the Nokero bulbs, and were ready to buy them immediately,  In fact, Edilma was pulling all-nighters for her university final exams, and used one of the bulbs for 7 hours one night!   With only 17% of Chajulense families having electricity, I am sure this is not the last of Nokero light bulbs you will see in Chajul homes!