Projects

Keisy and Caminda Cooking Up A Treat

Satisfied Customer

And Another

We are having a number of students completing their work for a grade level. We may have over 60 ‘graduating’ in two weeks – fantastic news. Part of the requirements is to participate in a project which contributes to the welfare of their community. This week has seen three days of frantic activity to fulfill this part of their work. Two groups went to give presentations on the value of green leaves and to give cooking and tasting demonstrations as part of their talks. Yeni was their supervisor and she worked hard to help them have a colourful and informative presentation. A number of families are now aware of the potential of green leaves. They were able to try five different varieties of leaves in various ways. I am so excited about the potential of this project. As a very general rule of thumb, a half cup of cooked greens will provide a nursing mother with 50% of her calcium, all of her Vitamin A and C as well as a good portion of iron and some protein. Not a bad deal in my books.

Seda Presenting

A second project was talking about hygiene to two primary school classes. The students prepared coloured pictures of various hygienic practices, talked about them and left a copy of the pictures for classroom decoration. This project is also exciting because we are the only school program at this level that is having our students help out in primary schools. As well as being great from a learning perspective, it was also very good advertising.

Victor Presenting

Alejandra, Carla and Delvin

Glenda, Alejandra, Delvin, Ignacio and Leslie

Alejandra, Teresa, Carla, Leslie, Delvin, Glenda and Ignacio

Today we spent three hours on a third project. We planted seventeen different varieties of edible leaves in the school compound. Chaya, Moringa, Chipilin, Juniapa, Sweet Potato Vines, Mint, Lemon Grass, Spinach, Amaranth, Beets, Nasturtiums, Stevia, Native Cilantro, Leuceana, Cassava, Radishes ... I’m missing something ... but you get the point. A number of these are bush/tree type plants so they will provide a few layers of growth. It was the first time these students had handled these plants and, surprisingly, the first time to plant small seeds. We used cuttings, seeds and seedlings so they got a full lesson in ways to plant. Once we started writing down all the species, even I was surprised at how much we accomplished.

A note about the Vetiver grass we planted a couple of weeks ago. Most of them are sprouting so we should have a solid line of the plants in about three months. We have some Sikuma Wiki (a type of collard) with dinner plate size leaves. Manuel had two for lunch yesterday as a type of salad. He realized that one would have been more than enough. I hope they will go to seed so I can get some more planted.

Dennis, Victor and Felix

Reina, Karin and Suani - in planting mode

Manuel supervising Manuel, Felix and Dennis

Monday we should have another group working on edible plants. They will plant some chives and transplant some Sikuma Wiki and Amaranth. In another week, we should have some Malabar Spinach plants nearly ready for transplanting. I have about twenty here in Santa Cruz in bags and they have just germinated. Another thirty are growing in Santa Rita so that bodes well. Nutritional reports rank this plant as a ‘must have’.

Not all good news this week. We have a staff member who is a petty thief and so we now have to track down the person and get rid of him. That is so frustrating as it puts suspicion on all the staff. We hope to have an unofficial visit from a police person to do some interviewing on Monday.

TTYL

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