Violette asked shortly after she began working with the kids if it would be possible to paint a "group mural" on the end wall of the library/computer center building. We gave her an enthusiastic YES ... and this is the happy result!
She made stencils of various types of flowers, and let each child choose their flower, color and location on the vine.
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Simon and Violette Berger, from France, have been here volunteering with the kids for over a month. In that time, they've done a variety of things with the kids ... most notably ...
THE WALL: (check next entry for more details on this incredible work of art!)
Amongst many other things, they also taught the kids how to make juggling balls and how to juggle.
They taught them some magic tricks!
They worked at puzzles ..
and games ...
and miscellaneous other arts and crafts.
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For a short while, we had a large number of volunteers all active in the village at the same time. They are not all here for this picture (missing Simon, Violette and Aleta) but the ones that are here are ... Dr. Bob Dickson, co-ordinator of Friends of Ix-canaan in Calgary, Alberta; Dr. Andrea Hull, working on a water and sanitation program and a diabetes program here in the village; Jan Raymond, supporter of library programs; Allison Haynes of California, volunteer working with the women's group; Ok Namgoong of Korea, volunteer teaching cooking classes for NUFED students; Francisco Mendez South America, teaching an art class to the NUFED students; and Anthony Nugent from Campus California who volunteered with the labor of the NUFED bathrooms.
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Dr. Andrea Hull is here from Canada for a month, volunteering with Project Ix-canaan. Andrea is focussing on two main areas ... Water/sanitation in the village and Diabetes Care.
Shortly after her arrival, we scheduled a meeting with the village Water Committee to discover what is being done re purification of the village water supply. It appears that the Chlorination machine was disconnected within a month of its first operation (10 years ago) after complaints that the chickens in the village were dying of chlorine overdose. Since the water of the lake is not REALLY bad, and those with enough money buy their own drinking water, it has never become a priority to purify the water.
Andrea is now doing a survey of the village inhabitants to determine what services of water and sanitation the houses have now and what the people believe is most needed.
She has also been working closely with the Nurse's Aid of the Puesto de Salud in the village, and with a group of women with diabetes, to develop a care program that will prevent the worst of the repercussions of diabetes (loss of feet, legs and life).
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One of the first things Dr. Bob did while in El Remate was to meet with the Director and teachers at the NUFED school to discuss the needs and goals of the school over the short term. Later, he met with the Directora of the public elementary school, who are in need of funding to finish the cement floors of two new classrooms (I don't know how I missed getting photos of that day).
He also was excited to talk with Don Sebastian (right), the contractor in charge of the new bathroom construction.
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The students and teachers of the NUFED School are really happy to finally have bathroom facilities.
Thanks to the untiring efforts of Bill Horne of Calgary, Alberta (shown here with Don Sebastian, the contractor for the job, back in October when this idea was discussed) this idea has become reality.
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Dr. Bob's travelling companion, Jan Raymond, has been an active supporter of Project Ix-canaan for a few years now. As an educator, Jan has been instrumental in gathering together and sending a variety of excellent books, as well as art supplies and other library materials. This time, we were fortunate that Jan was able to come herself to deliver another huge bag of educational supplies.
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Dr. Bob, the Calgary coordinator of Friends of Ix-canaan, arrived the first of April to bring down much needed medicines to the clinic.
It is wonderful to once again have medicines in the pharmacy.
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Last week we began the construction project at the NUFED School. The project in its entirety will be quite a bit more extensive, but we are beginning with the student bathrooms. Here are Henri (Nufed teacher), Sebastian (contractor), Julian Mayen (President Parents Committee) and another teacher from the school, in front of the present bathrooms. As can be noted, there are only two bathrooms with doors (those two have toilets inside) and although those two toilets are drained to a septic tank, there is no running water so water for flushing has to be carried by bucket from the water source several meters away. There are also no sinks for hand washing. The plan is to construct a cement wall in front of the present structure and a dividing wall in the middle between the 4 bathrooms (creating a boys side and a girls side), with doors on either end that can be locked. The building will be properly plumbed (water in and waste out) and 4 toilets and 2 sinks installed.
By last Monday morning, the basic materials ... cement block, sand and gravel (and cement that is not pictured) had been delivered and the project was ready to begin.
Since this is a technical school, the plan is to teach a mini-course in several aspects of construction ... primarily plumbing, block/cement work and painting. About 35 students from all 3 grades (7, 8 and 9) have opted to take this mini-course. The construction project began with a class given by Don Sebastian in how to do an estimate for a job.
It was decided that 7 students would participate each day in the actual construction. Immediately the young men were directed to the smashing digging door removal type jobs ...
and the young women to cleaning the old toilets.
I pointed out to those in charge that this might be a bit of gendrification ... they agreed, calling it "machismo" ... and before I knew it, the labor jobs were more equally dispersed.
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Our new volunteer, Allison Hayes, has been having a wonderful time helping the women to get their square foot gardens back up and running. Aleta Leigh, who has been working on a variety of projects since her arrival, has volunteered to help with the garden building and to translate when necessary. Here are the two women with Gloria Mejia, whose garden they have just finished planting.
Type rest of the post here
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