SPOILER ALERT:
I’m going to ask you to help us buy a team of oxen to donate at the end!
One of the highlights of staying at La Mariposa with kids is the amount of learning and growing that is constantly occurring.
In addition to the 1:1 Spanish classes, issues of ecology, botany, biology, poverty, and cooking come alive. For this parent, it’s more than I’d hoped for. By the kids’ laughing, joy and absence of ‘I’m bored’ I believe it is for them too.
_______________________________________________
UPDATE
If you read yesterday’s post, you’ll know the subject of trash was on my mind.
At 8:00 sharp classes begin. Just before the ‘bell’ was sounded, Paulette announced she’d be leading a discussion on the ‘Story of Stuff’ and that the younger set would probably like it. All of the kids volunteered to attend. The reviews?
“Amazing”
“Really cool”
“I loved it”
I’m going to ask all the kids who are willing (Raffi and Sophia have arrived from Venice Beach) to post about it.
________________________________________________
Paulette also announced that we had a chance to go and visit the community of Panama, the poorest in the municipality. Panama lies on a ridge just downwind from the Masaya Volcano. Whereas every other square inch of soil we've seen is covered with vegetation, this land was eerily empty.
Because of the gases that blow through the community and the poison of the acid rain that falls, only pineapple and one other fruit can grow in the Panama community.
We’ll post more about what it was like to visit the school and tell the follies of aid agencies erecting flush toilets WHEN THERE IS NO WATER FOR 6 MONTHS OUT OF THE YEAR.
It was incredibly eye opening and I think in the end pretty disconcerting for the kids. You can’t hide hunger.You can’t hide thirst. You can’t hide what it looks like to scrape out a living.
More than once I had to look away from the dogs of the community, for it was in their skeletal image that the concept of poverty jumped from an abstraction to an all too vivid reality.
CALL FOR HELP OR SHOW OF HANDS
Would you help buy a pair of oxen?
The goal? Access to water.
I am wondering if anyone would be interested in donating towards a pair of oxen for this community. It would mean some kids could be in school instead of walking the long walk (downhill, yep uphill with water sounds hellish) to get water for their family. It's about 7 kilometers and the process takes about 2 hours, it's a job that is executed by women and children. It would mean the community could provide a consistent lunch for the kids- they have a donated kitchen at the school site but no water for 6 months out of the year means; they are currently dependent on La Mariposa for water in order to make school lunches. It would mean maybe they could coax more agriculture out of the soil.
Here’s J sitting on sacks of donated rice that lies stacked in the back of one of the classrooms:
I’m going to ask you to help us buy a team of oxen to donate at the end!
One of the highlights of staying at La Mariposa with kids is the amount of learning and growing that is constantly occurring.
In addition to the 1:1 Spanish classes, issues of ecology, botany, biology, poverty, and cooking come alive. For this parent, it’s more than I’d hoped for. By the kids’ laughing, joy and absence of ‘I’m bored’ I believe it is for them too.
_______________________________________________
UPDATE
If you read yesterday’s post, you’ll know the subject of trash was on my mind.
At 8:00 sharp classes begin. Just before the ‘bell’ was sounded, Paulette announced she’d be leading a discussion on the ‘Story of Stuff’ and that the younger set would probably like it. All of the kids volunteered to attend. The reviews?
“Amazing”
“Really cool”
“I loved it”
I’m going to ask all the kids who are willing (Raffi and Sophia have arrived from Venice Beach) to post about it.
________________________________________________
Paulette also announced that we had a chance to go and visit the community of Panama, the poorest in the municipality. Panama lies on a ridge just downwind from the Masaya Volcano. Whereas every other square inch of soil we've seen is covered with vegetation, this land was eerily empty.
Because of the gases that blow through the community and the poison of the acid rain that falls, only pineapple and one other fruit can grow in the Panama community.
We’ll post more about what it was like to visit the school and tell the follies of aid agencies erecting flush toilets WHEN THERE IS NO WATER FOR 6 MONTHS OUT OF THE YEAR.
 |
| You're right if you think these might have been used once on inauguration day. . . |
It was incredibly eye opening and I think in the end pretty disconcerting for the kids. You can’t hide hunger.You can’t hide thirst. You can’t hide what it looks like to scrape out a living.
More than once I had to look away from the dogs of the community, for it was in their skeletal image that the concept of poverty jumped from an abstraction to an all too vivid reality.
CALL FOR HELP OR SHOW OF HANDS
Would you help buy a pair of oxen?
The goal? Access to water.
I am wondering if anyone would be interested in donating towards a pair of oxen for this community. It would mean some kids could be in school instead of walking the long walk (downhill, yep uphill with water sounds hellish) to get water for their family. It's about 7 kilometers and the process takes about 2 hours, it's a job that is executed by women and children. It would mean the community could provide a consistent lunch for the kids- they have a donated kitchen at the school site but no water for 6 months out of the year means; they are currently dependent on La Mariposa for water in order to make school lunches. It would mean maybe they could coax more agriculture out of the soil.
Here’s J sitting on sacks of donated rice that lies stacked in the back of one of the classrooms:
The pair of oxen cost $800 and they’d need an oxen-whisperer to manage them. Please email me or drop a line in the comments if you’d be willing to donate large or small. Just let me know how much you can contribute. Spread the word to anyone who might want to know about being able to help buy oxen for the Panama community. Maybe it’s something we can get done before we leave?
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