Fish – Al Fresco

Yesterday afternoon Manuel, Chepe and I were invited to a very special lunch in El Cipres. About nine months ago we regained possession of some property that was to be used for helping poor families.

In late October, a group of women asked if they could use the small pond and three fish tanks to raise fish. We were worried that they were going to get into trouble with cost of feed and so forth. There was some initial confusion about whether I might just pay for any cost overruns.

The women started by draining the pond and clearing out mud and stones to make it deep enough for tilapia. Know that five of these ladies are raising families without a husband and several of them are grandmothers. It was incredibly brave of them to dig and delve in the mud. It certainly made an impression on their community. I started by having the three tanks repaired. We all started by taking a trip to a nearby fish farm.

The ladies then went ahead and made a deal with the fish farm for the needed fry. Someone from the farm came and looked at the water supply and gave them an idea of how many fish they could raise. They also negotiated with the farm that the farm would help them obtain feed and would buy their product at the end of the journey.

Once the fish arrived, the cost of feed became apparent. Because we had settled that I was not providing money for feed, they buckled down and found ways to raise the money. They made and sold tamales (a corn mush with meat and vegetables steamed inside banana leaves) and other foods to raise the money.

Theft of their stock was a problem. So, these women took turns at night staying in the small shelter they built. During the cold weather of December this was not an enjoyable task.

Trouble with the tanks showed up quickly as well. The man who originally constructed them, cheated on the materials and so the weight of the water quickly showed up in cracked walls and so forth. The women solved the problem by combining two tanks and using the dirt from between them to reinforce the outside walls. The had noticed that the fish preferred a soil bottom over the concrete. So, their ‘new’ tank had part soil and part concrete and 30% greater volume.

Over half of the fish are sold now and they have come out of the whole project without losing money. That is a huge success in itself.

They are brimming with self confidence now and, next week, we will have a meeting to try and glean the some of the knowledge they have acquired. Without realizing it, they have become the teachers and have a set of skills that no other women in their area have.

They have drained the pond and are negotiating for a tractor to come and move stones and make it bigger.

We talked about alternative feedstuffs, other income generating projects and so forth. Because they now have a basic set of skills for working with livestock they are able to grasp new ideas and sort out some of the logistics that these ideas will require.

We need to complete a better shelter for them. We began but ran out of soil for the super adobe blocks. We had hoped that a neighbouring project would provide the soil but that didn’t work out. Another item on the ‘to do’ list. Another item on the ‘to find money for’ list as well.

Yesterday we had crispy fried fish, tajadas (fried plantains), salad and papaya cooked in a brown sugar syrup. All this was served outside by the fish ponds.

The leader of the group was able to start studying Grade 7 with us a year ago. That opportunity has translated into more than nine neighbouring children having the chance to study, several of the girls (and the lady herself) completing one grade and starting another, primary students being given a chance to read books on a computer and, now ... a fish dinner.

TTYL

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Holy Swimming Week Countdown

The stores are once again stocking plastic inflatable pools and what not as the national week of Honduran swimming is only a month away. Holy week is a holiday for most people and travelling to the nearest stretch of water – fresh or salt is an obsession. The rest of the year sees all of these places nearly barren but during that week they are packed. Vendors set up shop on small spits of river sand and beside normally deserted lakes shores. It is truly amazing.

Today is a cool, rainy day. After a week of warm temperatures and dusty streets, the mud and cool is welcome. Road repair has been going on outside our school and has brought extra dust. However, it has also made for smoother streets.

Our digital library continues to grow. Each week sees a few more books finished and ready for installing. This week we are also working on a dictionary to install alongside the lessons. Each step makes the program that much better and, in my mind, more exciting.

In my house, I have worked on having the bathroom painted. The oil paint fumes are rather staggering but, gradually they are subsiding. Fortunately, an early project to close all the holes along the tops of the walls left each room able to be sealed off and, therefore left me with one room fume free enough for sleeping. The plus side is nice, bright, clean walls – light blue with dark blue trim. Some wooden strips mounted on the walls in my kitchen means I can hang up utensils and some pans. This gets around the lack of cupboards.

The reports on the three ecocina/rocket stoves have been very encouraging. People are wanting to know where and when they can buy one. My hope in the next few weeks is to see if we can build a rocket stove in the traditional shape and with more space for firewood, a chimney and a small water heating system. If we can build one for about $60-70.00, we will be in great shape. The rocket stove does use considerably less fuel. For one of the families, it has meant having to cut wood only one day a month instead of four. So, the boys have three Sundays off. They are quite happy with that arrangement.

The students fill the school for four shifts a day – often two to a computer. It is so exciting to watch them each day.

Watched a funeral procession this morning. They had the coffin inside of a glass covered pick up bed. Much more impressive than the closed hearse system. There were not that many people walking behind the truck so the procession needed the extra help of a flashy unit in front.

Not much else to report. I will close with a small response I wrote to a discussion I was part of with two friends talking about hope and fear.

ttyl

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Back in the Saddle

After a hectic two weeks in Canada, I am back in Santa Cruz. It is so delightful to be warm again. Two weeks of Arctic temperatures, four layers and more of clothes and winter driving is enough for one year. Having said that, we managed a hike to a frozen waterfall which, in my opinion, is more gorgeous in winter than in the summer.

Students continue to come into the school to seek opportunity to study. We are at 250 registered students with almost 200 more on the waiting list. Computer access is the problem.

One of the tasks for me this week is to design a chart that shows the cost of a computer compared to the cost of schooling and other amenities. We want to show people visually that they can find a way to buy their own computer and, thus, continue their education at home. We are, without question, offering the very best public education program in Honduras at this time. We are, as well, offering that opportunity free of charge. So, people who are anxious to study need to find their own solution to the problem of a computer.

Yeni and I were talking this morning and finding ways to try and illustrate that the money for a computer was available ... it is simply a matter of choice and priority. Yeni’s family runs a pulperia (small convenience store) and so she was able to help estimate the amount of money being spent on soda in her part of the community.

- Training session for NGO learning our delivery system

Since one computer will help at least five students (in one village, we have 24 students using one computer), then it is simple to divide the cost of a computer by five. A very good model can be bought for less than $250.00 (some are at around $150.00). So, a family needs to find $50.00. A school uniform is, at the cheapest, $30.00. (This does not include the cost of a P.E. uniform and shoes). When you add the cost of pencils, textbooks and so forth, the cost of outfitting a student is well over the $50.00 mark. Adding transport, pocket money, time and so forth, it is rather obvious, to us, how important it is to find the money for a computer. Even the cost of coming to our centre is expensive in comparison. (Each day represents $1.00 – 2.00 in transport costs).

We also talked about the cost of soda. One three litre bottle is 35 Lempiras. A computer is 125 bottles. That amount of soda is easily consumed in Yeni’s neighbourhood in one to two days. The community is obviously valuing soda more than education at this point. I have seen such examples of skewed community and personal priorities wherever I have lived. In Kenya, it was miraa (a mild drug), in Canada, it is fast food and convenience sweets. I was staggered by the amount of candy being sold in every store – racks and racks.

The continued interest in our program is so exciting. We are even more excited about the improvements we are making to it on a daily basis. The many Canadian people who are interested and becoming involved in giving and providing a variety of resources is also very encouraging. As we talked in various meetings and with groups from other parts of the world interested in our delivery system, it was very obvious once again how much potential we have. Advances in technology are also giving us more ideas. The electronic readers will, almost certainly, be a way in which we can provide access to our program for a fraction of the cost and with greater flexibility. I suspect, that we will no longer need computers within the next four years. The future of education is changing dramatically and we are, likely, already behind the wave ... even though we are out front of so many others.

We have a number of challenges in the next few months. We struggle to get legal documents finalized, find ways to make quality changes to our program, getting a library of books ready for reading and getting our registration process updated. The first morning back in the office and it feels overwhelming. We shall see how it goes.

If you want more information, I can send you photos of a power point presentation we prepared for use in Canada.

TTYL
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