Overnight Guests
We (I helped run plates and clean up) served breakfast for 100 folk. I still can't believe about 100 people slept around here. A few from Dulce Nombre went with their friends from Catorze on the bus to spend the night in their homes, but the vast majority of folk bedded down here for the night. I asked some of them in the morning how that was, and they all seemed pleased! There were people in beds - as many as we have - people in hammocks in several spots, people on mats on the floor, and people in cots. Of course, having stayed with many of these folk, all of the above arrangements are fairly normal in their homes. And we have a working bathroom available, while most of them do not.
We had music and dancing until about 9:30 - not too late. But some of these folk had gotten up at 3:00 AM to travel here, and they are normally early to bed folks!
Breakfast was rice and beans and eggs and tortilla. coffee and juice. The tortilla is an essential part of breakfast. You can substitute bread for the other meals, but not breakfast. And coffee ALWAYS has an abundance of sugar in it.
Community Presentations
In the morning, another 120 or so showed up for the day's festivities. AKF arranged for or helped with all of the transportation. Each Community is asked to help arrange or pay for a portion of their transportation - whatever they think is fair. And they all do, in one manner or other. In the morning, every community made a brief presentation - notes on the flip chart paper, and explanations - followed by comments and questions. They each covered the following areas:
1. Accomplishments of the past year.
2. Problems facing the community.
3. Their plans for next year.
The presentations ran the gamut. I'll just give a list here. I am sure that the contents of the flip charts can be retrieved, but everything was in Spanish!
Topics presented included:
- Loan Programs. There are a number of different loan programs, some charging up to 2% interest in order to keep pace with the value of the money. I did not exactly catch all of the numbers, but I know at least one of them has $10,000 in circulation in the community. If you know anything about small loan programs, these interest rates are very low. The reason is that they have structured their programs very well, and they have an extraordinarily high repayment rate. The key is membership in the group, with significant peer pressure to keep the program alive..
- School. One community is running a private school, which receives state funding.
- Relationships. One community has a very strong, long standing relationship with another community. They talked about expanding that type of relationship between the other communities. It provides them mutual aid and support.
- Key To The City. One community present a "key to city" to each of the other communities - assuring them that they will always be welcome in their homes.
- Civic Engagement. Many communities are involved in local civic organizations in their communities.
- Punctuality. One community has begun a program to improve punctuality at community meetings! That's a first.
- Youth. A 15 year old from one community presented their plans to engage more of their youth.
- Jobs. Another 15 year old presented a new program to help with employment. I am continually amazed by how many young people are involved here, and how capable they are. I sat next to another 15 year old young man when we were discussing what we learned. He was very vocal and very engaged. They are an absolute treasure.
El Ojoche
The potters group if El Ojoche is a bit unusual, as it is not a faith community. This is the community with the anti-litter campaign! They are always introduced as "the women with the magical hands". They built a new kiln this year for their work on a piece of land which they purchased as a legal city organization. They want to buy a house so that they can store their tools and common property. They talked about expanding their market and starting a common fund for emergency loans. Many times, a small emergency, such as a medical problem, can totally destroy a family's finances. If they all save a small fund, it can be loaned in those types of cases and paid back at modest interest.
They brought some of their work for the meeting, and it was for sale on the second day. Here's a picture. I purchased one - how could I not! Julieta is helping them put prices on the items.
Another community offered to help them set up sales in their location. That is exactly how this stuff works - they all have relationships through the other communities to resources and ideas they would not have otherwise.
One of the men from a neighboring community commented on their organization, and how these women have worked so hard at building up their business. He was upbraiding the men of the communities for being lazy! Of course, most of them work in the fields and agriculture - but he is right. They have a lot of spare time between things.
Treasure Chests
Last year, at this reunion, AKF distributed "treasure chests" to each of the communities. The community was asked to establish a fund raising goal and a date. The chest is like a savings box, with a slot in the top, and a lock and key. The key was held by the AKF administrator, Helen. If they achieved their goal, AKF promised to match their funds, up to 3,000 cordoba (C$). Dulce Nombre's dream is a new church. They have the plans and the labor committed - they just need the funds to proceed. They set a goal of C$ 3,000 and they collected over C$4,000! (That's about $175 at 22.5 to 1.)
Teustepe
Teustepe had set a goal of C$2,000, and they collected C$2,300. Their goal is a new community center. The other communities had established different time frames for their savings. This "treasure chest" is an ingenious "small step". It is done in a public forum, and creates an incentive to save, to change the normal mode of operation. They realize now that they have some funds themselves which they can invest in their own dreams and plans.
Part of Teustepe's plan for next year is to become a legal entity that can purchase the land they need for their center. They also talked about the worm project, and their loan program. Teustepe also described their "magic sack" which they circulate at each meeting and which is accumulating some funds. Several other communities commented on that idea.
Problems
Every community has some problems. Dulce Nombre lost virtually all of their corn crop because of the unusually heavy and prolonged rains. Other communities are having some organizational issues, etc. AKF promised to prepare an assessment of the difficulties of Dulce Nombre, and promised to suggest to them a way that they might get some assistance.
Summary of the Morning
At the end of the morning, we were asked to talk among ourselves, and summarize the most important things we learned. All of the communities commented on what they learned, and how much they appreciated knowing the other communities, and learning from them. The two new communities made very formal speeches about their potential involvement in the work of the AKF communities. Of course, as Elena pointed out to me, this is only a few of the key families in the larger community - but it does look very positive. They could not have set up a better marketing plan than this, although that was not the primary focus.
Entertainment
The afternoon was dedicated to entertainment. Each community had prepared something to share with the other communities. We had young people doing a variety of dances, from folkloric to a kind of French disco thing. But the hit of the afternoon was Teustepe. Rosario did her usual shtick of lip syncing with an outlandish costume. Here's one photo.
And another:
But the surprise was CORA! When she was visiting with us at Guardian Angels, she commented on how pleased she was to be able to perform the folkloric dance for an audience. For those of you who do not know her, Cora is a very quiet, capable, serious older woman! She has another side to her:
She specifically asked if I had gotten some pictures of her - and if I would send them to her. I assured her that I would do that. I did NOT tell her that she would be all over the WWW! So don't let her know, OK?
Conclusion
Well, that was fun - a lot of work, mind you, but a lot of fun. The preparation is incredible. AKF has to locate chairs and tables, cots, mattresses, places to stay, vehicles, public transport, food, cooks, etc. And then to make it all happen - serving 200 people dinner was a sight to behold. They were at tables and chairs all over the place. And then the clean up! Elena managed to "persuade" (she had them signing up for a game") two groups of young people to do the dishes for dinner and breakfast. But then the team did the rest of the clean up on Monday evening. They even rented some glasses and plates! We could have used a bit more silverware - some folks ate with spoons. The dinner was a chicken stew with a bread stuffing, rice, the beet salad, and bread. First class!
Recommendation
I would highly recommend that Rotary and the Northern Communities consider sending representatives to this each year. They will enjoy it, and they can present what they are doing as parts of this Family. It is a great learning experience, and I think their participation could potentially change the dynamic a bit! The challenge will be how to accommodate their translation needs during the event, and how to coordinate their schedules. Most people would not travel all the way here just for a 2 day event! We could possibly do a "joint" international encounter the week before somehow, and then conclude with this celebration. But that will impose some serious work on AKF. We should be ready to contribute funds and help to make that possible.
How about if we put this on our next agenda for Sister Parish? John?
No comments:
Post a Comment