We returned earlier this month from our latest adventure in Guatemala. We had a very productive trip with 2 great volunteers, Eileen and Theo. We arrived in April for Holy week. Theo and Eileen spent several days in Antigua having an experience of a lifetime. Antigua is world renowned for its celebration and the volunteers were not disappointed. The streets of Antigua were covered in temporary masterpieces of colour wood chip and flowers and the parades were awe inspiring!
In Santiago Atitlan, near Chuk Muk, they had a similar, smaller festival, which I had the pleasure of experiencing.
In January and February, Aldea Maya greatly expanded the school gardens in Chuk Muk. I was very happy to see the gardens thriving.
The students have recycled plastic bottles to make watering cans.
This garden was a wasteland less than 2 years ago.
The grade 2 classes learned about how bananas a great for bones, your heart and a healthy smile. Every student in grade 2, all 72, received a banana plant and organic dirt, thanks to a donation from Mount Seymour Elementary School.
The grade 3 students learned all about Vitamin A and C. They made their own poster and every student received a papaya plant and organic compost.
We made mini greenhouses with the grade 4 students.
All our garden and nutrition projects are very hands on and it is wonderful having the help of the Canadian volunteers.
The middle school students had made lovely cribbage boards as their wood working project last year and we had fun teaching a lot of students to play crib. This is a great wood working project as the students use circular saws, jig saws, palm sanders and drills ( and it does not use too much wood ) The game is great for honing math skills.
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Theo had art classes with all the middle school students and some of the high school students. Many students produced beautiful art work of Guatemalan butterflies, birds, flowers as well as market scenes. A group of about 12 students are very keen and are going to continue painting, as a group, using the supplies Theo left. He also very generously left many supplies for the school art program.
A pre schooler decided to drop in for the art class.
We had a wonderful day taking the Basico 3 students on a field trip by boat to 2 other villages on the lake. Thank you Mary Ellen Campbell. To learn all about our adventure check out the April 24th blog page at www.aldeamaya.ca.
Here is Ema trying to hand spin cotton.
Earlier in the year we made a video and sent it to Westjet. Check out the link to see video that Jaime made.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7oFStSVd5k&feature=youtu.be
Here are some of the women in the new beadwork cooperative
Well, Westjet said yes and ordered 1000 Blue Santas. This large order, plus we now sell to 5 stores on Vancouver Island, has allowed us to form a women’s beadwork cooperative. This is a goal we have had for many years. 18 families are in the cooperative. We are planning on teaching nutrition and cooking to the group as well as buying beadwork.
We also started a working partnership with IMAP, a permaculture organization located on Lake Atitlan. This is really fantastic news as we have been struggling to get really successful family gardens in the village. These gardens are very important as many families cannot afford to buy food. Neal, from IMAP, informed us that Chuk Muk has the worst soil he has seen in Guatemala. IMAP works with the Guatemalan government as well as organizations like WWF. They teach courses to people from all over the world. They also are working with Guatemalan youth groups.
On April 25th and 26th a group of 15 students from Antigua came to the village to transform one families yard into an organic garden oasis. The students taking their new found knowledge from IMAP and implementing it. Check out the April 25th and 26th blog for all the details. It was a really successful day and we are planning on more such work bees. Last year we sent our garden guy, manager and the Basico home economics teacher on short courses about cooking with native plants, seed collection and basic permaculture practices with IMAP.
IMAP has proposed a great deal for Aldea Maya, their 2 week extensive garden courses, at a greatly reduced price. Their course teaches everything you need to know about organic gardening , concentrating on using native plants. The course cost $2000 US for non Guatemalans and $ 800 US for Guatemalans. They will give the course to Aldea Maya for $500 US. Thanks to a donation from Stan at Maximil we can send our garden guy, Pedro, on this course. We are also hoping to send one of the moms, Maria Petzey, as she is the vice president of Chuk Muk village ( a volunteer position) and just received the new garden.
Lots more great things happened but there is only so much one can put in a newsy, newsletter.
Thank you for your interest and in supporting Aldea Maya