Youthful Times

Starting at the end of February I began working with the Potrero Garay Youth Group. A group that is also tied to the small catholic church in the community. I wanted to become involved in working with youth for a few reasons. First, I hoped that I could have at least a small part in making a youth group experience as meaningful for the yout in my community as youth groups were for me. Secondly, I saw an opportunity to facilitate projects and events within the community.

The goal of the group is to work together to do small things around the community that improve the overall quality of life for a family or the community as a whole. With this objective we applied to be recognized as an official community group by the municipality which would open several doors and opportunities, most importantly funding.

About two weeks ago we recieved the recognition and have since been working on our first fundraiser, bingo after church this Sunday. As a part of the meetings I usually try to bring some sort of materials or have some sort of project planned ahead of time to continue to build mental stiulation and help keep the youth focused. There have been two such exercises that have been quite successful.

The frst was a mapping excersice. I brought reading materials about community trash and sanitation projects as well as pens and paper. I gave them a choice and most everyone said they would rather draw. But when I told them what it was they had to draw, a map of their property and the inputs and outputs of their family, most chose to read. Regardless, everyone was required to finish the drawing exercise and then present their work to the group. This was an eyeopening experience and I felt like I could actually see the creativity of many youth growing by the second. Many had said that they had never in their lives been asked to do something like this.

For the second exercise I did some culture sharing and nutritional education. I made deviled eggs with greeen onions and garlic and talked to the group about the nutritional value of the intrgedients. It was a big success as we also made desert tortillas.

Ag-Forestry: A Stab at Economic Planning

So much for a February post... Lots of stuff went down as well as the beginning of a charla series on the secondary projects side. I found, in late February, a need amongst the community for technical information and assistance on Agro-Forestry and the integration on AF practices into small scale farming systems or income generating projects.

Much like the Garden Charla series that I was simultaneosly conducting at the same time. This set of four meetings came with the incentive of receiving plantitas and tree seeds at the completion of the fourth meeting. Not surprisingly the members of this series are many of the same members of the garden series.

The truth of the matter is that this set of charlas has been a bit more frustrating for a couple of reasons that I can surmise. One, I simply do not know nearly as much about the topic of AF. Secondly, while I was focusing on a general glance of how AF can play a roll in even the simplest of agricultural systems the majority of the attendees were waiting for me to gtet to the subject of "viveros" (tree nurseries).

Viveros appeal to impoverished people and families in the countryside because their value is realized much sooner, they require very little space and relatively little labor in comparison to the ammount that a farmer family stands to pull in with the sale of a thousand tree starts.

The discovery of this group interest did not come until the last meeting and I believe that the manner in which it came up is a testiment to the importance of informal and community based development. The thing is, I had no idea what-so-ever I was going to talk about in referance to AF for my third charla. I could't think of anything new, anything that wouldn't just be pounding in more information. So I called up and buddy in the AF program with PC and asked him to save my ass. Together we devised a plan that would be the next step for a person or family if I were working on an individual basis. I decided (also based on the success of this similar activity with the youth group) that I would draw an illustration of how my family incorporated sustainable AF practices at Taproot prior to the meeting and then use it as an example for what I wanted each of them to do during the meeting. The idea was to create a map of the farm or property and come to a realization about where AF approaches would fit in into the existing system.

This was a huge hit, like nothing I had every imagined. The señoras took to the illustrating and discussion with much more self-confidence that the youth group. They even went as far to present, between dirty jokes and plenty of laughter, their drawings to one another. I was completely blown away! As we came to the end of the hour a theme had clearly imerged amond the groups. Almost every señora put their desired trees and tree starts in their gardens or nearby and explained to me that the first thing they wanted to do was have a vivero.

I want to emphasize that while conversations and personal visits with community members over the course of my first 2-3 months in site showed an interest in AF, it was only through this very personal and informal method of sharing information and encouraging input on behalf of the community members that the true need and desire was brought to light.

The next meeting is slated for the 1st of April and I will be conducting a 3-4 hour workshop with my AF friend. We are going to focus specifically on all phases of a vivero project that is productive specifically for the small scale farmer or señora.

We will see....