Two Pictures

Last week the preschools in Olinala celebrate "United Nations Day" - the day the United Nations was founded. This is a picture of Micah's class - each student held a flag and marched around the town square. Unfortunately, you can't see Micah in this picture, but believe me he was adorable! He wore a tie and carried the Brazilian flag. This picture is taken in front of THE government building at the town square.

The second picture is of the boys playing with their toy trains. They love to build tunnels with the wooden blocks that Opa made. (Thanks Opa!) Here they are still in their pjs, as playing with trains is often the first thing they do when they get up. Thanks cousin Jal! (and abuela ;)

Family Garden Project Part 1

As many of you know, we recently received funding to start 100 family gardens (over the next 3 years) using drip irrigation systems! Last month, Kiara Yoder joined our team for a one year SALT position. She has gardening experience, we have money, there is lots of sun....so we're ready to go! Oh yes, water is still an issue. Well, along with money for the gardens, we also received money to build more water cisterns and composting toilets. So all three of these together makes it possible to garden year-round.
Kiara and Liz are leading the gardening project. They are working with groups of eleven women in 3 different communities, and one boarding school in a 4th community. Everyone is very excited. (The women come to the meetings, but the whole family participates in the work at home.) We meet all together for a 1/2 hour or so, and then we divide into two groups and get to work. Our intention is that we are not only helping people start family gardens, we are also creating a space for people to talk about gardening and help each other out, so that when we are gone, they will have strong group ties, confidence, and a strong self image.
During the first meeting we gave an overview of the project and what all the "package" contains (water cistern, composting toilet, drip irrigation garden, worm bed, simple water filtration system, basic gardening information, nutrition information...). After the meeting, we visited each person's home to check out the garden space.
During the second meeting we did a simple soil test and talked about the importance of healthy soil. (The quality of the soil here is very lacking. So we also talked about improving the quality by adding organic matter by using worm beds and composting.)
Our third meeting was a field trip to Zacango to visit Hilario and his worm beds. We also checked out the MCC demonstration plot where there are two types of grass (vetiver and cane) have been planted as living barriers. (Erosion is a big problem here.) Everyone was very enthusiatic about the worms and the grass.
Next week each participant will start building her own worm bed.
More to come!
Picture 1: Kiara with two women from Chiaucingo preparing soil test.
Picture 2: Shaking the glass jar for two minutes.
Picture 3: Hilario showing the worm beds
Picture 4: A worm bed
Picture 5: Looking at the living barrier grass

Miscelaneous Pictures

Here are some misc. pictures. Picture 1: Isaiah participating in a dance at school. He wears the cowboy hat all the time now. Picture 2: Micah wears HIS cowboy hat all the time now too! Picture 3: Our driveway - all green!

Isaiah Turns SIX

Happy Birthday Isaiah! We celebrated Isaiah's birthday with a bar-b-q at our house, lots of friends, two pinatas, cheese cake, and dancing.

One Sunday Afternoon

We helped our dear friends Malena and Jesus, daughters Adriana and Alondra, take down their shoe stand one recent Sunday afternoon. They sell shoes during the week from their shop, which is attached to their house. Every Sunday morning, they set up shop in the center of town, for market day. Every Sunday afternoon they take it down. We all had fun working together.

Good News!

We are approaching our 1-year anniversary of leaving Chicago and beginning our MCC adventure. As we are writing this, Olinala is continuing the week long celebration of it’s patron saint, Saint Francis of Assisi. This afternoon there is a costume parade through the streets, ending at the church in the center of town. Tonight there will be a big fireworks display. There is much to see and do downtown. Everyone is celebrating.

We too have much to celebrate. Last month we received word that “Plan 500” our three-year project proposal to build 200 cisterns, 200 dry latrines, and start 100 family gardens using drip irrigation in the surrounding communities was accepted for funding by MCC! We are thrilled to have the funding we need to do these projects.

We are also very excited to welcome Kiara Yoder to our team. Kiara is participating in MCC’s one-year SALT program. She graduated from EMU in 2005 with a liberal arts degree, speaks Spanish AND has some community gardening experience, which will come in very useful as we begin the first 35 family gardens this year. She is fitting in very well and we should also add that our boys absolutely adore her.

Prayer Request: Please pray for sustained energy for everyone on the MCC Guerrero Team as we begin the first phase of “Plan 500”.

Picture 1- Liz presenting information about family gardens
Picture 2 - Women investigating organic dirt produces by worms
Picture 3 - St. Francis of Assis - Patron Saint of Olinala
Picture 4 - Isaiah and Micah enjoying the rides that festivals bring to town
Picture 5 - Liz and new teammate Kiara

Micah's Third Birthday

Our Attempt to Give Back

Micah turned three years old the end of July. Turning three here is a big deal because it means the child is expected to survive. We decided to adopt their tradition a throw a big fiesta (food, cake, piñatas and all). We continue to feel richly blessed and warmly welcomed into this culture in so many ways, with many invitations to people’s homes for meals, birthday parties, and festivals. It was now our turn to throw a fiesta and “give back” to people who have given so much to us.

Two days before the event, our neighbor Silvino came over and started working on the yard, cutting weeds and grass (remember, it’s the rainy season now). He also borrowed and set up two large tarps and 30 chairs. When a group of six women from the neighborhood heard the menu we had planned, they quickly took over.

One day before the party Martin started baking cakes (cheese cake, chocolate beet cake, and carrot cake – you know the ones) and bought 10 chickens. Liz went to the market and bought the rest of the ingredients on the list, as compiled by the neighborhood cooks. The morning of the party, the women came over and made two LARGE pots of chicken with salsa, avocado leaves, and onions wrapped in foil packets. It was incredible! Later in the afternoon they brought over two large pots of beans, tortillas and green salsa. We had a feast! More than 100 people came during a 6 hour period that evening. The group not only spent all day cooking, but they served everyone AND stayed to help clean up. We ended the evening behind in the overall generosity count once again, but feeling deeply loved.

Pictures 1 and 2 - neighborhood women preparing the chicken
Picture 3 - Friends enjoying the food
Picture 4 - Martin and Liz serving cake (Martin is now known for his baking abilities).
Picture 5 - Isaiah, Adrianna (neighbor), Micah

Waterfalls

During the rainy season the waterfalls are fantastic! Here are some pictures from various trips to the falls with friends.