A Visit from Professor Rodolfo Dirzo
Friday, January 9th, 2009
Rodolfo Dirzo leading a discussion
Last week, Professor Rodolfo Dirzo (Stanford, UNAM) joined us in the village of Ixil, Yucatán, to talk about ecology and local biodiversity with a group of Proyecto Itzaes students and mentors from four of our villages. The following day, we explored ejido land surrounding Ixil, including the ruins of a small pyramid and participants learned methods for surveying the biodiversity of the vegetation. Plant specimens were gathered for each data point and scanned to add to the digital herbarium being created by Ixil students.
Don Ricardo Cutz provided Maya names and traditional uses for many of the plants we found in the field survey.
This two-day seminar was very much an exchange between Rodolfo, and local people (including elders) contributing traditional ecological knowledge, ecologists from Mérida as well as very young PI students.
Opportunities like this make a huge difference in the lives of PI students and their families and encourage teaching and learning across broad communities. Mil gracias to Rodolfo Dirzo for sharing with Proyecto Itzaes your knowledge, your time and your commitment to education!
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Amazing Local Leaders
Friday, January 9th, 2009
Little Pere, Esteban and Peregrina's nine year old daughter, is learning to use the GPS before heading out for the vegetation survey.
Peregrina and her husband Esteban contribute enormous amounts of time and energy to Proyecto Itzaes (PI) in Ixil, Yucatán. In the past two years, working together with other families in Ixil and Simon Clopton, they have developed a vibrant community service based program that started with only 100 books and a used computer. Today, PI Ixil has hundreds of children and their families participating in free programs that include early childhood reading, special education, computer literacy, Maya language and culture, creative writing and local ecology.
Peregrina and Esteban both work long hours to provide for their family, yet they generously work 7 days a week with the community. Esteban has two jobs; he is a cilantro farmer and also works in Merida as a parking lot attendant. Last year, after helping to establish the early childhood reading program, Esteban was inspired to return to school and finish his secondary (middle school) requirements. This fall he will be starting on his high school work. Like many people living in the small villages of Yucatán, Peregrina and Esteban were not able to have many years of formal education as children.
Peregrina, in addition to raising three children and contributing long hours at PI works as a seamstress. As a result of a $350. micro-loan, Peregrina was able to buy a used industrial sewing machine and quit her job doing piece work for a maquiladora. Currently, she is sewing hand made dolls in the style of traditional Mestiza women, with embroidered huipiles and rebozos (traditional dresses and shawls). With the industrial machine, Peregrina now has the capacity to take on large orders and to develop her own business. One of her first large orders will be the production of the BMAB/ Traime un Libro book bags.
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