El Punto Medio

Solar Bulbs

2012-01-27T12:55:00.000-08:00

En español:

TED.com

2011-07-17T18:58:00.000-07:00

TED.com

2011-07-17T17:51:00.000-07:00

Capoeira Madness

2011-06-30T18:40:00.000-07:00

Una de mis grandes pasiones, finalmente, puedo volver a practicarla y esta vez.......sin renuncias.

Samba

2011-06-18T11:26:00.000-07:00

Shake the Shakers: Brazil Rio Samba Shaking São... por BrazilCarnivalcombr

Energias Limpias

2011-06-18T10:58:00.001-07:00

Invest in women

2011-02-22T19:36:00.000-08:00

Do you see the opportunity?

More about this video

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ECO

2011-01-22T18:40:00.000-08:00

Plastic / Consumption

Green Schooling

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TED - ART

2011-01-22T17:39:00.000-08:00

TUBE CREATURES

ORIGAMI

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Other Approaches

2010-10-09T07:46:00.000-07:00

The Zen Mind

Zen is a school of Mahayana Buddhism. The Japanese word Zen is derived from the Chinese word Chán, which in turn is derived from the Sanskrit word dhyana, which means “meditation” or “meditative state.”

Children Full of Life

Mr. Kanamori, a teacher of a 4th grade class, teaches his students not only how to be students, but how to live. He gives them lessons on teamwork, community, the importance of openness, how to cope, and the harm caused by bullying.
In the award-winning documentary Children Full of Life, a fourth-grade class in a primary school in Kanazawa, northwest of Tokyo, learn lessons about compassion from their homeroom teacher, Toshiro Kanamori.

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450 Dollars in Africa

2010-08-31T13:48:00.000-07:00

With 450 dollars donated from friends and family, I decided to help directly 27 Mozambican people and, thru them, I aimed to help many more.

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25 Vulnerable women and their children

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Because of severe health or marital (infidelity or polygamy) problems, many women in Africa are left to take care of their children or grandchildren without the skills or resources necessary to live struggle free. Keeping their children in school, eating more than 1 meal a day while providing basic shelter, health and clothing becomes, most of the times, an impossible task.

All the women beneficiaries (Click to enlarge)

With 165 dollars I made 25 packages that will help widowed and poor mothers improve their nutritional, income, sanitation and health conditions.

Each package has:

1 Mosquito net – To prevent sickness or death by malaria to their family members or themselves.

5 kind of seeds (onion, 3 types of cabbage and lettuce) – To improve the family nutrition intake and to provide another source of income generating activities.

I bought in big packages to then carefully divide in 125 smaller packages. I intentionally bought a kind of cabbage (Couve Estaca)that lasts for several seasons and that is usually too expensive for people to buy.

1 Soap Bar – To promote hygiene and because, after working in the canteens, I have seen that Mozambican low income families like and need to receive soap.

To thank 2 neighborhood leaders for working with me, I gave them each 2 bars of soap.
Some women also got more than one bar.

I had 3 approaches when choosing which women to help:

6 women where chosen with the help of 2 other volunteers that where making a micro credit group with 6. These where active and responsible women.

With the help of a local man, I gave 5 packages to women he knew and seen they needed help.

I asked 2 local neighborhood leaders to give me permission and introduce me to 14 women in their area that they knew they where vulnerable and where either widows or extremely poor.

Even at a tiny scale, I can now understand how hard it is for NGOs and charities to distribute resources. Not only because choosing the right product to distribute is challenging, but because choosing the right beneficiaries is complicated. Sometimes, there is no time, possibilities or resources to get to know each beneficiary deeply. Also the distribution itself requires much logistics, organization and can involve long distances and time. Furthermore, as it happened to me, the people who are helping distribute or choose the beneficiaries may want to get the packages for themselves even if they do not fit the beneficiary criteria.

As a result, even if this action was outside of my ADPP project, I helped me learn a lot about development initiatives and product distribution at a very practical level.

Each package cost about 6.6 dollars. With the $450 I could have given 68 women a package. However, I choose to help in another vital aspect of development, EDUCATION.

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2 promising young adults

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Joao Petera

To help a colleague of my project "Cantina de Soja" I sponsored half of his nursing school tuition.

Joao Petera dreamt to be a doctor yet his dream has not been possible to attain. A son of a family of 3 offsprings, he lost his father at age 3. Now at age 27, he works to get his brother thru college after an international program ended his 4 year scholarship in his 2nd year. In the last years, he has done many different project, most of them are community oriented.

To secure his entry to a government program in a boarding school that specializes in training nurses for 2 or 3 years, needs to pay $336. With part of the donations, I sponsored half of his tuition and helped buy the books required for him to study and pass the entry exams, with $182.

Joao is a supervisor in my project. He trains and assists volunteers in 6 canteens in the areas of book keeping, group management, food distribution, orphan care, hygiene and many others.

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Damiao Petera

While working with Joao for 6 months, I got to know his brother Damiao. As Joao struggled to pay some university fees while paying university related loans and helping his mother with her expenses and high blood pressure condition; I collaborated a bit in his education as well. The collaboration was of $56.

Damiao studies French in the capital Maputo and will finish his studies this December 2010 at age 24. After, as agreed before, in return he will now help his brother get an education and will help support his mother.

As in any countries, with a college degree he now has an opportunity of getting a much better paid job and, hopefully, he get a great job soon!

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As you probably have gathered by now, a dollar can go a long way here in Mozambique.

I myself strived with only $175 a month for food and transportation!

The following chart shows the costs of each action in the local currency Meticais (MZN) and in USD.

Taking money at the ATM and Paypal had fees and transaction limits that where not so welcomed.

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I thank deeply to the persons who wanted to help people in Africa and donated and trusted me the money to do so.

I really enjoyed working in Africa and doing/learning/practicing development. I believe in future years I will return to Africa and do more!

Thoughts on:

2010-08-31T07:16:00.000-07:00

Time

Happiness

To focus in the process not the outcome, yet to be counscious about the desired or undesired outcome.

The mind set....

Empathy

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African Soundtrack

2010-08-29T18:00:00.000-07:00

As much as I love Brazilian culture in many many aspects, including it's music. Kizomba, Passada or Zouk is a kind a music that it's rythm, dance and message touches me deeply and much more than other musics genres.

I will continue to expand my favorites yet the songs I mostly heard in Mozambique are posted in this page.

Unfortunately, other songs are not in the web to share.

This becomes me soundtrack of Mozambique 2010!

Djonny Lima ft Gama - Always in my heart

Ricky Boy - Hora ki bu Txiga

Ary - Teu Grande Amor

Homem casado - Dj jesus ft Dj marcelo & Yuri da cunha

Mafikizolo - Ndihamba Nawe

Tentação - GAMA

Magia - Gama

* Wilson Olesse - Consolo e Minha Deusa
** Slowli - Feliz Natal

International Soundtrack

2010-08-29T10:54:00.000-07:00

Some music I did not expect to like or hear in Africa! Yet that now reminds me of my experiences there and becomes part of the good memories.

Natasha Bedingfield - Love Like This

Kelly Key - Anjo

Keyshia Cole - Heaven Sent

Mary J. Blige - Be Without You

Tiziano Ferro - Alucinado

Out of Africa

2010-08-28T13:35:00.000-07:00

My six months in Mozambique went by so suddenly.

I lived, felt and enjoyed them deeply.

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A more straight to the point view follows:

I recommend reading it in "Fullscreen" mode.

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What comes next?
RVA and then Ecuador!

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GOT SOYA?

2010-05-30T15:35:00.000-07:00

Ok, perhahs this action would have been most efficient a few years ago when the project started....yet later than sooner, I am able to show the volunteers and the community WHAT is soya, how it is done and HOW its beneficial in a VISUAL and easy way.

THE OBJECTIVE:
Post 50 posters in the 50 canteens.
Put 300 letter pages in all the communities. (6 in each community)
Leave 100 letter pages in the canteens for future use. (2 in each canteen)

THE WAY:
Ask the interns and DI to do this training and initiative in their own and then go to supervise their work.

HOW?:
Interns go over the poster with the workers of the canteens and together they go talk to the community about SOYA and post letter page papers in visible and important places.

AND, most importanly, by giving the workers the tools and knowledge to train and invite future clients on the subject.

THE CHALLANGE:
Getting interns to collaborate with me
Going to the 50 canteens rapidly enough to make the training useful and available before the project closes in October or, before I leave in August.

Furthermore, these months I will also be working in the making of the video about "WHAT" are the canteens.......to present to sponors and interested public

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I actually started this training a month ago and I was doing it the same way I was doing the cholera training (showing it with big posters and taking them with me everytime) YET deciding to make a "leave at the canteen and community" material plus designing it, getting it approved and printing it.............was a weeks long process.

29nish

2010-05-30T15:22:00.000-07:00

I can see my age reflecting on me and that is life

YEAH!!!!

TWENTY NINE years alive!
3 MONTHS in Africa
13 MONTHS in HUMANA and DRH!

Life is good.
Life is simple.
Life goes on.
Happiness is a choice.

Worries are only on the eyes on the beholder.
Negativity is an state of mind.

African Views

2010-05-10T07:17:00.000-07:00

. Capturing culture and glympses of my life .

Hands grinding soya beans

Playing with simplicity

Grinding is a common tradition made in Africa

Torn up closes are worn by many

Preparing to cook Moringa leaves in perfect peace

Beauty, for the first time I appreciate the beauty and differences of the Black people and I love it.

Sitting in the floor in bamboo mats

Most people cook with fire

Fried bread a great income generating activity

These "bolinhos" are sold eveywhere

More peace

They say that to learn no grind you need to do it since you are small or your hands will hurt a lot

The local meeting area

Mozambican Flow

Bus rides

Deep Concentration

Let's play

Separating the grinded corn from the peels

Corn attack

Strange fruits

Market street

Another income generating activity done only by men

Dried little fishes, sold mostly eveywhere

Sweet

"Take my picture!"

Cooking big

Basic housing

Mostly sold

Let's go

Strong Prescence

More play

Desired Motherhood

2010-05-10T05:38:00.000-07:00

Here in Mozambique, mother carry their babies in a beatiful way. Just seen them makes me want to have my own and join them. I am taking some Capulanas (the fabric they wrap them in) to use the day I become a mother. In the meantime, I can only watch and wear Capulana pants, hehe.

Young mothers

Capulas are used as skirts, to hold babies, as bagpacks, dresses and more

Once a guy told me joke: Why do Africans have a flat nose? Because of the way their mothers carry them in their backs makes it that way.

It's a pretty versitle desing, easy to take and you can place your baby in the front or the back when ever you want

Everybody is comfortable

Would you like to have a baby wrapped in so colorful and diverse designs???

Cholera Training

2010-05-10T03:38:00.000-07:00

This training takes about 30 to 40 minutes.

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INTRODUCTION

We start very basic:

We are going to talk about cholera because, as a place that serves the community and orphans food, this is a potential source of many diseases and we want to avoid that.

Then we go personal:

Have you have had cholera?
Has someone you know had it?
Do you know people that have died of it?

(Usually, the last 2 answers are YES)

So we continue:

Yes, cholera is a dangerous disease that kills many and that can affect entire communities and the little "bug" that causes this is this one on the bottom right!

Before we turn to the other page, we ask.....do you know what are the symptoms of cholera?
They usually know the first 3.

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SYPMTOMS

So then we admire their knowledge and expand from there.

Stomach Pain.
Vomit.
Diarrhea. We explain that cholera's diarrhea is different from the "normal" one becase it contains "rice like forms". These rice forms are not real rice, they are actually a part of the human body that is coming out (pzrt of the intestines). If they see this kind of diarrhea it is a sign of cholera and they need to go to the hospital immediately.
Deshydration. We inform them that this is the most severe symptom; this is the symptom that kills. We show how the person becomes very skinny and looks bad. We also explain that as a sign of severe dehydration, when the person is pinched, the skin will remained "pinched" and this is BAAAAD.
Weakness.
Shakes.
Death.

Before we turn to the other page, we ask.....do you know what are the causes of cholera?

To my surprise, some of the canteen workers are already aware of many of the causes other are not.

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CAUSES AND PREVENTION

We place these 2 papers together and talk about the causes and prevention of each possible contamination.

1. Dirty Water

C: Water full of bacteria can cause not only cholera but worms, diarrhea. It affects the health of the whole family and of the clients in the canteen.
P: Boil or treat water with chlorine or Certeza. Certeza is the easiest and cheapest way.

2. Dirty Food

C: Cholera and other diseases can be gotten by not without washing and eating vegetables and fruit in the market or making salads.
P: Vegetables and fruits that will be eaten raw need to be washed.

3. Dirty Hands

C: Hands can be very dirty....because we touch many things the have been on the ground and other places.
P: Before eating, cooking and after using the toilet, hands need to be washed....with soap or ashes!

4. Dirty Rivers

C: Taking showers or drinking water in rivers that people defecate in or throw garbage in can be dangerous.
P: If you see someone defecating or throwing garbage, ask them NOT to do it since the river is not only theirs but of the WHOLE community. If the river is contaminated, it is safer to take a bath at home with water from a well.

5. Garbage

C: Throwing garbage near where we cook will attract cockroaches, rats and flies that will contaminate our "delicious" food. (We signal drawing #8)
P: Making a garbage pit is essential. When it is full burning or burring the garbage is necessary.

6. Latrines

C: Making necesities near the house will attract flies that in turn will contaminate the food. (We signal drawing #8)
P: Making latrines is very important, that is why every canteen has one and every house should too.

7. Dirty Utensils

C: Plates, glasses, pans and forks can be contaminated when animals walk over them.
P: Rinsing them before use is recommended

8. Contaminated food

C: Animals that come form the latrine, garbage and dirty rivers and contaminate good food. (We signal the previous drawings)
P: Covering pans and plates with food is necessary.

9. Worker with cholera.

C: People with cholera should never cook or serve food, since cholera is very contagious.
P: A sick person needs to go to the hospital immediately and his vomit and diarrhea needs to be placed in a separate hole from the rest of the family and then covered to avoid contamination. (We signal drawing #8)

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TREATMENT

We remind them that it is dehydration that kills and for this reason, it is important to give the sick one liquid BUT in small doses so he/she does not throw up. We also recommend making homemade Gatorade or giving rice or corn water as well as soda.

Most importantly, we tell them that cholera kills in 24 hours and for this reason, going to the hospital is an emergency and a must. We tell them that in the hospital they will receive I.V. and medicine and that they must take it.

Furthermore, we review the usage of the Iodine based water treatment available here in Africa: Certeza

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REVIEW

After asking them if they have any questions, which they usually don't have any as they are not used to interacting to much with teachers or trainers. As a review and test, we ask each participant to explain a part of the training to the others until the whole training is repeated.

1ro de Maio

2010-05-09T15:19:00.000-07:00

Stina, RVA's Headmaster came to visit all of her school D.Is in Mozambique. During her visit she did this video and showed me many videos of my former classmates! This video shows a bit of where I am and what I do!

Enjoy,

Cholera Awareness

2010-04-23T16:20:00.000-07:00

Inspired of my experience with ArtCorps, I have made a training that transcends language and literacy barriers and it is going pretty well!!!

I must admit that doing this training was my friend's idea, yet I welcomed it with much encouragement and dedication.

I believe that training people better and more useful living and working it’s one of the keys of development. For this reason, gathering experience in training and making training materials is very important to me. So far I can see that people welcome knowledge but many have had no opportunity to have it since they have not gone to school, live in secluded areas or have language difficulties. I have made about 20 trainings and every time is exciting to work with the volunteers of the canteens because they are so interested in the knowledge and training that it's rewarding to talk to them. And, many more trainings will come!

Working on top of an "estera"/mat, planning and creating the training in a Sunday afternoon.

I sit in the floor to make the trainings more informal and to make it clear then I don't come as the "important or powerful" foreigner and white person but as an easy going and relaxed helper.

Since most trainees are illiterate, based in drawings and open communication, they learn about cholera without intimidating complex words and writing.

This photo was taken during my first training ever, it went very well!

Interns and supervisors translate the training in the local language, after a few trainings done by me, I encourage them to make the training alone so they also get to practice and experience.

Explaining the signs of dehydration!

The posters are folded to survive long hours of waiting and the bike, motobike, pickup and tight bus journeys.

Snow Angels

2010-03-22T16:39:00.000-07:00

On a short short visit to NY on my way to Mozambique, I managed to visit my good friend Carola for only one night and I made my FIRST snow angel!!!!

The consequence of childhoods with no winter, hehe

Some late blooming

And intense happiness, haha

From 10 months of summer, I had a shocking 12 hours of full winter. I even got my flight cancelled for the first time in my life and it was NOT nice. Even if it meant staying in beautiful Barbados for 1 night, it made me feel nervous to loose the chance to travel with m friends from South Africa to Maputo by bus. Fortunatelly it all worked out well.

Snow style jeans!

A.K.A

2010-03-22T16:13:00.000-07:00

After having some confused looks when I would say my name, I decided to change it for a while.

Now, in Mozambique, I am also know as

NUNA

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In Mozambique Andrea (with an A) does not exist. Andre does exist but it is considered a MALE name. So you may see where the confusion and strangeness came from.

A long time ago, I choose Nuna as an email name for me and it means "Spirit or Soul" in Quechua.....my countries indigenous language. Interestingly, Nuna and Nuno are common names in MOZ. But Antonio and Ana Maria are the most common.

I actually would like to change my name to Nuna for good, so, if you are a good friend of mine, please call me Nuna from now on. :)

Last Stop - EPF Nhamatanda

2010-03-15T06:12:00.000-07:00

I live in EPF Nhamatanda, which is a school that trains future teachers. Some DIs are working in this school, but other volunteers are working with Child Aid: another office and program that is located inside the school. However, I am only living in this school because the offices of my project are located 1 hour away from here. Regardless, this is where I live:

The main entry, where the library is.

Presentations and dinning hall.

Every Saturday there are cultural events made and organized by the students.

The day I arrived, I was walking with my heavy luggage at night and under the rain. When I arrived to my house, my shoes where soaking wet and a few minutes after, the lights when out. It was bad! But now, things are going better, hehe.

STOP 1 - Maputo

2010-03-15T04:11:00.000-07:00

I spent in Maputo only for a few days. One I slept all day to recuperate from 3 day trip and the other I walked around the city.

Maputo is a small and dirty city, there is not much to see here. I have never seen such a big country with such a small capital.

So to spend 1 or 2 days walking around the city is all you need in my opinion It is important to buy all the necessary stuff you will need before you go to your project because once in your project you may not find many things. (This I didn't do and I shoulded had)

All over Mozambique you can find abandoned buildings as a result of the political wars that have occurred in the country.

AND as an ulgy highlight, in my way to the city corrupt cops saw a car full of "TOURISTS" so they stoped the car for no go reason and asked for the drivers documents. Since the documents where in place, they asked for our passports. Because many of us did not take our passports for security reasons, the cops asked us for money for "REFRESHMENTS" so they would let us go. Could we have argued that what they did was not right? Could we have looked for other solutions? Yes, perhaps BUT it was better to pay and not get in trouble with the bad law in a foreing country on our 2nd day there!!!! (so have your passports with you if you come - future DIs)

ADPP MAPUTO

When all volunteers arrive to Moz, they stay in ADPP Maputo, another teacher training school.

The volunteer house here is located outside the campus and has 3 houses. If there are too many volunteers, the extras sleep on this tent. I spent my first night there.

AGSP

2010-03-15T04:06:00.000-07:00

The first week on my project I had nothing to do! My project leader had not contact me and I was lost.

Fortunately, there was a training for another project, Child Aid and I was allowed to attend. 3 volunteers from nearby districts where here as well so we had a full house.....at a point 11 people on total.

The team.

The program AGSP sponors girls in their education. Mentors, godmothers and trainers overview and advice their attendance to school and the program provides with some food, uniforms and studying materials. The objective: Making sure that more girls study in Mozambique and for that matter, the world.

To my surprise, the training was very well organized and we where doing many falicitating dynamics common and necessary in workshops like this. I think the African participants where a little shy and new to this way of communicating, but they did very good regardless.

This is the Child Aid building, some other volunteer must have done a few nice looking murals around it. The building is located next to the volunteer house so that is very convenient for many DIs.

Workshops, meetings and classes under a tree is very common in Africa, sometimes because of the heat and other times because of lack of resources.

As part of the training we did a Talent Show and it occured to me to make a drawing of all the participants, they where very surpised to hace their face drawn and that made the see art in a different way. Many dances and singing where presented in this show, and it seems is the way Africa goes!

This training taught me much about the reality of Africa. Talking about social problems, transpostation issues, program structures gave me a better perspective of the implementation and creation of development projects.

Home Projects

2010-03-15T03:53:00.001-07:00

Building weekends are not over!
With some time and ideas, we have decided to make a garden, fence and compost bin.

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This is the first garden I make, it has been fun! So far we have planted beet root, pumpkin and pok choy yet we still need to plant much more. However, the soil is ready and rich!

We made rain canals and walking paths so people do not step over the beds and the beds do not get flooded.

While clearing the road into the school classrooms, we gathered future mulch for our garden (a 2 for 1 deal).

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Moringa is a great tree that provides nutritious leafs, good wood for cooking and seeds for water filters.

With so many goat and cows hanging out from time to time around the moringa, doing this fence has been easy and crucial. I got the idea thanks to a friend from Zimbawe who was helping me cut the grass.

The message is clear: STAY AWAY FROM THE MORINGA!

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The compost bin will be upgraded in the future, however, it works good for now.

Kids like these 2 are always visiting our house, specially now that one volunteer lends them basket and soccer balls. They are always ready to help and that is nice. It is a little annoying to having them around all the time when you want peace and privacy, I need to get used to that.

My Community

2010-03-15T03:39:00.000-07:00

I have been to a neighbor community called Tica and this one was nicer than the one I live in now.

It seems that my community is very poor, houses in genral, aren't as nice as the ones in Tica, even that in Tica, houses are not much much better than the ones here.

The name of my town is called Lamego.

Living fences is something very common and useful here.

Houses are sometimes rectangular but also round shaped.

Many houses can be found within one fence, I do not know how the land distribuition works.

A house selling peanuts.

We eat a hard bread, that is sold by 3 or 4 people in town. The bread is cheap, the smaller ones cost about 1 US cent. I prefer to toast them to improve the taste and reduce any bacterial problem.

The community's convenient store is pretty small and, if they do not have what you want then no one has it on town!!!!

Selling in the market street

Market street. Soap and other simple things are sold here. You can find second hand clothes huts and tailors.

Outside the markets there are smaller stores.

My Place

2010-03-05T06:15:00.000-08:00

Unexpected access to internet has allowed me to give this sneak peek of my place.

Once I am more settled in, I hope to make a nice video of my 6 day trip to the project, my house and housemates, my communities and projects.

I live in the organization's school, Called ADPP Nhamatanda. There I live in the newly built volunteer house. It is only my second day here so I can't say much. So far, I have been briefly to 2 communities and they live in very poor conditions...I feel like I am walking in a movie set....but then I have to remind myself it is not. Those half shattered houses and beautiful soil made are real homes.

The House

The inside. I hope to make a garden in the middle so I can have some good and free food.

My Room. Simple but good.

The Common Area.

The Kitchen. A lady helps us cook and clean the house and another one helps us with our laundry. That is nice.

My surrondings. Other classrooms and offices.

The views are very green (which I love) and I have seen many maaaany mango trees....so I look fowards for mango season.

That's it for now, I still need to start my project. Hopefully by next week. There has been to much rain these past weeks and getting around is very complicated.

My place is a PALACE compared with what people have here (literally).

Bottle Houses Pics

2010-02-24T13:12:00.001-08:00

Affordable and Upcycled Housing

2010-02-23T17:47:00.001-08:00

It is interesting to see the many options we have to do houses that use resources efficiently.

Because I belive that housing and food security are basic rights and necessities, these subjects touch me deeply. I look fowards to put them into practice in poor communities. I dream to not only collaborate with slum dwellers but also train and motivate many people in using these ecological and inteligent design!

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Houses made with tires and inteligent design: Earhtships (Transcend the "earthship" term)

Design Principles

Intro

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Earth Bag Houses (Sand Based Domes) (Transcend the religious twist)

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EcoShells (Concrete - Air Formed Domes)

http://www.dftw.org/

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Houses of tires, bottles and cans

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Houses with Plastic Bottles (Transcend the jerky camera movements). This idea can be used specially by poor farmers however, if filled in with plastic wraps (to make it more private) or soil (to make it more sturdy and cooler) it can be a good solution for cheap housing.

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Houses with Glass Bottles (transcend the speaker, understand the message)

They can be well designed

Africa here I come

2010-02-23T08:09:00.000-08:00

Sustainable Development

2010-02-22T14:45:00.001-08:00

A third way to think about aid

Re-viewing the image of food

2010-02-22T10:03:00.000-08:00

History of food

Marketing and food

* Potatoes + shreddies + wine.......how does marketing influence our perceptions.
** Question advertising and sales strategies and objetcives.

Eating less meat

I am not a vegetarian but with an open mind, I can see the points of the video.

Seed Balls

2010-02-22T09:59:00.001-08:00

Reforestation ideas that are low maitenance (no tillage), easy and are suited for large and small scale projects.

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CPPGH - Seed Balls - Video 7 from Coastal Prairie Partnership on Vimeo.

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If we sent seeds in planes and create forest....in eroted areas would help a lot.

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INSTRUCTIONS AND INGREDIENTS

1 parts of mixed and compatible seeds
3 parts of compost

Mix well the add

5 parts of red clay
hot pepper powder (optional to avoid predators eating the seeds, 10%)
1 - 2 parts of water

Make small balls about the size of a marble (to avoid them rolling down in a hill make them a little flatter).

Let dry for 2 days.

Leadership

2010-02-22T05:27:00.000-08:00

Itay Talgam: Lead like the great conductors

David Logan on tribal leadership

Permaculture

2010-02-21T18:17:00.000-08:00

Permaculture Basics

Permaculture 101

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Sustainability Ideas

This lady resumes some shared ideas and alternatives in an easy to undertand way. As successful and knowledgable as she is, I want to be (as time and experience sinks in on me).

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Les glaneurs et la glaneuse (The Gleaners and I)
Director: Agnes Varda

She talks about this docu in the interview:

This video is in french with spanish subtitles (I recommend watching full screen to be able to read them)

Can we stop wasting so much in our land of abundance and make projects to shace and ulitize it all better?

REDISTRIBUTION is the key

Worm Composting

2010-02-21T17:50:00.000-08:00

As what goes for worms, in a small scale, the worm tower seems like the best and most low maintenace way to work with worms.

Permaculture Worm Tower

(the idea)

(the better method)

Nightcrawlers worms intead of Red Wigglers are recommended for the towers.
They will travel up to 60 ft in one night improving the soil in their way!

Worms "Vermi Compost" Explained

Part 1

Part 2

Technical specifications (like the feeding method described in the last video)
http://sustainable.concordia.ca/ourinitiatives/r4/compost/compostathome/

How to Make a Worm Bin

This one uses a ventilation tube and metallic mesh

Harvesting the bin

Creating smaller/smarter gardens!

2010-02-21T14:10:00.000-08:00

To avoid bad soils, harsh water conditions, limited spaces and other gardening problems.....created and inteligent spaces seem like good solutions to make gardening work for you.

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Keyhole Garden

* Charity Send a Cow - http://www.cowforce.com

The cans and ashes should be used regardless of the garden of choice.

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Bag Garden

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Herb Spiral

How To Build Soil and an Herb Spiral

Herb Spiral - permaculture

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HyperTufa Container

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Vertical Gardening

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Raised Beds

(the more traditional method)

* Rabbits would deffinitely be more quiet than chickens. (They would give fertilizer and meat, to bad they do not lay eggs, hehe)

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Square foot gardening

is also another practical gardening idea:

http://ayni-life.blogspot.com/2010/02/urban-garden-solutions.html

More efficient composting

2010-02-21T14:04:00.000-08:00

How to make your composting efforts last longer.

Compost Tea (a want to make any kind of compost last longer and do more)

No sirrrrreeeeee!

Manure and kitchen + garden waste composting

2010-02-21T14:03:00.000-08:00

Urban Compost Turner (a solution so rats, big insects or ugly views are not attracted to this important and essential element of gardening)

or.......

Dance to this music while you learn how to do Compost in 14 -21 days & How to make a Tumbler Bin Composter.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqfmJKby234

No tillage MORE mulching

2010-02-21T13:56:00.000-08:00

"We have always done it like this" seems to be a common phrase among farmers.
Yet it is time we start using more effective and environmental methods that at the end benefit nature and the farmers as well. WIN/WIN is better!

Synergistic Garden

Sheet Mulching & Useful Plants - Bill Mollison

Pretty v.s Usable

2010-02-21T13:51:00.000-08:00

Free, healthy and deliciuos food is one of the best and basic pleasures in life. Taking a step further and doing it in a community scale and enviroment is even better.

Cultivating a Suburban Foodshed

Edible Landscaping - Living on the Cheap and Easy Part 1

Water Harvesting

2010-02-17T13:38:00.000-08:00

How and why water is a limited resouce that need to be used efficiently. How solutions are easy to attain. From big to small scale and ultimately "FREE" water.

* Rain water collection is an option that I will research more in the future.

The ancient ingenuity of water harvesting

A World Without Water

Permaculture Water Harvesting

Raingarden

Rainwater Harvesting Basics - Brad Lancaster

P.1

P. 2

P.3

Local taxi and guide services in St. Vincent

2010-02-13T09:14:00.000-08:00

If you want safe driving and good prices, Jeffrey is your taxi driver and guide!

Jeffrey is a very nice local that works with RVA for a few years now. He was te first person I met in St. Vincent because he brought me to RVA in his van.

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He is a friendly and hard-working local vegetable farmer that also gives taxi and guide services.

I highly recommend his friendship and services.

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This is his blog:

http://vincyjeffrey.blogspot.com/

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These are his services: *as presented in his blog

"I provide taxi and tour services from the airport or any seaport to the different sightseeing attractions of the island.

I can take you to any destination you desire,
some of the tours you may find interesting are:

Capital Area

Kingstown Tour

Botanical Garden

Leeward Side

Vermont Nature Trails

Waliabou Beach

Cumberland

Trinity Falls

Dark View Falls

Richmond Vale Nature and Hiking Center (website)

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For more information and to hire our services please call:

Jeffrey Gould at (1784) 530 2808 or

Eunice Gould (1784) 529 4213

The transportation van fits groups up to 12 to15 people.

Prices are affordable and payments can be made in EC, USD or EURO."

My job description!

2010-02-09T11:57:00.000-08:00

Finally, only a few days away from my trip to Africa, I get my job description. I will do many things that I have wanted to do for a long time!

1. Introduction

Agriculture forms the backbone of the Mozambican economy. 73% of the population lives from agriculture. Developing agriculture means improving the lives of the millions of Mozambicans working and living in the rural areas. The big majority of the farmers produce little surplus to bring to the market, and are often without means to improve their lot. Through the Farmers Club Program ADPP in Mozambique is mobilizing 10.500 farmers with the main purpose of giving the farmers the necessary tools to work their way out of poverty. Farmers Club is introducing new farming methods and crops, better management of water and soil resources, improving the farmers’ access to the market and carry out a number of actions aiming at improving the health of the farmers and their families.

The Farmers Club Nhamatand is located around 3 districts of Dondo, Nhamatanda and Gorongosa.

THE HISTORY IN BRIEF

ADPP Farmers Club Nhamatanda was introduced in the year 2006 under the operation of EPF Nhamatanda with the idea of implementing the program by using the graduates from the Teacher Training College as well as Local government Extension Workers. In July 2007 the Project was reorganized with the new structure and approach and it became independent. The Program was re-introduced to the District Assemblies, Local leaders and the stake holders on the new organization structure and the implementation plan. Followed was the baseline Survey which was carried in October 2007. The idea was to insure that the goals agreed in the USDA2 funding on the program activities are implemented and achieved through analysis from the different surveys.

Apart from that, Farmers Club Nhamatanda took over Soy Restaurants from TCE Project at the beginning of the year 2008 with the idea of upgrading the structures and initiating the program which sees it self sustaining after the termination. The Soy canteens are also situated around the three districts of Dondo, Nhamatanda and Gorongosa where Farmers Club operates. The base line data collection was carried out in the area with the aim of getting a clear picture on the current situation on health for all the orphans benefiting from the program.

2. Objectives of the Farmers Club Program

The overall objectives of the Farmers Clubs in ADPP are:

· Increased wealth for the farmer

· Sufficient nutritious food for the farmers’ families

· Improved care for the land

· Improved health for the farmers and their families

· The farmer is well organized together with his peers

· Improved access to clean drinking water and irrigation

With the support from USDA, ADPP in Mozambique as the recipient agency is implement the Farmers Club project and Farmers Club Nhamatanda is aiming at achieving the following results by the end of the 3 year’s program duration:

Number of Beneficiaries in the 3 districts:
1500 farmers and their families

Intended outcome after 3 years:
Outputs:

· Support and train 1500 Farmers Club Members

· Establish a small grants program ( up to 30 small grants of $500 – 1.000 per grant)

· Outcome:

· Improved average yield per acre (15 %)

· Increased average income per farmer (15%)

Farmers Club program plans to achieve the outputs through the following interventions:

· Organize the farmers in clubs where they receive training, work together to improve their knowledge on farming and on marketing their products

· Promote crop diversification

· Promote sustainable farming methods

· Expand small scale irrigation

· Introduce and develop basic agro business technologies and skills

· Improve the health of the farmer families through education and concrete actions to improve hygiene

· Promote affirmative action for female farmers

The Farmers Club Nhamatanda reaches 1500 farmers over the 3 years. Besides the farmers other 7500 people are benefiting indirectly from the activities.

The actual interventions include:

· Working with 30 different Clubs established in the districts of Nhamatandanda, Dondo and Gorongosa.

· Continuation in providing access to low-tech water pumps and irrigation systems on 30 established model Fields.

· Introducing new cultivation methods to replace the traditional burn and slash cultivation method.

· Protect the environment by tree planting

· Set up a total of 9 micro loan facilities

· Provide a total of 30 grants to farmers

· Training Farmers Committee members in business planning, writing of loan applications and management of micro loans.

3. Organization and Structure

Farmers Club Nhamatanda is project operating in three districts of Gorongosa, Nhamatanda and Dondo with 1500 farmers.

The basic unit in the Farmers Club is a Farmers Club with 50 members.

The Project has

- 1 Project Leader

- 1 Co- Project Leader

- 3 Farmer Instructors, 1 per District

- 2 Farmer Instructors in Training in the districts of Nhamatanda and Gorongosa

- 1 International Volunteer

The structure:

The Farmers Club Committees:

Each Farmers Club of 50 farmers constitutes itself with a 5-member committee with a chairman, vice-chairman, a secretary, a treasurer and a member.

Each club has its own constitution that the members are obliged to follow in order to benefit from the guidance from the committee.

The Farmers Club Committee takes on the responsibility of the organization, economy and administration of their club.

The committee keeps records of the member activities, the meetings, the production results and the economy of the club.

Committee members participate in cooperation with the extension worker to organize Field Days, marketing, training, workshops and research.

The committee members attend a number of activities like business planning and acquire skills they will pass on to the rest of the farmers in their club.

The committee members from all the 30 clubs in one Unit meet quarterly to evaluate and celebrate the progress of the Farmers Clubs.

Your Job/Responsibilities as a DI (The International Volunteer)

The international volunteers contribute with their personal knowledge and surplus and with the training they have undergone before taking up their positions in the Farmers Club project. The project leader organizes the volunteers.

As a DI you will stay at the Teachers training college in Lamego in the district of Nhamatanda.

You will work together with the Farmers Instructors and the Supervisors in the soy canteens.

Your responsibilities as the Development Instructors will be as follows:

1. The monthly general meetings

You will make sure the monthly meetings are well organized and carried out by working hand in hand together with the farmers instructors and the chairperson of the clubs.

The farmers meet once monthly. The extension worker or a dedicated committee member is in charge of the meeting. The meetings always contain an element of training, and time is set aside to discuss difficulties and find solutions as well as discussing the new techniques introduced in the club.

Together with the Farmer Instructor and the chairperson you will decide the agenda. The agenda is made according to the general Farmers Club program and manual. Participation is monitored, and farmers who are absent from three (3) consecutive times are visited by a committee member to find out the reason for their absence.

The committee members should seek solutions, so no farmers will have to leave the club.

2. Field Visits

As a DI you will need to visit a number of farmers in a weekly basis where you record the activities taking place in the individual fields for the individual farmers.

Education of the farmers takes place on the ground in the fields. You as a DI together with ADPP extension workers as well as representatives from the local Ministry of Agriculture will participate in the Field Visits, where this is possible, and will visit the farmers monthly to facilitate individual assistance.

3. Annual Field Days

Each of the 30 farmers clubs holds an annual Field Day in March. One of the farmers with the best maintained field is selected to become the host, and the other farmers in the area share his experience through demonstration and explanations, questions and answers.

As a Development Instructor you will be responsible to organize the event and make sure people and farmers around the event area gets something out of it.

Make sure that the local authorities and other stakeholders are invited to the event, and the evaluation of the farmers activities are done in common.

4. Field Days in the area

Giving Support to Farmers Club Committee members in arranging Field Days, when any farmer in the area have achieved remarkable results or when necessary to introduce and convince farmers about the viability of new farming methods. Like promoting immune boosting herbs, the benefits of conservation farming, the benefits on cultivating in one place opposed to slash and burn, introduce new vegetables etc.

5. Establishment of irrigation in Blocks

The farmers added irrigation and intensive cultivation of crops for sale. The farmers added this element as one of the way on how they can be able to harvest enough food and be food secured. The farmers started to cultivate different types of vegetables to increase their worth.

As a DI you will be responsible for helping the farmers in establishing Block irrigation system and make sure that the system is helpful and viable for all the farmers taking part.

6. Health and Hygiene Actions

Health and hygiene is one of the element farmers club is implementing. As a DI you will be responsible to plan and carry out cleaning action in the surrounding area where the project is operating.

On this line you will work together with the Farmers Instructors and the community to organize actions on rolling away malaria, diarrhea etc.

As A DI you have a goal of constructing 150 latrines made from local materials. This will be one of your biggest challenges. Apart from that you will also be involved in organizing the community in digging the refuse pit and construction of firewood saving stoves.

7. Data collection

Together with Farmers Instructors you will be responsible for the data collection for the Farmers Club data on the farmer’s production as a DI you will also be responsible to compile the results in each Farmers Club Area and submit to the project leader.

These include:

1. Number of farmers visited

2. Total number of visits

3. Number of intervention the farmers have put in place

4. Number of farmers active in the productions

5. Number of pumps in use

6. Number of plots made

7. Number of nurseries made

8. Types of herbs and crops sown in the nurseries

9. Types of crops sown

10. Total inputs supplied to the farmers

11. Number of clubs meeting

12. Number of farmers club training's held

13. Number of farmers trained

8.Local Partnership

Partnership is the hub of our project, as this period we have a shortfall of rains, it is your responsibility to help the farmers in getting small donations for establishment of irrigated plots, small fields for multiplication and production of draught resistance crops, rearing of domestic animals etc.

It is your responsibility together with the project Leader to link the farmers or help them in getting small funding for these IGPs.

Micro-credit and the future of Poverty

2010-02-04T18:38:00.000-08:00

Small Fortunes
Innocent into Penury

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Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

- 480 385

Microcredit Examples

2010-02-04T15:40:00.000-08:00

Butterflies Bank

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Jamii Bora Bank

Jamii Bora's EcoVillage

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Grameen Bank

Grameen Shikkha (Education)

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Thoughts about happiness

2010-02-04T10:03:00.001-08:00

" I wish you and everyone one around you a happy life "

Why do I give more emphasis to " and everyone one around you "? Because being happy without regard of the people around us may not beneficial for the majority nor will it be real happiness. By, " the people around us " I mean our family, friends, coworkers.....all the ones that need to relate with us. Does our existence help their happiness or do we make sure that they are miserable; in order for them to feel how we are feeling or to raise ourselves up?

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The following videos analyze happiness through psychological and philosophical approaches and ideas. It is very interesting to see how the same "human conflicts and concerns" exist since a long time ago.

REASONS, COMPARISONS, EXPECTATIONS and more:

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Socrates on Self-Confidence (Part 1)

Epicurus on Happiness (Part 2)

Seneca on Anger (Part 3)

Montaigne on Self-Esteem (Part 4)

Schopenhauer on Love (Part 5)

‘the will-to-life’

Nietzsche on Hardship (Part 6)

Who I am......

2010-02-02T19:49:00.000-08:00

I was asked to do a presentation of myself and my country to take to my project in Mozambique.

At the beggining I was not interested in doing it at all, but now - once it is done - I can see it's usefulness and potential.

I need to explain it as the slides go thru.....but for the ones that know me and have been in Ecuador, may find easy to fill in the words. The ones that have not done one or the other....well....here is a vague idea of who I am, haha.

Water Gardens

2010-02-02T17:55:00.000-08:00

Urban Garden Solutions

2010-02-02T16:04:00.000-08:00

Square Foot Gardening (This is an old fashioned video yet it has good and logic ideas that can be easily implemented, I can see myself doing this kind)

Writen Info
http://www.scribd.com/doc/11053641/Square-Foot-Gardening

Empowering Projects

2010-01-31T19:27:00.000-08:00

Kiran Bir Sethi teaches kids to take charge

Supermarket Secrets

2010-01-27T07:51:00.000-08:00

Looks and PRICES are decieving!

We need to re-think how we buy and what we demand.

PRICES or Health
Convenience or Quality

and the list goes on.

Last RVA Video

2010-01-08T12:52:00.000-08:00

Yes yes yes!!!!

As my time in RVA is ending (just 5 weeks to go) I think I finish with a nice video that has been a pleasure to film and edit....but no so fun to deal with video incompatibilities and such. However, the message transcends all the techinicalities and here it is:

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Pre Aniversary

2010-01-08T05:25:00.000-08:00

..........Next year..........

...........the 8th of January 2011......

I will be celebrating the

"official" first day

of my new and sedentary life!

How I will celebrate that?

It is a wonderful and limitless question

As well I celebrate today the first day of my 10th year traveling and working in foreign countries! NOPE.....I just realized its is only year 9......yet....I will not make it to year 10......I need to stop my travels.

Feliz no cumpleanios to me!

Earthlings

2009-12-20T08:49:00.000-08:00

Humans portaried as a needy, greedy and cruel species.
Is this unavoidable or is there a middle ground?

Very crude and disturbing images will follow:

Watch online on Google Videos

Vida nas ruas

2009-12-20T08:39:00.000-08:00

The culture of Brazil, the warmth of it's people.

Life and challenges in a life of domestic violence or in the streets

Another program that succcesfully aids many children, teenagers and women.

Understanding other realities.

View this movie at cultureunplugged.com

I would like to learn more about how to do these kind of programs as a director and as staff. Most of these people are passionate on what they do and have much heart, vision and charisma. Not to mention fulfillement.

Climate Debt

2009-12-15T18:41:00.000-08:00

Asking and thinking about a just climate policy. How indigenous communities and small countries are affected by climate change. A march of awareness in Copenhagen, December 14th.

A sheep story

2009-12-14T19:43:00.000-08:00

So you may have seen that I am not the best TV host. But what happens when I am host, the camera man and the on the go story maker?

Well.....you get this:

Not too bad, not too good. Perhaps I will do better the next time....when I actually plan ahead a bit better.

* My friend Bob edited the video and this video helps us out in our fundrasing activities!

** I must say now...about 3 weeks later....the sheep are happy and sharing the pen with 2 donkeys and some horses. All of them feel in paradise....they run in slow motion thru the lemon trees.

The MAN flu

2009-12-14T19:13:00.000-08:00

Some humor about sick dads and boyfriends. I am sure all women can relate, haha.

I like the terminology...no, I love it.

Dating Humor:
How To Deal With Man Flu

Solar Power

2009-12-14T15:57:00.000-08:00

Explained

The other day we had a class on solar cooking, the Camp Future student even made 2 solar power stoves out of carboard and aluminium foil.

Being a little familiarized with wood saving stoves, making compost, rain water collection and such...I can see how solar cooking can be the next step.

Non conventional classrooms

Box and parabolic style stoves

The "how to's"

GO SUN GO!

(another subject I will keep on exploring)

How It's Made - Solar Panels

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Scenario # 2

2009-12-14T12:47:00.000-08:00

I live in the city of Quito and work in the people living in the slums.

I work with communities in urban gardens (food security), better housing and better sanitation projects. Perhaps family planning, literacy, street children, income generating trades, etc.

Ideally I work for an international (that also works in Quito, such as the UN, FAO and others) or a local but successful NGO. Or even perhaps create one that adapts to what I am interested in doing.

Finally, after 10 years and for the first time, I get my own place and make it into my liking. Hammocks, garden, glass/sun room (to eliminates the cold weather of the city)....colored walls, etc, etc, etc. Permanency...

As a hobby and as a complement of my professional life, I become a super expert in Capoeira. Making lots of capoeira friends and keeping myself in perfect shape. I teach others and make a project where I train Capoeira in the slums to teach fitness, team building, discipline, respect, tradition, culture and art to kids and teenagers.

In this scenario, I live really close to my parents, friends and family. I enjoy all the comforts the small and developing city of Quito can offer. Whenever I make a family of my own, its easier for everyone to do what they like (school wise and career wise).

This is an idea of what I could do in Quito as well:

Green for All - PBS Series
Housing for all.

A Walk to Beautiful

2009-12-13T19:54:00.000-08:00

Powerful and extremely touching.
A glance into rural and poor community health needs and discrimination.
Successful health related NGOs.
Understanding women realities and issues better.
Understanding Africa better.

A Walk to Beautiful tells the stories of five women in Ethiopia who are ostracized by their family and villages due to their suffering from obstetric fistula, a serious medical condition caused by failed childbirth under conditions of insurmountable poverty and inadequate health care.

These women live in isolation with a sense of loneliness and shame due to rejection by their own. Each of these five women choose to reclaim their lives by taking the long and exhausting journey to the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital so they could receive the medical treatment available only here. Upon arriving at the hospital, the women are treated free of charge, resulting in new beginnings. However, not every patient can be cured, but each woman takes her own journey toward becoming independent and productive members of their communities once again. (wikipedia)

I will recommend this documentary for our team this week. This week we study "Health and hygiene"............and its the last week we have general studies. After the holidays in January 4th, we continue fundraising and start our specialization period....where everyone makes smaller groups and concentrates in learning more about their own projects.

To purchase the movie's site says:

"This summer, we released the feature length version of A Walk to Beautiful (85 min.) on DVD with a wealth of special features and bonus materials. These include deleted scenes, commentaries, and two additional films, one of which revisits some of the women features in the film three years after their inspiring journey. This full-length feature is available exclusively through our website www.walktobeautiful.com, or by calling 212-413-9200. The DVD currently presented on Amazon and Netflix, or for streaming on YouTube, is the shorter, less in depth one-hour PBS version, whereas the true full-length feature film is only available on our website.

We are also thrilled and proud to inform you that we won a 2009 Emmy, in addition to the film’s scores of other top awards. This is a tremendous honor and distinction that will further support our efforts to spread the word about our film."

AIDS week

2009-12-13T19:12:00.000-08:00

Last week we studied about HIV and AIDS, not only about the technical aspects of the disease but the social cultural ones as well. We talked about the discrimination faced, the counseling needed and the ignorance about the disease people with HIV and AIDS face in - mostly - the rural areas in the world.

We saw a very good documentary that talks about all this called "Pandemic: facing AIDS". Sadly I could not find a site online that would show it......so I could not embedd the doc. in this blog but recommned you to watch it.

Furthermore, in a class that my friend Mariana made, I saw for the first time, crude yet real and educational ADs that prevent and raise awareness (shown bellow - caution for the graphic nature of them). Unlike many other people, I do not believe AIDS can not touch me and the ones around me (even if I don't really know many people living with this condition near me).

No matter how "good" one may be or how "adequately" one may behave, it does not assure that HIV and AIDS will not get to any of us. Something as easy as an unfaithful spouse.....can get us closer to the disease no matter how we behave. As this first ad says it:

A worldwide issue

None of us is resistant, immune....a super hero

Crude but true

Is the pleasure and irresponsibility of sex w/o a condom worth it?

What happens after? Can and should we trust so blindly?

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So yes, condoms are the way to go
(among other measures and behaviors)!

Scenario 1

2009-12-13T17:21:00.001-08:00

I live in the beautiful highlands of Ecuador;
a life that is simple and close to nature.

I grow and sell organic vegetables and meat produce and use alternative energy methods.

I make community projects in several villages. By promoting ecological and efficient farming, cooking and ultimately: sustainable living practices. I help communities make vegetable cooperatives and invest in income generating projects. We take care of reforestation and cleaning campaigns among other projects.

Overall, will all those actions, together with the locals, I strengthen communities. I empower people to learn, become wealthier and healthier. I go to the city and am visited by my parents often. My husband is into the same (or similar) projects as me, together we find grants and resources to work in the community. We even have some freelance and city or international jobs (thanks to internet and laptops available) that do not require any of us to travel but are very interesting and growth/development related.

With our children we are all happy living in the country side. To spice it all up, we also take care of orphans and international volunteers come to stay with us and work in our farm and community projects. We live a life that is full of balance with plenty of love, relationships, nature and family. A life that affects little in today's pollution and Earth's depletion problems.

Yes and for all this, we all learn Quechua to communicate to the indigenous people effectively.

.....will I choose this way of life.....?
perhaps

MY White Canvas

2009-12-13T14:57:00.000-08:00

Its hard to truly transmit how exciting its for me this stage of my life.

Its like a tsunami wave slowly approaches towards me.

Its like quietly contemplating a beautiful masterpiece in the grandeur of it's white canvas.

I like so many outcomes and I am interested in so many possibilities that complement and contradict each other..........that sorting through them and weighing them out....is a nerve wrecking and profound soul searching procedure.

As from today, I have 389 days to resolve it.........to shape my future life into existence. Some days I say "fuck it" I need to start NOW.....why wait so long and other days, I am happy to know I have time to figure it all out.

There was a time when all I could think of was to pack up my bags and leave it all behind to experience the world. Now (as I say and write it over and over again), I can only think about on how to settle and begin to reach out and expand. It is interesting how different phases in us are born, evolve and move on. I am not saying that I have an specif future already visualized. It goes beyond that. My daydreams and reflections take me to different settings with the ultimate search of my happiness and fulfillment.

I am getting ready to set flight

I feel it is like I am being born again yet - this time - I am choosing when, where and how to do so. This rebirth brings lot's power, directionality and force into my life. I still need to find, make and choose the path I will follow.

Slowly and at steady pace.
- I am not lost nor wandering -

Africa on February 15th?

2009-12-13T14:25:00.000-08:00

Good news,
the administration has us that:

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If we fund-raise all the team's goal,
we will go to Africa 2 or 3 weeks sooner

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To think that I will go to Africa soon, really makes me feel very enthusiastic. I have never prepared so long to go to a place or start a project like this before. What seemed before as a distant and unprovable event, is now running towads me with it's arms right open.

For some reason, I feel I really need to go to Africa; that this trip is important for me and my life. Yet, I don't know why this is. What this experience will bring me, will teach me......I guess......I will live and see.

Urban Vegetable Gardens

2009-12-06T13:50:00.000-08:00

This will be an on going and recurrent topic as I learn more about the subject and, hopefully, put it into practice when I have a home my own.

How many gas miles does your food cost? How far has your food traveled consuming gas and creating pollution before it reaches your table? How many unknown pesticides, hormones and chemicals has your food been exposed to during production, packaging and storage? Without us really knowing it - and in most cases - all of these environmental and health issues elevate the prices of our bought vegetables exponentially in the short and long term.

For these and other reasons, many people opt to buy local. They consciously decide to support their local economy and small scale farmers. However, some people go even one step further, they take "local" into their homes, neighborhoods and hands.

In the city and at our homes, we have a lot of available areas that can be transformed into productive as well as beautiful areas. By doing so, we can become healthier and self sufficient in many of the vegetable we eat (if not all). In the rural areas - as at RVA - we are training to take farming not only into our projects in Africa and Latin America but into our cities and homes.
In the next videos and pictures we find some visionary people that have successfully integrated gardening and farming as a form of life and even art:

A family garden in their front yard

Rooftop Gardening in New York City

A visionary company - BrightFarm Systems

"BrightFarm Systems is a specialist greenhouse design consultancy, focused exclusively on the design of hydroponic rooftop farms. Our core value is ecological sustainability. Our practice is worldwide.

These building-integrated farms are designed to grow premium grade vegetables and fruit, in the heart of your community. 365 days a year." - taken from their website

http://www.brightfarmsystems.com/

A visionary botanist and artist

Is creating living walls that contrast and lightens up the heavy concrete in many cities and locations. Bringing nature and green back to the cities in a different way than parks do.
http://www.verticalgardenpatrickblanc.com/

Perhaps creating gardens for budget, health and food security issues is a possible and good idea after all!

Understanding the struggle of poverty

2009-12-06T13:28:00.000-08:00

Working community development, it is not always so easy. Volunteers and NGOs many times are puzzled and discouraged by that their enthusiasm is meet with what it seems as indifference, resistance and lack of cooperation from the community they aim to aid.

Can we put ourselves in this familiy's shoes?

Trying to understand the reality these people face, maybe we can begin to understand where they are coming from.

If I am not poor, can I really understand what it means to be poor? When I am sitting behind a computer screen, the television or the car window, with on a satisfied stomach, good health and an university degree under my sleeve. Can I even begin the feel a 5% of the frustration, pain and sense of injustice or desperation poor people feel? It is true that - nor poverty or richness - determine the level of happiness or fulfillment people have or feel. Yet, being born in a family of prostitutes, in a family of dumpster scavengers or into no family at all brings life opportunities and aspirations to the lowest low and makes overcoming poverty a quite challenging – almost impossible - task.

From the perspective of someone that has generous financial, technological, academic, emotional and physical resources; poverty may be the result of lazy, weak, stupid, passive and stubborn people that do not fight to get a better life. But, are there deeper explanations to poor people’s attitudes and behaviors? Separately, in the following topics, I consider some reasons why it is so hard for people to get out of poverty. (Despite of the fact that, each topic cannot be analyzed as an isolated reality.) Since all of these obstacles and problems are interconnected and affect each other.... making this analysis and reality much more complex and hard to deal with.

If my parents are poor, how can I overcome such conditions?

Family Generations - Many people of low resources come from families that have face poverty for several generations. Without direct role models or leaders to follow and the misleading information the media and movies give, these people with no practical training or guidance to overcome their problems. Living them in a wild chase in the search for better life conditions or, most likely, just barely making it to survive for the present day.

Without access to education, development is harder

Lack of education - Learning to read, do math, think and to clearly express ourselves; are basic skills that allow us to make a better - to outstanding - living. Yet, people on severe poverty, who do not even know how to read.....do not have the means to be analytical, know a trade or do more complex actions that will lead them to success. They are stuck technically “easy to do” jobs such as prostitution, cleaning, dumpster scavenging, shoe shining, etc. How can anyone get a real chance to evolve with trades like this?

An empty stomach affects people at many levels

Basic needs not met - One of the biggest problems people under the poverty line face is the fact that no one can really work or study on an empty stomach. Physically and emotionally, hunger is a reality that affects how we relate to the world. Like most of us, I have only gone "mildly" hungry for no more than a few hours. Yet what happens when the "mild" – and probably intense - hunger last for days, months or years? And even worst, what happens if I am not the only one that is hungry but my whole family is and they depend on me to feed themselves? What do I do when, I (as a child or as a parent), need to work and stress, with empty stomach and with no education, to feed myself and others………….in a job that pays little or close to nothing?

Thinking long term is the key for development

Opportunities and concerns - Investing in a new idea or plan takes time to organize, implement, reap and saw. Can poor people focus in the long term when their short term is falling apart? Can we consider that their resistance, can be based in the fact that they have never been aided by external organizations or that other aid organizations and development projects have offered changes that never came?

A structure and support system is needed to start new projects

No starting points - What happens if people have great ideas but no money to start with? The little money that they make goes away in hungry mouths, clothing or health (basic needs). When no bank will lend them money and they can't earn more: when their hands are tied?

Based in these thoughts, perhaps, we can see how - for many - it is not so easy to achieve change and get out of the poverty loop. Perhaps it is easier to understand how with all these obstacles mentioned before, why when an NGO “descends” from the skies with all the “outsider/intruder” solutions and answers, the humanitarian workers may find themselves with, what it seems, as a brick wall.

However, fortunately, not all is lost……..it’s just that development takes time. Creating change from the inside out (grassroots), empowering people and encouraging them to work for their development with temporary aid instead of “gifts” and paternalistic approaches. Is the way of the future, the true way of sustainable development. Like many others, it is what we are strive to do in this program and organization. This approach takes this wise Chinese proverb into practice:

"Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he will eat for the rest of his life."

My team's fundraising explained

2009-12-03T10:22:00.000-08:00

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What is fundraising all about?

At the Ricmond Vale Academy, a part of the training is fundraising.

A fourteen months Africa program including food, accommodation, program, activities, excursions, travel to Africa and health insurance in Africa cost around 12.000 USD. The partcipants pay one part in tuition (apr 3500 USD) and one part through fundraising during the training (1500 USD). Further funds are raised to cover the costs through grants from our partner school IICD in USA, Humana People to People and the staff fundraises for the DI program through running the Academy's Nature and HIking Center.

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All participants need to fundraise 1.500USD per person yet, the program structure and each participant's necessities encourage everyone to raise funds as a whole team or as subgroups rather than as a sole individual.

Phase 1:

The September 2009 Africa Team started to fundraise as a team. All17 participants worked together for 3 whole weeks to collect 25.500USD through different activities such as:

selling and making food,

asking for local sponsorships,

working in program promotion,

distributing donation boxes,

running an academy snack’s shop,

making articles and

program related videos

At the end of each month, studies would stop and the team concentrated 100% on these activities. As the 3rd week and month of fundraising, the team had raised in:

Sales: USD 771.00

Promotion: USD 600.00

Sponsorship: USD 484.00

Donation boxes: USD 47.00

Totaling USD 1,902.00, leaving everyone with a need to raise 23,598USD more in only 3 more weeks (because the training period ends in only 3 more months)

This following video shows some of the activities that took place during the phase 1 of our fundraising. (During this time, I was designing RVA's newspaper and working in program promotion therefore I was not involved in the sales and cooking areas)

Phase 2:

Due to the relative low success on fundraising the team goal; new approaches and solutions needed to be done by the Africa Team. The fundraising responsibles (2 program participants), the Africa Team teacher and the academy’s director started thinking about different approaches. And together with the whole team, it was decided that 5 new subgroups would be done to collect the funds.

Group A: has 5 participants

Group B: has 4 participants

Group C: has 3 participants

Group D: has 3 participants

Group E: has 2 participants

The benefits of this arrangement are several:

Participants chose and work with like-minded people.

The group goal is reduced and easier to manage. For example, team 5 need to concentrate in raising 7.500USD instead of 65.500USD.

It is easier to monitor, motivate and coordinate each person’s efforts and work when the decision-making and group is smaller (2 to 5 people v.s 17).

The question may arise: Why don’t people concentrate in fundraising on their own? Fundraising is a challenging activity that requires much teamwork, dedication and cooperation. Not all participants have the 1.500USD in their savings accounts nor have many sponsors to relay on. For this reason, as a group or as team, all of the participants work together to help each other out in ideas, resources and activities. Furthermore, fundraising trains participants skills to take to Africa and Latin America to collect funds and work together on their projects.

Just one thing is certain, all team succeed in raising the funds needed. And for the September Team, this objective is strong and ongoing for the time being!

Our Journey to Africa

2009-12-02T11:24:00.000-08:00

Hi!

We are 3 students preparing to work in Mozambique this March. In order to go do humanitarian work in the communities we have been assigned to, we are looking for sponsors that would like to support what we do and help us raise 4500USD to travel and work in Africa.

To see what we do at the Academy and in Africa, please watch this video and visit the links below.

Video

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Blog Information

Isabela Queiroz de Oliveira (View blog)

Elizabeth Urraza Dugay (View blog)

Andrea Perez (View Blog )

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Richmond Vale Academy

Website

YouTube Channel

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Funds Raised

* This information will be constantly updated as we fund 4.500USD

Funded (January13th, 2010): 2.073USD
Still Needed: 2.426USD

(We would like to thank you very much to the people that have sponsored us!!!! You are helping us a lot.)

To keep informed about our work in Africa, our studies in the Academy and on how the funds raised are being used: please check all of our future and existing blog posts.

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Sponsorship Payment Options

See below for information on how to donate via PayPal, Western Union and RBTT Bank Caribbean

A. PayPal information

Clicking in the button "Donate" will take you directly to our PayPal account where you can pay via credit card the amount desired. If you need assistance using PayPal please send us a email to azul21ec@hotmail.com

Please send us and email to azul21ec@hotmail.com letting us know that you have sponsored us and we will send you a confirmation email and letter.

B. Western Union Information

Where to deposit:
To find the closest Western Union office to you click here: http://www.westernunion.com/

Contact info:

Andrea Perez
DRH Richmond Vale Academy
Chateaubelair Post Office. - St Vincent and Grenadines
Phone: +1784 45 48 591
Notice email:
Please let us now that you have sponsored us by writing us an email to azul21ec@hotmail.com. In your email, please put the date and receipt number of your deposit.

Confirmation email:
After we go to the Western Union office in Kingstown, we will confirm to you that we have received your sponsorship with and email and letter.

C. Academy's Bank Account Information

Bank transfer information: To transfer USD to the Caribbean, it has to go through the Bank of New York. You need both banks on the transfer sheet in your country. Please, explain to your bank of the procedure.

Richmond Vale Academy
Account number: 10 201 0585
C/O RBTT Bank Caribbean Ltd.
81 South River Road
Kingstown, St. Vincent & the Grenadines.
SWIFT CODE: RBTTVCVC

Money to Richmond Vale Academy is sent through:

Bank of New York
1 Wall Street, New York, NY 10286, USA
Credit to account number: 890-0060-387
Routing code: 021000018
Swift code: IRVTUS3N

Notice email: Once you have made the transfer please send us an email to azul21ec@hotmail.com with the transfer information.

Confirmation email: We will send you an email and letter confirming that your sponsorship has been credited to our account.

Nhamatanda - Farmers Club

2009-11-30T21:31:00.000-08:00

My call into the world

As I prepare to go to my project in Nhamatanda, I can't find much information about this small area in Mozambique. So, I am trying to reach out and contact people before everything starts in March.....so these beginning is not so blind folded as many are.

If you have information about the place and project; have been in Nhamatanda; etc....feel free to send me an email to azul21ec@hotmail.com

Namaste,
Andrea

In quest of La Soufriere

2009-11-30T06:18:00.000-08:00

Fortunately, we get to enjoy the beauty of the island with nice hikes. My friend Elizabeth narrates our adventure:

I had heard that the Volcano Hike was quite an event. Even before arriving to RVA I had read about previous hikes and seen pictures.

View of La Soufrière Volcano

Once I got here and looked up for the first time towards the north of the island… there it was! Eager like a kid that’s been taken to the playground I sat and waited… and finally, last weekend: time had passed and the day had come.

A couple of days before, I started asking around whom would like to camp up there. I thought that an experience like this is a perfect scenario to juice up and go all the way. We figured out the food provisions, the tents, and the plan. By this time, twelve people were motivated and willing to stay up there and live the adventure.

Starting the adventure at 8 a.m!

Saturday morning we got ready, took the official Volcano Hike Picture and left off at 8am. The way up was hard, the normal sweat, scratches and bruises… some falls and mud all over. Some of my teammates sensibly decided to turn around and go back due to stronger pain. The way up is steep, since we start at sea level and hike up to 1,234mts at the top. It took me almost four hours to get to the top; I got there with cramps and pain in my legs… with a huge backpack (for the camping) and with a big smile…

Partial view of the first crater

This place was heaven! I couldn’t believe what my eyes were seeing… the crater is humongous and it has a big dome inside… this dome grows and grows with the years and then, when it can’t grow more: BANG! I have to admit that the whole scene was fascinating yet a little intimidating. The wind was blowing so hard that we had to grab all our belongings and sit. Then the rain began to hit strong and with no mercy… we all gathered under a lonely tree (flora up there is short due to the height and the volcano's various eruptions in 1718, 1812, 1902, 1971 and 1979). By this time, only five hikers were still up for the camping…

The second crater, where we camped

We knew that camping inside the main crater was not a good idea because of the Sulfur fumes, and up there: impossible! Up at the top, there is no flat space to camp… and besides, the wind would just drag us all the way to the Caribbean! So we decided to quest for the other crater, the one that we’d heard has a lake in it… the one that no one from RVA had visited before… So we charged up and continued our journey.

The brave and happy campers!

This hike is beautiful and challenging… we walked around the big crater. Fog, wind and rain came with us and made it even more exciting. We had to make a phone call at certain point, because we thought the trail was over! After three more hours, some more falls, two more phone calls, and emotional ups and downs… we got there!

The long yet beautiful way back home

We gathered some rocks and dry branches to light a fire and had dinner; we set our tents and got ready for a windy-rainy night that made our tent dance! We enjoyed even the cold weather… it’s been three months of Caribbean heat! Next morning was beautiful; we didn’t want to come back! But we had to, so four more hours to come down to RVA… and home sweet home.

This was an amazing experience. We conquered so much! Our muscles, our minds, our fears… we lived difficulties and worked them out as a team. We asked for help when needed, and we hung in there… until the goal was accomplished. There is still so much to learn after this hike… I think it was a similar scenario of what might come up in Africa. We will meet difficulties; we will have steep hills and strong winds; so let’s hang in there! Because after all of this, there is a wonderful breezy lake, waiting to freshen us up. Thanks for sharing this amazing weekend!

Are we there yet??

By: Elizabeth Urraza, December 2009

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My first time in the volcano, we went down to the first crater going down with huge rope in an almost "rapel" style descent. The school dog, Royal, goes to the volcano everytime he can.....I bet he has gone up about 30 times. He is awesome and cute, when I get a dog I want one like him (size and personality wise).

Fundraising - Graphic Design

2009-11-27T16:41:00.000-08:00

I have been working for RVA to help them in projects that help more than 16 Vincentians have a job (Richmond Vale Juices) and a project that help collect funds to send participants to Africa and Ecuador (Richmond Vale Hiking and Nature Center). And I have designed the first RVA newspaper that will inform Vincentians about the work and programs we are doing, as well as thank them for their support over the last 3 years.

With all of these projects, I will fund raise around 1000USD to go to Africa. With a half broken computer and working extra time while studying, has been a challenging and good experience. I love doing graphic design! If anyone needs some work done, please let me know and, the money payed...will be used in my travel and work in Mozambique!!!!

Clay enery saving stoves

2009-11-24T10:39:00.000-08:00

Possible projects that I may do:

Safer and ecological stoves prevent deforestation and fires.

My "month based" life

2009-11-23T17:28:00.000-08:00

My temporary and closest family

for 10 months: everyone at RVA

Today, I have been at RVA for 7 months and, based in all the experiences and learning, it feels like I have been here for a year or more.

I only have about 3 months left at the Caribbean......and then, in my "month based" life: I will go to Africa for 6 months, then I will return to RVA for 1 or 2 months.

I am very happy to know where I am going and what I will be doing in Africa. I feel that, after January, when I start specializing in "Food security (Farming) and Community Development" my studies and activities will be more focused and practical......and that is great for all my future and present jobs and interests.

So, my life at the moment is full of expectation + future and promising travels and plans.

Additionally, for the next 24 days I impatiently await to go to Ecuador for 10 days. In the middle of my 18 months trip......going back home to recharge and recuperate for a few days is extremely welcomed and necessary!

Yeah, good stuff is to come!

And 2010 is almost here.....indeed it will be a very interesting year for me.

2010 will be the last year of non-conventional travels and temporary homes. Afterwards, I will settle down. I really look fowards for such change in my life! I will settle down in Ecuador because - on my own - long distance family relationships, visas and overall burocracy, make living in another country a waste of my time, energy and emotions. I hope and want to find in Ecuador a good and fulfilling life.

I dream of working in an international NGO and work in rural and urban communities in food security, income generating (and perhaps education or orphan related) programs.

TIME, TIME, TIME

Is life - really - what happens while we are making plans???

Definitely.......

Haha.....ok ok
So, November 28th is officially my 7 month celebration....BUT as you can see.......I have started celebrating 5 days sooner!

I just could not wait =)

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Nhamatanda

2009-11-20T16:22:00.000-08:00

Nhamatanda, is where I will be for 6 months.

Nhamatanda is a Town in the Sofala Province of Mozambique. It is located about 20 miles from Mozambique's second largest city Beira.

Nhamatanda is a relatively new name, before, it was called "VILA MACHADO".

To see a not so professional yet informative video please go to:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WspO7yjwdjk

Surface: 3.978 km2
Population: 190.000 aprox
Max and min temperaures: 32C to 17C
Languages: Portuguese and Cindau

About Lamego, Nhamatanda
I think I may live in the town of Lamego.

Nhamatanda is the name of the district in which Lamego, our village, is located. Lamego is approximately 90 kilometers west of the provincial capital, Beira. Lamego is sparsely populated area, with approximately 35,000 inhabitants, made up of 15 small neighborhoods. Through the center runs a railroad track and the corridor that runs from Beira to Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe. The Beira corridor is a vitally important trade route in Southern Africa.

The land is very fertile, however, not much of it is cultivated. The people in Lamego are subsistent farmers, no ploughs or animals are used, but a few tractors can be hired for those who can afford it. The principle tool used is the hoe for the one or two hectares that each family manages to cultivate.

People in this area are very poor. Many are considered to be refugees from the civil war, which lasted from 1976 until 1992 when a peace accord was signed. The severe flooding in 2000 left people with no employment opportunities.

In Lamego, there is a local health center and a primary school but many people remain uncared for.

Caminante......

2009-11-19T19:26:00.000-08:00

_______________________

Caminante, no hay camino,

se hace camino al andar.

_______________________

Al andar se hace el camino,

y al volver la vista atrás

se ve la senda que nunca

se ha de volver a pisar.

_______________________

Antonio Machado

The Power of Community

2009-11-19T16:28:00.002-08:00

This is a very interesting documentary we have seen on the program.

It shows a great example of urban gardens......what we need to start doing on all cities around the world.

It also provides a great explanation on what will happen when oil runs out!

Watch the full documentary now (Click Here)

Vale la pena ser voluntario?

2009-11-19T11:55:00.001-08:00

Este articulo ha sido hecho para publicar en la pagina web de la academia. Al igual que otros articulos publicados en mi blog, ha sido creado como una actividad para recaudar fondos.

Muchas personas se preguntan si vale la pena dejar su país, familia, amigos, trabajo remunerado y cotidianidad para trabajar sin sueldo, para pagar por voluntariarse y vivir una vida muy poco convencional. Sin duda, este cuestionamiento es muy valido y a continuación me gustaría exponer algunas ideas y respuestas relacionadas con el tema.

Conceptualmente, todos sabemos que el mundo esta lleno de contrastes. Tenemos una vaga idea de que hay gente que vive en extrema o moderada pobreza. Los medios nos dicen que hay personas que pasan hambre, que tienen poca o ninguna educación, además de que, generalmente, viven en condiciones infrahumanas. Sin embargo, al observarlo todo desde el otro lado del computador, de la ventana del carro o de la pantalla del televisor (mientras tenemos un techo estable, un estomago lleno y un bachillerato universitario) yo diría que: pocos sabemos y verdaderamente entendemos lo que significa ser pobre. Afortunadamente, en el mundo hay personas que, a pesar de no saber exactamente que es ser pobre están dispuestos a salir de la reconfortante calidez de su status social y económico para ayudar a comunidades de escasos recursos a salir adelante.

Muchos podrán preguntarse que beneficios traen ser voluntario, se preguntarán si una experiencia como esta puede traer beneficios y aprendizajes valiosos. Y, sin duda alguna, la respuesta es “SÍ”. Voluntariarse y viajar traen innumerables oportunidades y ventajas. Salir de nuestros países y conocer lugares y culturas nuevas abren nuestros horizontes y mente a ideas más complejas, globales y amplias. Nos dan oportunidad de interactuar con gente que piensa distinto a nosotros y nos permite ver formas de vida diferentes a las nuestras. Basados en todas las experiencias que vivimos y sentimos, programas como este, nos ayudan a conocernos mejor y a crecer como personas. Las experiencias de voluntariado pueden dar un giro completo a nuestras vidas, ideas y creencias. Pueden cambiar profundamente las maneras en que nos relacionamos con el mundo.

Además de las innumerables amistades, experiencias, paisajes y anécdotas que se adquieren al realizar programas de voluntariado. Experimentar distintas culturas y situaciones traen consigo conocimientos importantes. Para muchos, esta una gran oportunidad de aprender una nueva idioma, de encontrar nuevas maneras de expresarse y de desarrollar valiosas destrezas sociales, de liderazgo, de comunicación, entre otras. Es una manera de vivir mas intensamente y por un periodo de tiempo, es una manera de hacer algo diferente a lo ya que es conocido y muchas veces repetitivo en nuestras vidas. Complementariamente, en programas como los nuestros - que son más técnicos y de entrenamiento - se aprenden nuevos conocimientos y sobrellevan responsabilidades especificas (como trabajo con personas en riesgo de VIH/SIDA, entrenamiento a profesores, trabajo con cooperativas de agricultores, campañas de higiene y mucho mas). Como resultado, estos programas tienen un alto potencial de mejorar nuestras opciones y aspiraciones profesionales. Voluntariados como el nuestro, abren muchas puertas en futuros trabajos ya sean en nuestros países de origen o fuera de ellos. En el sector del trabajo de desarrollo, viajar y trabajar en países como Malawi, Mozambique y Ecuador, acrecientan nuestros currículos, experiencia y potencial exponencialmente.

Por estas y muchas razones, ser voluntario en este o cualquier programa y dedicar un periodo de nuestras vidas a causas humanitarias, vale la pena. Cada uno de nosotros es un factor esencial y necesario en la movilización para mejorar el mundo. Como dijo Mahatma Gandhi “sé el cambio que quieres ver en el mundo”. Por esto, te invitamos a ser parte de Richmond Vale Academy, te invitamos a ser parte del cambio!

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Practical Skills

2009-11-19T11:49:00.000-08:00

In developing countries and projects, attaining progress and success may require more than hiring someone to make things happen. Most organizations and ideas are usually running on limited people and financial resources. Therefore, learning how to build and create all kind of improvements and constructions is very useful. Furthermore, getting used to organizing people and handling construction tools, becomes very useful when participating or supervising work in our projects in Africa.

During the 6 months training, each team member participates in 2 building weekends. The structure of the actions is usually the same. Everyone chooses what group and task to be involved in and, for 2 full days, works on them with the rest of the participants.

Here at RVA, we get a many opportunities to develop these practical skills thru building weekends, community actions and action on compounds.

Building weekends:
During the 6 months training, each team member participates in 2 building weekends. The structure of the actions is usually the same. Everyone chooses what group and task to be involved in and, for 2 full days, works on them with the rest of the participants.

Community actions:
We also have 2 of them during the program and this 1 day activity is made in the community in an school, orphanage or village. Here we try to get the community to participate as well….and motivating them to do so…..can be challenging since they are not so used to be proactive or to volunteer for a few hours in actions that will benefit themselves (more than us).

Action on compounds:
These are whole morning actions and occur once a week. So during the 6 months, we have lots of them!

Since I have done Action Team, I will be here for 10 months and not only 6 like the most. For this reason, I have participated in many of these activities and in the following lists I will enumerate many of the skills many of the program participants, including me, have learned. Furthermore, I will group these skills under projects where we could use our gained knowledge in Africa or Latin America. For some, the skills mentioned below will be common and insignificant yet, upon arrival many participants are “city people” and for different reasons have not had a chance to do most of the following:

Farmers Club and creation of gardens

Installing drip irrigation systems
Making rain water collection solutions
Kitchen waste, liquid and manure composts
Cleaning up areas with machetes
Creating new garden and garden beds from scratch
Digging up big and old tree roots

Building of Schools or other Builiding

Electric installations
Painting walls and doors
Fixing doors
Taking off and installing doors and windows
Sealing window gaps
Construction skills
Plumbing

General use

Overall repairing
Using construction and garden tools

Income generated activities

Creating animal fences
Constructing chicken houses
Making BioCharchoal

And the list and projects could go on.

Plus, with all of these actions, we also learn to organize ourselves to work

as a team in the different activities and projects

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The following videos narrate what the 2009 Africa September Team worked on:

Building Weekend 2

Building Weekend 1

Introduction to the DI responsible in: Mozambique

2009-11-19T10:40:00.000-08:00

Now, my training is getting more technical.

The following form has been made so I get in contact for the first time, with Peter. The man that is incharged of all the D.Is in Mozambique.

It feels my Africa trip is getting closer and closer. (I will go in March 2010)

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My Project is: Farmers Clubs

I will tell you something about myself, in order for you to realise how can I contribute to the development of the project:

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My main objectives by becoming a Development Instructor are:

For the last 10 years I have been very interested and involved in humanitarian jobs in a few countries.

My objectives on this programs are:

To help communities and people have a better life.
To continue learning about development and community work.
To practice my leadership, communication and cooperation skills as much as I can.
To specialize in food production and food security.
Experience different cultures to the fullest. In this case, I am very excited of going to Mozambique and learning about the culture of such wonderful country.

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The reasons I would like a position in this project are:

I believe that farming is an essential trade and knowledge for people of all backgrounds. I also believe that agriculture in the future years will regain much importance and focus at all levels. For these 2 reasons, I am very interested in being part of these project and having the opportunity to develop in this area. Besides, for many years, I have wanted to have my own vegetable garden but I have not been able to start it for many reasons. This project helps me be more involved and aligned in my dreams and desires.

Because most people that face poverty struggle deeply to earn money and, most importantly, feed themselves properly and in an affordable way: I am very interested in collaborating - in the best I can - so more people can live and work on a full stomach. This project will allow me to create and expand my knowledge in agriculture and community development. In the future, I dream on working in urban gardens or rural farmers club projects. For these reasons, it is vital for me to be part of the Farmers Clubs Projects.

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I speak the following languages:
English, Portuguese, Spanish

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I have taken this education:

I graduated form university 7 years ago as a Digital Artist and I have some training in Psychology.
I have also trained in using art and graphic design as a tool in social change and action.
Additionally, I have trained in the "Love and Logic" technique, a parenting and leadership approach.

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I have some special qualification that can be used:

I am an artist and graphic designer. I can make posters, manual, videos, websites and many information materials. I would really like to use this talent to help the community and workers understand concepts, trainings and organization plans better.

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I have these experiences that I can imagine will be useful at the project:

I have worked in other community projects, so I have a experience talking with groups, planning activities and such. I am responsible and hardworking.

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My special interest, which I think can be utilised in the project is:

I hope my design and writing interests can be utilized to help the people in the community or inside the project.

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I have these ideas and plans of things I will try to fundraise and bring with me to the project:

Depending to what community and Farmers Clubs I go and in what my team leader would like me to focus on. I will be happy to fundraise the materials and resources to help in the project in mind.

For fundraising, I will contact agriculture business and friends of mine and will explain to them the project I will be working on, the needs and the objectives of the projects......and I will ask for their collaboration.

Furthermore, I will make an special emphasis to specialize and research plans, knowledge and solutions related with the project or challenge my team leader wants me to focus on.

On the basis of the information about myself I look forward to receive the work plan and information about which project I am going to, so that I can prepare myself for the job. If you need more information you are most welcome to contact me.

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Now, today, with this form and letter, I feel that for the first time, the wheels have been set in motion. I finally feel that my Africa trip and project is a reality and I will go through it 100%.

IT's EXCITINGGGGGGGGGG!

Open Saturday at RVA

2009-11-18T18:29:00.000-08:00

Open Saturdays are an activity where the D.Is from the Africa Team organize an afternoon of games, snacks and fun with the children and teenagers of the neighboring communities. The locals are very happy to come to RVA not only because they know they will have a lot of fun and delicious snacks but because they like to enjoy some time in the different and beautiful surroundings of the Academy.

Watch the video of our Open Saturday

For many program participants this is the first time dealing with a big community event that houses 100 to 150 children and they may find themselves lost not knowing where to start. This article aims to help future teams to plan more effectively their Open Saturday Event. Based in the 2009 September Team and other teams’ experiences, the following guideline addresses some aspects that need to be taken in consideration:

Invitations: The children and the community are very interested and enthusiastic about Open Saturdays, so there is not much need to make a lot of advertising. However, making a few signs and posting them at the schools, talking to the students and approaching kids in the community is needed is essential. Making a advertising action (with 3 to 4 people) in the towns of Petit, Chateau and Fitz Hughes for 1 o 2 afternoons to do this is recommended. The Open Saturday should last from 2pm to 5pm (without calculating transportation to and from the Academy).

Age Restrictions: Limiting the ads and invitations to children under 12, is a good way to focus in the children when preparing activities for their interest and to have secure and more organized surroundings. Your team needs to decide if it wants to invite teenagers to the event. If so, activities for them will need to be planned and security measures need to be stronger. Teenagers sometimes engage in fighting, inappropriate behaviors or, out of boredom or to call others attention, may disrupt your activities. Focusing in age groups that go form 3 to 12 years is more manageable and advisable. Keep in mind that even with the age restriction and for diverse reasons, some older teenagers will appear to the event.

Age Groups: Having many groups of children of all ages can be challenging and can lead to lack of control and disorganization. Bigger kids will fight with the smaller ones; they will be interested in other activities and they will win over the little ones. As a result, unnecessary fights, cries and overall madness will stress and tire everyone. This can easily be avoided by creating 3 groups that are distinguished by colored wrist bands (the wrist band will help with security and snack time which will be explained later). In each group, 3 to 4 D.Is can be responsible of the children of specific ages. Everyone will need to plan several activities planned according to the capabilities and interests of each age group. The activities will last for about 3 hours. The age groups can be divided with kids from ages 3 - 5, 6 – 8 and 9 – 12.

Team Leaders: Depending in how proactive and prepared each team leader is, the better the group will behave and have fun. Dividing tasks as to: how to help set up the games, props and responsibilities will make the activities run smoother. If kids need to wait around waiting for the leaders to get ready they will get out of control. For example, if your team wants to play balloon tag be sure that you have string cut before hand and that at least 2 team leaders tie the balloons to the kids legs while the other leader blows up the balloons. Instead of having 1 or 2 leaders taking pictures, talking with the kids or watching the other work while just one team leaders stresses over getting the kids ready. The last way of proceeding wastes a lot of time, energy and teamwork.

Entertainment: Perhaps you and your team have many ideas for different activities. Regardless, here are 3 types of things you could also focus on.

Games: Keep in mind that you will be dealing with groups of 20 to 30 children so the activities need to be easy to understand, active and interesting. You may have heard of: Cooperative games….they are activities where people of all ages can play to get to know each other better, create trust, energy or lots of fun. Some links where you can find these games are http://www.ultimatecampresource.com/site/camp-activities/cooperative-games.page-1.html or http://www.mrgym.com/CooperativeGames.htm. Traditional games that you used play, when you where a child, are usually know and enjoyed by the local kids as well. A list of traditional games can be found in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_traditional_children

Sports: Criquet, soccer and volleyball are popular amongst the kids. There can be option where children are welcomed to leave their age groups while they go to play these sports. Also making an obstacle course where 2 smaller teams compete against each other is welcomed.

Art Activities: Kids love to get their faces painted, some teenagers may be interested in helping out in helping face paint. While you are busy working, make sure kids don’t start painting walls, tables and floors. Kids like all craft idea. The arts section can be located in the assembly hall and each team can make a trip to do them. Make sure there is only one group at the art area at the same time and that all teams respect the schedule made for visiting the Arts Area.

Snacks: Snacks should be served at the end of the afternoon, as the last activity of the afternoon. Telling kids to keep their colored wrist band to get the snacks is a great way of having the age groups separated and the snacks evenly distributed. Once a kid receives his or her snack, you can remove their wrist band and, this way, have control over who has or not received their snack. Candies, juice, pop corn, hot dogs, cookies, cake and others are good ideas for snacks. A snacks team of 2 or 3 people will be needed to take care of the food preparation and distribution. One team leader of each group and other available volunteers will be needed to keep the order when distributing the snacks. As it was a party, kids are happy to take a gift bag with candies, balloons and little toys at the end of the day.

Transportation: A van will be need to be hired to pick up and drop off all of the children. It takes about 40 minutes and several trips to transport 100+ people. Once the children arrive, at the door of the Academy, they should be separated in their age group with the respective wrist band and be taken guided by the group leader to the place where the rest of the children their age are making activities while they wait for everyone to arrive.

Parents: Sometimes adults come to the Open Saturdays with their children. Their presence can be used as an opportunity to talk to the adults about health, nutrition, world subjects and more. Separating an area where sofas or chairs are located and having a team leader for them it is useful. Whether adults will come to your Open Saturday or not, is a matter of luck and invitation.

Security: Many times, the age group leaders, will be busy with their children and may not have the means or time to take care of the few children that are miss behaving or that have sneaked out to wander around or are doing something that is not allowed (like paint in the walls, breaking chair, fight, etc). A security group is useful to make sure kids remain in their age groups; to see that no one is in places where no activates are being done (inside or outside) and to maintain the overall peace.

Finances: With food, art and sports materials, gifts and game props the September Team spent about 600EC. This amount is an intermediate budget, if needed; more money can be saved or used depending in the activities, gifts and types of food your team chooses to provide.

The 2009 September Team wishes you and your team a great Open Saturday! Remember to ask your teachers and Camp Future participants for advice and insights.