Celebrating El Día Mundial del Agua at the Family Support Centre

World Water Day has been observed since 1993, when the United Nations General Assembly declared the 22nd of March as the "World Day for Water."  On March 21st, we recognised this important day at the Family Support Centre with an excursion to the local well and information about the local water system.

Heading off from the Centre to the well which provides water to a large part of Llanos del Pinal,
including the Family Support Centre.

The well is located in the center of Llanos del Pinal and is 132 meters deep.

The children and coordinators walking towards the well

Once we arrived at the well, Don Marcelino kindly explained to us and showed us how the well and the pump function.
Don Marcelino is the father of some of the participants at the Family Support Centre
and works in the Llanos del Pinal water project. 

After this, everyone was interested to further understand the water system in Llanos, so we
headed off on a 20-minute walk with Don Marcelino to view the water tank.

Evelyn, Jessica, Carmen Maria, and Ingrid all ready to start the steep journey up to the water tank

Don Marcelino explaining the water system, from well to tank to homes

The water is pumped up the mountainside (volcano side!) to the water tank.  From here it's distributed to over 1,000 homes in Llanos del Pinal.

The children listening intently to what Don Marcelino has to say

After listening to the explanations of how water is provided to many in Llanos,
we headed back to the Family Support Centre

With everyone admiring the beautiful view along the way

Celebrating Carnival with Cascarones!

On Tuesday 4th March we celebrated Carnival with cascarones!  The children have been preparing their cascarones for over a week now.

Lining up for the cascarones in anticipation of the action!

Many of the kids had already begun to make and break cascarones so they could 'practice' before the start of Carnival

Coordinators, Spanish students, and teachers were all armed with their own cascarones 

Guayo, Marcelo and Julio getting ready to break their cascarones!

And the cascaron breaking begins!

Jessica, with cascarones in hand, looking for her first victim...

She gets a helping hand from Carmelina to crack it over Angelica's head! 

Leti, who is already covered in pica pica, is set upon by Selvin

Ingrid sets about cleaning up after the fray

The coordinators head home covered in flour and pica pica...luckily escaping the raw egg breaking!

El Día de Tecun Uman

On Thursday 20th February, as in all of Guatemala, we commemorated the valiant K'iche' Maya ruler - Tecun Uman - at the Family Support Centre.  Carolina and Carmencita read the history behind the battle between Tecun Uman and the Spanish invaders while Marcelo, Guayo, Arturo, and Julio re-enacted the scene.

Carolina preparing for the talk on the history behind the legend of Tecun Uman

Julio preparing to re-enact his part as Tecun Uman

Guayo readying Tecun Uman (Julio) for the battle by ceremonially burning incense around him

Tecun Uman (Julio) ready to take on Pedro de Alvarado (Marcelo) in the battle which actually took place in 1524 not far from Llanos del Pinal.

Tecun Uman was killed by Pedro de Alvarado in the battle but he did not die in vain as the K'iche' Maya still live on to this day.

Pedro de Alvarado (Marcelo) and Tecun Uman (Julio) preparing to do battle for a second time.  The children enjoyed the story and performance so much that they were excited to hear it and watch it again

Amy and Fredy getting in on the action

Nutrition Meetings, February 2014

Nutrition Thursdays: Pop Wuj Medical Spanish students, Social Work Spanish students, staff and coordinators visit Buena Vista and La Victoria for the monthly nutrition meeting on February 6th and Llanos del Pinal on February 13th. 

Pop Wuj med students hand out a snack to the babies from Llanos del Pinal
to keep them busy during the educational presentation.

This month the educational component focused on family planning. Med students and coordinators worked together to prepare a skit that was presented to K'iche' Mayan women in Llanos del Pinal and Mam Mayan women in Buena Vista and La Victoria. 

Women from La Victoria listening to the presentation 

The skit was divided into three small scenes. In the first scene the lead character "Maria" chats with her neighbour "Luz" about her family life. Maria is worried because she doesn't have enough breast milk for her baby and is very tired from caring for her other three children. Luz explains that her sister was in the same situation and chose to consult with her doctor who advised her about family planning. 

 

"Maria" and "Luz" in Llanos del Pinal 

In the second scene Maria visits her doctor, who advises her on various methods of contraception and explains the benefits of spacing out her pregnancies. There are many risks involved for Guatemalan women and infants when a mother gets pregnant while her last child is under 2 years old. For example, in the case of Maria, not having enough breast milk for her baby. In addition, there is a higher risk of prematurity.

In the context of Guatemala, children exposed to these risks have a higher chance of becoming malnourished. Currently in Guatemala 48% of children under 5 are malnourished. Moreover, the use of family planning will allow a family to conserve their economical resources enabling them to have more access to food and medical attention to prevent malnutrition. 

In the last scene Maria approaches her husband to educate him on the benefits of family planning. This is a tough conversation for many women to have with their husbands due to the cultural context. Given this, the educational component this month aims to encourage women to have this conversation with their husbands to raise consciousness on the benefits of family planning. As part of the presentation, Pop Wuj's local Guatemalan doctors gave a demonstration on the use of condoms. 

Pop Wuj doctors: Carmen Rosa and Sammy 

After the educational presentation, the nutrition meeting continued with measuring the length, weight, and head circumference of each baby. This information is recorded and each participant meets with one of the doctors for a monthly nutrition consult. The doctors need this information to determine whether a child is malnourished and to assess the progress of the babies who have begun the the Nutributter (fortified peanut butter supplement) treatment. 

Due to the large number of participants in the community of Llanos del Pinal, this month we also had med and social work students chat with all the women one on one to review the use of the Nutributter supplement and healthy eating behaviours for their babies. 

At the end of the meeting each woman received her monthly supply of Nutributter, Incaparina, pre-natal vitamins, and vitamins for any other young children in her family. 

Safe Stove Project: Building Begins

The past three weeks many Pop Wuj students have volunteered their time to help out with construction of safe stoves on Wenesday mornings. 

Pop Wuj coordinators:Shanti & Dawn along with med students: Ben, Inge & Dan working on Stage 2

So far we have completed the construction of one stove and started the construction of four  more. The building process takes place in three stages. In the first stage, the base of the stove is built using cinder blocks and cement. 

In the second stage, three layers of bricks are added onto the base and are held together by cement and a mixture of clay "barro" and "panela" (unrefined whole cane sugar). 

Mynor (Safe Stove Expert & Pop Wuj Spanish Teacher) finishing up Stage 2

Here is Doña Michaela from Tierra Colorada Baja (a rural community outside of Xela). This was her cooking space before she received her safe stove. 

During Stage 3 the construction of the inside of the stove is completed and the "plancha" (metal stove top) is added along with the chimney. Cement is added on top of the last layer of bricks to firmly hold the plancha. It also gives the stove a great look! 

Here is a picture of the final product! Stage 3 is complete for Doña Michaela. She was the first to receive a stove this year! 

Safe Stove Project: Delivery of Materials January 2014

On Wednesday January 22nd stove materials were delivered to 10 homes in the community of Llanos del Pinal to prepare for the construction of safe stoves in the weeks to come.

 

First stop: picking up bricks and clay at Xela's local brick maker

 

 

The Safe Stove Project was created to combat respiratory illnesses caused by the constant interaction of cooking with open fires and deforestation due to increased consumption of firewood. Furthermore, this increases protection for children and minimizes the frequent accidents that can occur around an open fire in the home.

Pop Wuj volunteer coordinators, Spanish students, teaching staff, and safe stove beneficiaries worked hard all morning to deliver the materials.

Each home recieved 110 bricks, concrete blocks, clay, cement, metal parts to construct the chimney, and a "plancha" (stove top). 

Preparations for the opening of the Family Support Centre 2014

The last two weeks have been spent preparing for the inauguration of the Family Support Centre for 2014. 

A lot of effort has been made by personnel at the Family Support Centre, Pop Wuj students and Project Coordinators in ensuring that the classroom and equipment are all clean and freshly painted for the coming year.

Potentially dangerous rotting boards on the play equipment were replaced.

All this was achieved whilst Llanos del Pinal was without water for almost two weeks, delaying the opening of the Centre.  However, the water situation has now been resolved which enabled the children to return just two days later than anticipated.