Noticias from Proyecto Itzaes – August 2010

The past few months for Proyecto Itzaes (PI) have been  incredible and we have a lot of news to share. First, a huge  abrazo  and thank you from the children, families and villages to all of you who have supported our programs and made this possible.  Mil gracias! We are especially grateful to have survived the current economic challenges without having to make too many drastic cuts to essential educational resources for Proyecto Itzaes communities.  We have had to be extremely frugal and careful though—not replacing books, educational materials and other tools for almost two years now and are hopeful that this year we can replenish much needed supplies.  Books are now tattered and held together with tape and glue but have been literally memorized by every child. Our puzzles and other teaching supplies have served the needs of thousands of small hands but also need replacing. We are hopeful that this fall we can bring not just new books but new titles to inspire young minds and we are looking to you for that much needed help. Please see below for other ways you and your friends can help us support PI villages and Maya families. http://wp.proyectoitzaesusa.org/donate/

You can help by donating funds of course, but we can also use your help in delivering books and educational supplies to our villages. So, if you will be visiting the Yucatán peninsula this year, Por Favor consider  bringing  much needed  books and learning tools to our villages. You will be received with open arms and will have the pleasure of seeing first hand how important your donations, books, and supplies are for the children in our villages.

A few highlights of the past six months include our new PI location in the inland village of Chicxulub Pueblo in a restored traditional  nah ( casa). Programs are once again in full swing in Chicxulub Pueblo with families lining up for book exchange and learning activities See photos of the casita and other recent events on the PI Flickr page.

Proyecto Itzaes summer programs were super successful this year with hundreds of children participating in classes that ranged from sports, dance, crafts and gardening to more academic classes that focused on needed summer school tutoring  in math and reading skills as well as computer classes.   PI asesores, many of them now university students who receive help from PI to complete their education rallied in all of our villages to provide exciting summer learning for families.  The asesores were joined in this effort by Erica Fernandez, a Stanford University junior who is also on the PI board of directors, and Tom McFadden, a recent Stanford Alumni who will continue working in PI villages until October.

Some updates on our university students.  Proyecto Itzaes is immensely proud of our  asesores who have excelled through  middle and high school and are now in the university. They have achieved amazing academic success while balancing family, work, and lifetimes of poverty— and they continue to lead PI programs in the evenings and during the summer.  They are thriving in their studies that include majors in law, mathematics, psychology, business, and graphic design. Congratulations to them for their hard work and success and for their loyalty to their communities.

2010 brought good news in the form of two Rotary Foundation grants that are in partnership with the Los Altos, CA Rotary, Palo Alto, CA Rotary and Club Rotario Nuevas Generaciones of  Mérida, Yucatán. Grants were funded to implement classes and training for bio-intensive gardening and permaculture as well as developing a village based farmers’ market.  Proyecto Itzaes International Program Director, Simon Clopton, is teaching the weekly  agricultura classes for participants from several villages and developing with the farmers a plan to take the crops from the garden to the farmer’s market.  These two grants combined, will greatly improve the ability of PI small shareholder farmers to make an adequate living from their crops while improving health in their communities.

Proyecto Itzaes is also grateful to the Foundation for Global Community (FGC) for their grant that has enabled us to continue essential programs. Gracias and Dios bo’otik  to both  Rotary and  FGC! Your support in the past year has made all the difference.

In other news, two PI programs have gone global! by partnering with other youth organizations. In July, with the help of Erica Fernandez, recipient of the Jane Goodall Global Leadership Award in 2009,  Proyecto Itzaes children started their own chapter of  Roots and Shoots, part of the Jane Goodall Institute devoted to empowering youth to take action on global issues. Erica and PI asesores are working on a conservation and reforestation project in PI villages and will be posting news and photos soon.

PI students under the guidance of asesor Javi Garcia Itza are also collaborating with the REAL program and with students from many countries in  a growing effort to collect water quality data around the  world.

Stanford alum and science rapper Tom McFadden has been working all summer with PI communities on health concerns related to diet and type ll diabetes and has organized a symposium (September 10 in Ixil, Yucatán) with community  members, students, and volunteer medical specialists to  educate the greater community about this very serious health problem.  Tom has brought his talents as a science rapper to this amazing effort and will premier the Proyecto Itzaes rap song on September 10th so watch for it on YouTube!

The past year and this amazingly productive summer in Proyecto Itzaes villages is the result of the generosity and unflagging energy of many, many people yet the  reality is that we desperately need your help to continue this  important work in PI villages.  Please help us provide more books for our libraries, the pens, pencils and crayons that literally change a young persons attitude about education, the puzzles that challenge young fingers, the soccer balls that inspire our kids to be healthy and strong and so much more.  There are many ways you can help:

• Your donation of any amount enables us to buy new books and supplies. $10 buys a hardbound book. $100 buys ten books. Early childhood literacy is key and books change lives!
• Your donation of  $1200.00 will enable one of our pioneer PI university students to travel each day to their classes in Merida and achieve their goal of a college education enriching their whole community.
• Your donation of $15,000 funds a new village.
• Please help us mount a social networking fund raising campaign!!  Click on our website or our Facebook page and  spread the word to your friends.  Enough people with modest donations can create enormous change!

Thank you, Mil Gracias y Dios bo’otik

Cindy