Today, we want to introduce you to some young women who inspire and amaze us (and one awesome young man!).   They give us hope for the future of all women and girls and we celebrate them today, and everyday.

Late last year, Philanthropiece launched the Philanthropiece Scholars program in Chajul, Guatemala.  The Philanthropiece Scholars program provides outstanding high school graduates the opportunity to earn a University degree and also provides extensive job training and experience in a specific theme of sustainable, community development.    With this initative, we strive to build a knowledgeable, capable and socially conscious work force of Chajul residents who can grow and contribute to a healthy and sustainable Chajul .  The 1^st class of the Philanthropiece Scholars program consists of 4 astounding young women and 1 inspiring young man.  These students are all graduates of Limitless Horizons Ixil, our partner in Chajul, and are extremely passionate about continuing their education.

I am beyond pleased to introduce you to the 2012 Philanthropiece Scholars and their chosen focused programming areas.  In the coming weeks we will tell you more about these outstanding students:

Maria Dominga Mateo Bop: Sustainable Agriculture, with an emphasis on Primary Education.

“I want to continue my studies for a better life and to support the development of my community so that the people of Chajul no longer suffer from poverty.”

Maria Elicia Sanchez Asicona: Literacy.

“I want to help my community of Chajul and especially help the children so that they may realize their dreams.”

Josefina Imul Calel: Environment, with an emphasis on Appropriate Technology.

“I look forward to contributing to my community by continuing my education, serving as a professional, and being a positive role model for younger students.”

Lupita Pedro Tomás: Environment, with an emphasis on Health.

“My biggest dream is to graduate and pull my family out of poverty.”

Pedro Daniel Asicona Puente, NGO Management.

“I want to be a good example to the people of my village of what is possible.”

In the Philanthropiece Scholars, we recognize the critical role they play in their community and the contribution they are making to improve their lives and the lives of their community.  We are empowering them so that they may empower others.

Much of the success and momentum of the Philanthropiece Scholars program is due in no small part to Roxanne Eclevia, Philanthropiece’s Community Advocate, based in Chajul.  Roxanne is another remarkable woman who deserves to be honored on this day.   Roxanne’s tireless efforts have not only prepared the Scholars for life as University students and contributed to their personal and professional development, but has also inspired them to continuously want to learn more.

Philanthropiece Scholar, Lupita, said this after initiating her 1^st community clean-up campaign, “In the end, I realized that with much motivation and interest, I can do what I set out to do.  I achieved my goal with all of my heart.”  With all of our hearts joined together, let us celebrate the inspiring futures of the Philanthropiece Scholars and the lives of the women and girls they are sure to impact.

As a Philanthropiece Advisory Board member, I was excited to attend a Call 2 Action film at BIFF this weekend.  A program inspired by the Philanthropiece ideal of “piecing together a better world,” Call 2 Action offers concrete ways for filmgoers to turn the energy and passion inspired by films into action.

Through Philanthropiece, I have had the privilege of working with a dedicated group of individuals, committed to working towards change in our community—locally and globally.  Philanthropiece places great value on empowering individuals to work together to bring about locally-driven transformations.  All of our programming focuses on providing the resources and education needed to inspire people to make change.

I see the Call 2 Action program as a perfect example of embodying just that.

Going into Pink Ribbons, Inc, I thought I knew what I was getting myself into. The film chronicles the devastating realities of breast cancer marketing and questions where the money raised from “pink ribbon” campaigns goes and what it achieves.

The product of two “questioning” parents and a childhood in Boulder, I’ve never been one to take things as they are.  Knowing a fair amount about “pink washing”—the term used to describe the act of putting pink ribbons on products to get them to sell—already, I was anxious to put solid facts to my story.  And, while the film certainly lacked jaw-dropping power, I did leave feeling determined to make my Call 2 Action a reality.  The pre-film presenters did not provide a specific Call 2 Action checklist, so I was sure to make my own.  And, since Saturday, I’ve managed to get through half the list.

I appreciated going into the film knowing that I would be expected to act upon what I’d seen—even if that expectation was self-generated.  In fact, the power of Call 2 Action is that it relies solely on an individual’s desire to effect change—which is also why I am passionate about the work of Philanthropiece.  And while I am often someone who cares about issues, but doesn’t do all that I can about them, something about Call 2 Action has motivated me to change.

Here, I’ll leave you with my own Pink Ribbons, Inc Call 2 Action list—things YOU can do to make effect change.

1. Use your money to make a point. Question where it goes and how it is being spent.
2. Don’t buy pink ribbon products. Instead, check out this article for other ways to support Breast Cancer Research: http://www.good.is/post/give-komen-the-pink-slip-five-ways-to-support-women-s-health-for-all/
3. If you believe in the importance of finding a cause and cure to breast cancer and want to contribute, write a check to an organization that you believe in.
4. When you do contribute to this cause, if the organization receiving your money is not Komen Foundation, send a copy of your receipt to the latter. Explain why you chose NOT to give to them.
5. Visit www.ewg.org to see the hazard scores for the beauty and cleaning products you use regularly.
6. Visit thinkbeforeyoupink.org to learn more about pinkwashing.
7. Tell someone about this issue.

So, what are you passionate about? And what will be your Call 2 Action for that cause? What, ultimately, will inspire you to turn your energy into positive change?

Rachel Fuchs has been a Philanthropiece Advisory Board Member since August of 2009.  She spends her days working at Intercambio, bridging the gap between immigrant and non-immigrant communities, and her nights contemplating ways to make the world a better place.   She’s a book-lover, dance-aholic and all around fun-loving gal.

“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.