Oaxaca Project Update No.2

It has been a fun, full and fast few weeks for our Volunteers in Oaxaca.  Community Nutrition Volunteers have been busy making house visits to promote amaranth, cooking amaranth dishes with the families who feed them as part of their rotating meal plan, and planting family gardens.  Many Volunteers have also held bigger cooking workshops and some have even planted community amaranth gardens at their local school or health clinic. Their classes with local youth have touched on themes of nutrition, sports and exercise, and potable water. Digital Culture Volunteers met with teachers and directors of their local secondary school to recruit students for their technology classes in the coming weeks.  Some groups have had their students choose a favorite poem to transform into a digital presentation.  Others have started making a book about their community’s local culture.  This week’s theme of Oaxacan cuisine will surely be an adventure for their students.  Their creativity is really what makes the project exciting.

Last week, Volunteers across the project participated in their schools’ clausuras, or graduation ceremonies, where children performed in marching bands, elaborate flag ceremonies, and traditional dances to celebrate the school year coming to an end.

This Friday, Digital Culture Volunteers will gather in Oaxaca with their youth counterparts to share their digital projects and ideas for community projects.  Community Nutrition Volunteers will travel to the city on Saturday for activities facilitated by their Project Supervisors. For both projects, midterm will be a time to reconnect with their peers, share successful lesson plans and best practices, troubleshoot any challenges with their projects, relax and make a phone call home. Over the weekend, Oaxaca City will be full of festivities leading up to the Guelaguetza, which starts on Monday, so Volunteers will most likely witness performances and traditional calendas (parades) as they walk around with their routes.

Communities submitted their proposals for community projects last Friday, which varied from latrines and clinic improvements to reforestation, a recycling program and even putting up street signs!  Project Supervisors will begin distributing funds this week and we’re excited to see the projects carried out over the course of the following weeks.