The Impact of an "Unexpected" Water Project

I came to this part of Guerrero, Mexico to learn about and help out where I could with water projects because there is a drought here. You can imagine my surprise when I found out that there is a public swimming pool! Being an avid swimmer, I immediately checked out the situation. When Gloria, the swimming pool owner found out that I was working with MCC and that I knew how to swim, she immediately asked me if I could teach swimming lessons at the pool.

After getting the okay from my team, Gloria and I put together a schedule and began to tell others. During the first day, 20 adults and 15 children signed up to participate in the swimming lessons. Gloria and I were thrilled! But one teacher and 15 to 20 students is a lot in the water, even for a former Chicago Public School teacher. A new accuaitance, Julio, who is a physical education teacher at the local public school, volunteered to help me. He knew how to swim, but wasn’t confident teaching swimming lessons.

On the first day of classes, 15 adults and 10 children showed up. By the end of class, everyone was swimming a basic front crawl stroke, helping each other float, and generously encouraging each other. Best of all, everyone stuck around for another hour to continue practicing. We agreed to meet twice a week for one month.

Needless to say, Gloria was very excited. Not only had business greatly improved, but it also addressed one of her long standing fears of water safety in and around the pool, since there are no lifeguards and she herself does not know how to swim well. And we both acknowledged the health benefits of swimming and the enjoyment that everyone shared as they acquired new skills.

In the end, Julio, now feeling confident in his abilities as a swimming instructor, decided to continue teaching swimming lessons for a small fee the following month. And so, during my first few months in this dry, mountainous region, I participated in a sustainable, income generating, exercise promoting, community development project at the local swimming pool, which is successfully continuing without my participation. The impact of an "unexpected" water project.

Women’s Sewing Group in Zacango

The Women’s Sewing Group in Zacango has been revived and is now meeting on a regular basis. A big thanks to Kevin Key from Chicago Community Mennonite Church for asking follow-up questions about the group.We are now meeting twice a week for a few hours in the late afternoon, busily getting ready for an MCC “Work and Learn” group that is coming the end of July. One of the work projects is to replace the leaky roof of the sewing room. The middle section of the new roofing material will be transparent, allowing sunlight to come in and provide much needed light, as there is no electricity in the room. Once we have a new roof, we will be able to organize the room and really start sewing. The intent is that this is an income-generating project. The women make aprons and dish towels (to wrap-up hot tortillas). Both are very popular items here. Once we have the room in working order, we can start talking about if and how we want to expand the product line.
Picture 1: Sewing Room in Zacango
Picture 2,3,4: Treadle Sewing Machines
Picture 6: Embroidering outside where there is more light.

Meet Our Chickens!

We have 3 hens and 1 rooster. Kookery, Spindleshanks, Ms. Parsley and Babsy (all names from the book That Kookery by Margaret Walden Froehlich, joined our family last week. Our friends Ana, Derek and Lukas moved to Mexico City to be interim Country Representatives and gave us their chickens. The learning continues!

Isaiah Graduates From Kindergarten

Isaiah graduated from Kindergarten last week. Since he is attending a Catholic school, all the graduating students (from kinder, primary, and secondary) and their families attended mass in the morning and the graduation ceremony in the afternoon. Isaiah’s class performed a dance. He received a certificate and a backpack from the school. Afterwards we showered him with confetti, a custom we love! The people standing behind him are his “padrinos”, our neighbors Guillermina, Silvino and their daughter Adriana. It is customary to ask a couple to be “padrinos” for important events, often to help out with the cost of the event, but also as a way to be community to each other. (Remember the saying “it takes a village to raise a child.”)
Picture 1: Isaiah sitting with his class, waiting for the graduation ceremony to begin.
Picture 2: Isaiah and classmates.
Picture 3: Isaiah dancing with Ashley.
Picture 4: After graduation with Padrinos.
Picture 5: Walking home from graduation.