The Guatemala Friends Scholarship/Loan Program -PROGRESA-

COMPOSTING...THE MAKING OF ORGANIC FERTILIZER

Gabriel Vidal Lopez Diaz, 23, graduated as a specialist in Agronomy and carried out this interesting project in his community El Limonar, Jacaltenango, in the department of Huehuetenango. El Limonar is an agricultural community and according to Gabriel due, to the poor state of the local soil, the majority of residents have had to increase their use of chemical fertilizers which in the end further depletes the soil. This problem led Gabriel to propose to the local authorities that he teach them how to make organic fertilizer using natural materials which the farmers already have, including corn stalks, leaves and manure. His proposal was accepted by a group of neighbors and in the end about 20 people participated in the workshops on making organic fertilizer.

Gabriel began with a discussion of the importance of using organic fertilizers and the long term disadvantages of using chemical fertilizers. In the second part of the workshop he demonstrated how to compost materials in order to make natural fertilizer and how to care for the compost by providing the correct temperature and humidity in order to have a more successful outcome. In the third part of the training each of the participants put together their own compost on their own lands and Gabriel supervised the elaboration of each effort. The final part of the training involved supervising the care of each compost pile for three months while the putrefying process took place. In the end each participant obtained several sacks of organic fertilizer which not only improved their crop but also returned nutrients to the soil.

As Gabriel reported, his project helped the farmers: 1.) to use less chemical fertilizer and thus save money, 2.) to use their own resources to create natural fertilizer, 3.) to begin a process of restoring the natural nutrition to their soil, and, 4.) to improve the quality of their products, since they no longer were using so many chemicals.

TRAINING FOR MIDWIVES

This project was executed in the small village of Santa Cruz Verapaz in the Department of Alta Verapaz by Liliana Moscoso Aldana, 35, a student in the second year of the professional nursing program. Liliana worked as an auxiliary nurse and noticed that in the rural area the majority of pregnant women give birth with the aid of a midwife rather than a doctor. She explains that while the majority of midwives have received various trainings relating to the delivery of babies, very few have received any training in related areas such as sexually transmitted diseases, psychological support for the patient and the importance of follow up medical treatment for mother and baby including vaccinations.

In response to this need Liliana offered seven educational workshops for the midwives providing information in these areas and help in identifying other areas of risk for the mothers and babies. In addition Liliana included motivational themes aimed at validating the work that these largely uneducated women perform. Liliana explained that she felt very satisfied with this aspect of the workshops in that she managed to gain the confidence of these women and to raise their self esteem...so much so that the women decided to continue their studies in spite of their somewhat advanced age and the fact that they hadn't studied for many years.

In addition to the other topics, Liliana taught the women how to give injections so that they will now be able to help the only nurse in their area give vaccinations and other injections. Finally Liliana said that she also learned a lot, especially about the plants which are used in traditional Mayan medicine, something that the midwives knew a lot about. We think that this project was a good example of how community service can help our students as well as their communities.

TUTORING AND TEACHING MATHMATICS TO SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS.

One of the common deficiencies in Guatemalan education is adequate development of mathematic skills. In most cases this is because the system lacks teachers who have received specialized training in this field. For this reason Victor Manuel Choy, 26, a student in the 4 th year of civil engineering decided that a good project for him would be to donate his time teaching mathematics to two groups of students who were attending the only secondary school in his native town of Patzicia , Chimaltenango. In this school the students graduate as food processing technicians. The school is sponsored by a Mayan organization whose aim is to save the forests and teach techniques of sustainable agriculture. It is their hope that by teaching students to process their harvests into things such as jams and jellys, sauces and soups they will be able to raise the family income.

Victor did some investigation and found out that the mathematics teacher in the school had had no special training for teaching mathematics. Since Victor had studied a lot of mathin his courses as an engineer it was not difficult for him to explain the basic principles and operations.. Because Patzicia is relatively close to our office we were able to visit Victor during one of his classes and we heard from students that they had learned much more from Victor than they had from the regular course teacher. One of the groups even asked him to continue with the classes and become the regular teacher.

In summarizing his experience, Victor indicated that it was very satisfying for him to help 25 students from his own town get a better grounding in mathematics. He observed that they also became much more interested in math, a subject that many students dislike.

BASIC MUSIC CLASSES FOR POOR STUDENTS

This project was realized by Estefany Munoz Ajqui, 22, who is in her fourth and last year of music education. She lives in El Tejar, Chimaltenango, a small town about 50 kilometers from Guatemala City . Estefany decided to do her project with Fundit, the organization which helped her during her primary and middle school years. Fundit provides scholarships to students from poor families and also runs a pre-school for the children of working mothers.

As Estefany explained it, some of the children exhibited musical talent but neither Fundit nor their parents had money to pay for a music teacher so she offered her services. She began by gathering a group of 10 children between the ages of 10 and 13 and then arranged to borrow guitars, flutes and a marimba which were owned by the municipality. They began by studying the basics of playing an instrument including recognizing and reading the musical notes, rhythm, and the execution of simple melodies for children.

Estefany concluded her report by saying that it was very satisfying for her to see how children who never thought they would ever have a chance to receive music lessons were so happy to have a chance to demonstrate their talent. Besides that, Estefany was pleased to be able to help the organization which had helped her to begin her studies.

One of the students showing some of the usable objects made of recycled materials. Inserted Benjamin García Barreno.

USING RECYLABLE MATERIALS TO CREATE REUSABLE OBJECTS

This project was executed by Benjamin Carlos Garcia Barreno, 32, a student in the fifth year of secondary school teacher education, with 26 students in the first year of middle school in Momostenango in the department of Totonicapan. As Benjamin explained, the problem of littering is very serious in Guatemala and in the rural areas children and young people think nothing about throwing out trash where ever they are without any thought of protecting the environment or reusing the discarded items in some way.

In response to this problem Benjamin created a workshop for young people 12 to 16 years of age whose curiosity and energy he was able to channel in a creative manner. The principle objectives of the workshop were to bring his student's attention to the problem of littering and to stimulate their imagination by having them create usable objects out of recycled materials. Benjamin began his project by talking about the benefits of recycling and the problems that are generated by the inadequate treatment of trash such as the creation of greenhouse gases and the contamination of rivers. After discussing the problems Benjamin and his students got active by going out in the village and collecting trash, especially plastic and glass that could be reused in various ways.

By the end of the workshop the students had made 8 different types of usable objects such as flower pots, containers for fruit, and various adornments made out of plastic, glass and cartons. According to Benjamin the greatest accomplishment of the workshop was that the young people had a better understanding of the importance of handling trash in a responsible manner and that they themselves decided that it was important for them to teach others about what they had learned. He had converted them into multiple agents who were dedicated to helping to protect the environment.

Rosa (standing) during one of the workshops.

WORKSHOPS FOR WOMEN IN MAKING DECISIONS.

Rosa Amalia Soloman is a fourth year social work student and did her project in two villages in her community. The objective of the project was to strengthen the participation of indigenous women in decision-making in their communities. This was done in an area where the majority of women are illiterate and have very little participation in community organizations. In her project, Rosa dealt with themes like self-esteem, sex equality, the importance of women in the community, how to participate, and how to involve the whole community. At the end of the project, some of the women committed to run for office in the next local elections. Rosa describes the results of her work as follows: �The most important product of this project is that now these communities have a group of motivated women who will participate in the decisions of the community.�