Posts Tagged ‘Chajul’

Granito: A Call To Action

Tuesday, January 31st, 2012

Granito, BIFF, Call 2 Action, Skylight Pictures, Guatemala, Chajul“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.

Photo of the Week: YGLer Earns First Place in Art Contest

Thursday, December 15th, 2011
Last week, Philanthropiece Youth Global Leader Emily Robertson earned First Place honors at Monarch High School’s Art Contest in the photography division for this photo that she took en route to Laguna San Ignacio, Baja, Mexico. Emily is passionate about both photography and sustainable community development. She is combining her interests in her YGL Individual Growth Project, for which she is designing a program in which teen girls in Chajul create photo documentaries of their lives at the outset of their high school experience, and again upon their graduation. Emily believes that photography has the power to both share our stories and to empower us as individuals. Congratulations, Emily!

Summit Middle School 8th-graders supporting Jeremías education through Limitless Horizons Ixil (LHI)

Monday, August 29th, 2011

submitted by Stephen Goettsche, Spanish teacher at Summit Middle School

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.

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Photo of the Week: Nokero Solar Light Bulbs

Wednesday, August 10th, 2011

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 (more…)

Photo of the Week: Itsy Bitsy Spider in Chajul

Wednesday, April 13th, 2011

photo by Andy Zechnich

We recently received some photographs in the mail, and I may just have to use them for all the Photo of the Week posts because they are so good!
Where did these photos come from, you ask? From Andrew Zechnich, amazing photographer, who recently traveled to Chajul in mid-March. Two high school Spanish classes from Portland, Oregon visited Chajul to learn about the Ixil culture, Guatemalan history, and LHI’s programs. After having prepared months in advance with Joan Williams from Mundo Exchange, and coming armed with material donations, fourteen students and three adults from Catlin Gabel High Schooland Oregon Episcopal School participated in a sports afternoon with scholarship students, built a community garden at a local primary school in Vizichu, and participated in a “Fiest de Carnet” to welcome our new library members and reward current members with hopscotch, Simon Says, face painting, and the “Itsy Bitsy Spider.”
You can read more about their experiences here, and a huge thanks to Andy for sharing your awesome photos!

A Short Dictionary of Misunderstood Words: Sustainability

Monday, March 28th, 2011

A Short Dictionary of Misunderstood Words, by Kelty Davis

Following in the footsteps of my last blog post, the word I want to focus on for this entry is sustainability.  Sustainability is a bit of a buzzword at the moment in the development world and is used mainly to describe and evaluate programming objectives and overall goals.  Increasingly, there has been a shift away from traditional aid methods of just writing a check or giving large sums of cash to people or organizations in need to creating long-term, viable solutions for the communities involved.  Governments and NGOs alike are realizing the importance of not just sticking a band-aid on a problem and moving on with things and are instead attempting to critically address and resolve what caused the need for that band-aid in the first place.   This, of course, is not an easy task as it involves looking into the future, way ahead into the future, to determine a realistic plan of action and expectations for desired progress and outcomes.  And this is often when things get tricky. (more…)

A Short Dictionary of Misunderstood Words: Community

Thursday, February 10th, 2011

A Short Dictionary of Misunderstood Words, by Kelty Davis

One of the biggest challenges I have faced so far in my new position as Community Advocate for Philanthropiece in Chajul is one that I didn’t particularly anticipate before my arrival.  I expected a bit of culture shock, reticence about being accepted and trusted by the students and members of such a small, conservative and relatively isolated community, periods of loneliness and insecurity, bouts of sickness, inevitable clashes of personality/ideology/socio-cultural norms.  I was prepared for all of this and, no surprise, have been confronted with each scenario in various ways.  However, what I failed to take into account is being equipped with the vocabulary or framework in which to express or put into context these experiences in a meaningful way.  Countless times I have sat down to a blank page or computer screen, trying to find a way to convey what I am witnessing and learning on a daily basis.  Even thinking about writing blog entries for Philanthropiece has thrown me into the grip of an extreme bout of writer’s block, desperately wanting to share what I’m going through in the most honest, engaging way possible instead of the usual dry, narrative account of my daily activities.  “Look at what I did!  Look at how different it is from my life back in New York! “  Boring.  There must be a better way.

And then, thanks to Milan Kundera and my favorite book, “The Unbearable Lightness of Being,” the solution finally presented itself to me.   (more…)

Photo of the Week: Cultivating Community

Wednesday, February 9th, 2011

photo by Philanthropiece Director of Operations, Colleen King

Photo of the Week: Story Hour at Saber Sin Límites, Chajul

Wednesday, January 19th, 2011

photo by Philanthropiece Director of Operations, Colleen King

In February of 2010, Philanthropiece partner, LHI, opened up Chajul’s first public library.  Saber Sin Límites, (Limitless Knowledge) has proven to be a huge success and a great resource for the community of Chajul.  The photo above is from the very first Story Hour, held in July 2010.  Story Hour has proven to be a very popular activity for Chajulense children of all ages.  Children come to listen and discuss stories and participate in an arts and crafts activity.  Monsters and dinosaurs are the most popular themes!  The Chajul Library and Story Hour in particular are allowing the youth of Chajul to experience the wonderful world of books in ways they never could have imagined.

An Intern’s Perspective: Catching Up

Wednesday, August 11th, 2010

From Carrie, the Intern

I apologize for the lack of recent blog posts. It’s been an interesting schedule here at Philanthropiece as Directors, Katie and Colleen were in Chajul, Guatemala last week, and Christine, my fellow intern, and I were out of town as well. It’s actually quite convenient that the interns’ family vacations fell on the same week as the Chajul visit.  Both Christine and I sent questionnaires to Chajul to be administered by Colleen and Katie, and I’m looking forward to the insight that only community members can give. These interviews will provide information on which nutrients are missing from the Chajulense diet, the effects of malnutrition on Chajul’s children, previous nutritional programming, and challenges to food security. Christine’s questionnaire is focused on the agricultural practices of the area, and together I think they will provide an invaluable resource for the proposal of a new sustainable agriculture program.