Tomorrow we regroup for the midway evaluation, etc.... I don´t want to leave.. been here just over 2 weeks and already I feel (and about half of the participants)feel very integrated into the community. We have finished construting 12 family gardens, with crops such as spinach, lettuce, radish, carrots, cilantro, brocoli and cauliflor ... We did the first one in the area outside the church where we are staying .. the ground was very hard, dry and full of rocks.. It made the first day quite a test for all of us... it was only when we started clearing away the trsash and poking around before we started that we realized it used to be a cemetary ... now the land will have a second life ...hopefully we didnt wake any of the sprits with our digging...
After the first day we split into 2 teams and did a garden a day at different houses.. we approached families who have children who are malnourished, out of a list of 12, 3 were interested.. the rest of the work came from requests of people who are interested in learning about new crops, or have kids who are willing to tend to the garden... many of whom worked with us daily. For most of the house, the land was very fertile and a pleasure to work with... in areas where corn is already growing.... Earlier in the week we did rounds to visit all of the families, and the radished are already starting to poke through the soil. Most of the houses we built 4 or 5 beds... beds that will produce veggies that are not available to buy in the community, and sorely missing from the diet of beans and corn... new flavors, textures and tastes .... greens yummmm.
The first day of having to walk 45 minutes to procure 4 buckets of animal manure-compost, I kept my distance, safely using the shovel... by the next day, hands are digging through the shit, recognizing it for the value that is has.. that it will give to the soil... no need for chemicals or fertilizer...
In the afternoons, we ahave been offering workshops from 4 to 7... in my english class alone for ages 10 to 14 there are 25 kids or more who show up regularly, 3 times a week.. very interested, eager and adorable.
We have also been doing a workshop with stories from tataozoquico, theater and drawings of legends passed down and invented on the spot.... mermalada, we made mermalada, too ...
This past Friday, I worked with a group of 4 teenage girls, to do interviews with various people in town with questions that interested them...revealing the character and weave of the town. next week I´ll bust out the super 8 camera... already have an hour of video... these girls are very punk rock, it´s great. they invited us to a quincinera the next day....
We went to a wedding last night... very fun. live music, a full ¨stage¨amidst the tall corn plants..empty soda and tecquila bottles rolling around. chicken with mole sauce, buckets of tortillas... too bad I spent the whole night dancing with kids under 13 years old and men over 40. Just my luck... there is an obvious gap of people between the ages of 20 and 35. Off to work in other cities, states, etc.
time to detach myself from internet world ... and return to talk with the kiddies about responsibility... and community, concepts that are starting to crack amongst us...
