Brian and Andra Report Week 11 and 12

Week 11

Week 11 was overshadowed by the Midway meeting. This was a very successful and insightful week of preparing and giving our presentation as well as hearing from the successes of our comrades up North. The Midway gave us a chance to reflect on our actions taken and pat ourselves on the backs for our successes, as well as prepare ourselves for the next two months in our communities.

We were graced by the presence of our Head Master Trine from the Institute of International Cooperation and Development Michigan who came down to see Humana People to People Belize’s projects as well as to attend our Midway. This was especially nice to catch up with the news of the states and hear about our friends in Michigan, it’s always a pleasure to be around Trine and she gave us sound advice during our Midway which was a big help to our morale.

During Midway we were reunited with Hyunny and Sunny our dearly beloved teammates. It was good to hear about their successes and troubles and how they live on a day to day basis. We hadn’t seen them since we split to our communities in May but it seemed like it was only yesterday when we were spending all day together working to prepare for our projects we are now in. They seem to be doing a good job in their communities and their work with the women and youth groups was inspiring.



Week 12

This past week since Midway has been very successful, despite both of us struggling with being sick on and off. 4 new gardens were started and 3 were completed. This includes building a fence, building up rows, planting, and discussing and implementing strategies to protect the seeds from the rain.

We also had another Village Action Group Meeting where we taught about how to make organic pesticides, and the importance of composting and mulching. We also talked about the seriousness of malaria. We taught them the symptoms and the best ways to prevent getting mosquito bites i.e. filling puddles, chopping grass, picking up trash etc. Along with this theme we also talked about lemon grass as a mosquito repellent. We gave out plants to each family along with recipes for tea and instructions on how to plant and use it. Later in the week each family that we visited had planted the lemon grass near their house and garden.

This week we also continued our kids club with lessons in geography, making thank you cards to people in their lives that help them, and continuing to learn about good manners and graciousness. In each kids club we always play a good physical game. This week we played sharks and minnows, and a good game of baseball. We also started making signs for the trash drums we placed back in June. We made one that says “Keep the River Clean and Healthy” as an example and will work with the youth and the kids club to design and paint the rest of them next week.

We organized a meeting with the teachers, the principal and the PTA to discuss the idea of having a marathon/open day at the end of August. They were all very excited and on board with the idea and are ready to help us. We talked about having no alcohol and instead promoting nutritious food with the sale of fresh fruits. We also discussed having more games such as three legged races, potato sack races, etc. to create a fun family friendly event. This week we will talk to the Alcalde and Chairman to set up a community meeting so we can get everyone involved. We agreed with the PTA and teachers that this is the best and only way to have a really successful event. Everyone had a lot of ideas and we are looking forward to moving ahead with the plans.

We also mobilized a group of kids to help us plant 40 Moringa trees. We talked with them about how many great things the tree can help with and that it makes us very strong. We have plans to plant more trees and to discuss the uses of Moringa further in the next VAG meeting and in the kids club.

Midway Thoughts and Feelings

This weekend was our midway meeting where we got two days to be reunited with our fellow Parrots Sunny and Hyunny who have been working in the north. We shared what we have been working on, our challenges and accomplishments, and what we will work on for the next two months. It was really great to to get some advice and feedback from everyone. We also had a special treat by having Trine our headmaster down here for the meeting and to visit the projects. She is so level headed and has so much experience that I really appreciated getting to talk to her and to hear her advice insight about what we have been doing.
Things have really been picking the past couple of weeks as we signed up new families and gave them chickens, gave three families new baby pigs, have really been pushing the gardens forward, etc. Now on top of that we are returning to our village with new ideas and motivation. We are ready to kick some serious butt these next two months.

We also got two little baby chicks for ourselves- we named then Trotsky and Emma. We love love love them. They are so cute. We aren't sure what we will do with them when we leave- we know they will be someones dinner but we don't want to think about it. For now we are enjoying the company. They come when we call them and are just so darn cute. And they eat the bugs!!

More to come soon!

Midway Report

1. Who you are and why did you decide to become a poverty fighter?

My name is Brian Winkler. I am 24 from Colorado, USA. I decided to join the Poverty Fighter program because IICD’s curriculum caught my eye more then all the other organizations in which I searched. I found that Humana and IICD genuinely works for education and development in communities all over the world, I was impressed so I joined.

2. Your projects and your achievement during the first 2 months?

Projects/Achievements

-Computer Class for Standard 6 in St. Marks Roman Catholic(R.C.) School

-Helped organize for a community High School graduation party

-Started semi-successful nursery

-Attempted multiple times with minimal success to start a women’s collective

-Wrote a grant for St. Marks RC School. Now we are searching for a donor

-Organized a book drive in which all St. Marks students had the opportunity to receive 3 books each

-Started to fix community latrine. Still in progress

-Helped with school garden and primary students graduation party

-Started a kids club aimed at cultural and community empowerment

-Found 5 new families for Child Aid Toledo and gave 3 of them 10 baby chicks

-Ran numerous Village Action Group meetings

-Distributed 3 female baby pigs under a pass-on loan system to the most motivated families in Otoxha

-Made/Ran a punch board for Otoxha marathon in which we raised a few hundred dollars for the school

-Organized the school library which was in a chaotic state

-Painted the library and Andra composed a mural

-Finished 14 gardens with 6 near completion

3. Statues of the family task list?

Task List Questions and Answers

1. Strengthen the economy of the family. Promote food and nutrition security

1a. The family has a vegetable garden of at least 5x5 meters:

Started. Around 3/4ths of the gardens are finished, not including the new families.

1b. The family has at least 5 fruit trees:

Started. Were in need of new seeds.

1c. The family has a production of chicken, fish or other protein rich food:

Started. The original families received chickens under the Strong Children project. 3 of the 5 new families have received chickens.

2. Health and Hygiene. Keep the environment clean

2a. There is a good system for household waste:

Started. We have discussed and showed some families how to start compost heaps. We will push harder for compost heaps with the families. Also we have encouraged everyone to use and burn in the Humana garbage drums.

2b. The family members have access to and use toilet or latrine and keep it clean and nice:

Started. Some families already have latrines. We are in the process of fixing the community latrine. And we will be searching for funding/materials to build new latrines.

2c. The family has a good system for ise of the gray water:

No start. We have plans for a future gray water workshop.

2d. The family applies to malaria and dengue prevention:

Slow start. Have plans for malaria workshop. Looking for partnerships to receive mosquito nets.

2e. The family participates in community actions:

Started and ongoing with latrines, Open Day/marathon, gardens and garbage clean-up.

2f. The family beautifies their surroundings:

Finished. Otoxha needs no beautifying, literally.

3. Health and Hygiene. Awareness about health and nutrition

3a. The family is TCE compliant:

No Start.

3b. the family members have a high standard of personal hygiene:

Nearly finished. The families have a very high standard of personal hygiene but some families need to use tooth brushes on more occasion.

3c. The family has clean drinking water:

Started and maybe finished. We’ve discussed with families about filtration methods but the families all seem content with the pumped ground water.

3d. The family understands the importance of getting the right nutrition and vitamins and they act accordingly:

Started. All the families who have received seeds we’ve had personal discussions on the nutritional aspects of eating vegetables. We will make a bigger effort with nutritional education in the VAg meetings and Kids Club.

3e. The family members, and especially the children, receive a visit or visit the local health agent or clinic for regular checkups:

Finished. Constant visits by brigades of doctors and the community is always informed about them coming from the churches.

3f. There are no malnourished children in the family:

Started. Children are seemingly healthy but big improvements can be made in their diets especially by eating fruits and vegetables.

4. Pre-School

4a. The family sends their preschool aged children to preschool:

N/A. No preschool in area.

4b. Discuss with the family how they cam support the development of their children:

No Start.

5.Active children and youth

5a. Children of the family participate in the kids club:

Started and continuing . Strong start with lessons in graciousness and of community fraternity.

5b. The youth of the family participate in the youth club:

No Start. We’re in the process of finding a youth leader.

5c. Discuss with the family how to look at their children and why they should take their children seriously:

No Start. Were searching for the best approach to this necessity in life.

6. Children in difficult situations

6a. Identify children in difficult situations:

Started. No obvious signs of serious child abuse except it seems the community accepts mild lashings of the children from their parents.

6b. Find Solution:

No start.

7. Education

7a. The children in school age attend school:

Finished. All primary age children go to school.

7b. Encourage the parents to be able to read, write or that they participate in classes:

Started. Having difficulty mobilizing adults to care about this subject.

7c. Encourage the parents to further educate themselves:

No Start.

7d. Children who are behind in school get support:

Finished. School is out until September. We offered the principal help with this but he never took us up on the offer.

7e. All families have at least 10 good and interesting books on their book shelf:

Started. We held a very successful book drive. Each child was given 3 books, so if 1 family has 1 child at least they have a minimum of 3 interesting books.

8. The family

8a. At least one of the family members participate in the weekly lessons of VAG:

Started. We have had semi-decent family participation in the VAG’s. We have had trouble mobilizing the VAG leader but are quickly finding solutions to this problem.

8b. All children have their birth certificate- or the process to get one has started:

Started. Need more family info on this subject.

8c. The family members have their social security number and nationalty/residence/work permit papers:

No Start.

9. Income generating activities

9a. The family has an income generating activity:

Started. Here are the income generating activities begun we know of- Chicken production, Pig raising, craft/art activities and large scale garden production.

9b. The family understand basic business management:

Started. Failed to catch the interest of families, new attempts will be made.

10. Cooking facilities

10a. Build fire wood saving stove:

Started. We have held a few discussions with interested families, possibility of future stove production.

4. Action weeks results and plans?

Results

Our first action week was placing the Humana drums and cleaning the river with the children. It was extremely successful and the river was free of plastic if not just for a day. The children learned the importance of keeping Otoxha clean. Nearly 80 children and 5 adults participated.

Our second action week involved mobilizing the community to bring wood to families who needed it for their garden. This was a 2 day mobilization with nearly 20 people involved, mostly children and they learned important lessons on why community actions were important.

Plans

Community action involving building latrines.

Community organizing for a big marathon/open day for Humana benefiting St. Marks RC school.

5. Plans and goals for the next two months?

-Finish renovating community latrine

-Continue Kids Club

-Start garden committee/Humana group

-Continue Womens Collective attempts

-Finish gardens

-Start gardens in Dolores

-Organize a movie night

-Build new latrines

-Hold Open Day

6. Challenges and problems and how have you solved them?

-“Here the culture is hard.” Being in the Kekchi/Maya culture had been eye opening but very difficult. Women are especially exploited in labor here and also the women seem particularly jealous of each other, selfish, and lazy when it comes to helping others or themselves with projects we try to implement. We have motivated many women who said “they are to lazy” by saying “no you are strong, help your family and mobilize the kids and your husband to help.” This method works after being emphasized a few times. The men work on the farm on occasion but do minimal work if compared to the woman’s constant barrage of duties, but on occasion they will help with our projects and are more easily approachable then their female partners. I think 5 years here would be sufficient to really make a change in this hard and solidified culture.

- Onorha our VAG leader has been particularly unhelpful in mobilizing the families or even informing the families about meetings. We have been applying more pressure on her as well as finding other motivated individuals who can easily make up for her lack of effort.

-Kekchi the communities language is difficult for us to understand. Naturally this creates a barrier between us and the community. We have learned some expressions but not a sufficient amount to be even a little fluent.

- Lack of privacy. Often we hear people go into our house when were not there, just to look at what we have. Also people will just come to are door and stare at us as if were animals in a zoo. We have dealt with this by just dealing with it and it has gotten better as time goes by.

7. Partnerships that you expect to receive?

-Search for concrete companies and write a letter expressing the need for a partnership between the company-Humana- and community to build much needed latrines.

8. Ideas and plans for the 4^th period

-Make a video about our experiences from the travel period to the end of our project.

-Distribute our final report to interested parties and at places we fundraised.

-Make a virtual scrapbook of our experiences from being a DA in Michigan to the end of our project in Belize.

-Figure out our future!

9. What will you do after the program is over?

-Go home to our beloved families which are dearly missed.

-Promote new One World University/IICD program in Colorado and surrounding states.

-Join TG

Midway Report

Midway Report