Un Mundo - Volunteers' Blog

Asking the People

Mon, 07 Apr 2008 18:00:10 -0400

Once the Un Mundo building is finished and we will be in El Pital full-time, we plan on beginning our entry into the community by going door to door to meet each family and conduct an informal survey while introducing ourselves. We hope to gather information on who and where everyone lives and what their main concerns and needs are. We recently meet with some local youth who are receiving a local scholarship to attend universities in La Ceiba. As a part of their scholarships, they are required to conduct community service projects, therefore, they will be volunteering with Un Mundo to assist with this community assessment. We hope that this initial involvement will generate greater project leadership amongst these youth as it becomes clearer what projects we will focus on for the year.

Un Mundo Building — Progress with Setbacks

Mon, 07 Apr 2008 18:59:58 -0400

When we entered the abandoned building our first week in Honduras we often were asking ourselves, “Where do we begin?” Six weeks later we are still asking the same question, even after much progress. The first two weeks we scrubbed all the mud and bat feces off the floor and started clearing the area where we planned to construct the shower. As soon as we began to make some progress, the rain came unrelentess for four straight days. Finally, the rain stopped and we returned to the building to find all of our work ruined. The house flooded with water, there was a mini landslide behind the building, which piled up on the area we had previous cleared for the shower. But we didn’t let the bad luck hold us back. The next day we started working on our composting toilet, which has been an object of oddity to those helping us, and at moments, to us as well. But we hope that once it is complete it can be used as a model in the community as a sustainable latrine option for human waste management and a way to improve water quality in the River Valley.

Obtaining electricity has been another challenge in this rather remote location. But after many obstacles, we are excited to report that today a transformer is being installed that will be able to power the Un Mundo building and the surrounding homes of our neighbors.

We have been making a lot of progress so far, but we’ve had a lot of set backs as well, although, this gives us all the more reason to celebrate our small successes, such as the steps to the back door, a wash basin, and the kitchen sink, which were recently completed and even more noteworthy, have running water.

We hope to be able to be in the building full-time by the first week in April. In the meantime, we are enjoying camping out a few times a week and getting closely acquainted with the current residents, the bats and scorpions.

High School — Phase 1 Completion

Mon, 07 Apr 2008 19:18:40 -0400

Upon arriving in El Pital, Rob and Elly were pleasantly surprised to find the first phase of the high school project almost complete.

Two new classrooms and a new office for the administration only required minor details before completion. The new classrooms are much larger, with lots of natural light and high ceilings to provide the much-needed ventilation with all the heat.

Mid-March Elly and Rob had two important meetings to evaluate the high school project, one with the high school transparency committee and another with the larger community of El Pital. Both meetings were incredibly informative and generated new ideas to improve the current process and better involve and inform the community.

The community meeting was also an exciting opportunity for Elly and Rob to introduce themselves to the community and facilitate more open communication between the director and the larger community. They look forward to collaboratively implementing the ideas generated by the community throughout the second phase. The second Phase will be breaking ground within the first few weeks of April.

Getting Our Feet Wet

Mon, 07 Apr 2008 18:23:25 -0400

After six months of planning, we (Rob and Elly) finally arrived in Honduras. The minute we stepped off the plane we’ve had a plethora of resources being offered to us from many like-minded individuals working in the River Valley. This has made our transition much easier.

While getting our feet wet, we decided to rent a small room in the nearby city of La Ceiba. We are sharing an apartment with a young Honduran couple that just welcomed their first child into the world. We also have two university scholarship recepients living with us whom are from Las Mangas, a neighboring town of El Pital.

Anxious to complete the Un Mundo building, we spent the first few weeks running around the city going from one hardware store to the next looking for the best prices for all the materials needed. La Ceiba has very few street signs or addresses so finding specific stores also turned into an orienteering mission, but it was a good way to be acquinted with the city.

Amongst the chaos of being in transition, we have still managed to find a little down time to take a swim in the river and make friends in El Pital or go to the mall and watch a movie while in La Ceiba.

Honduras preparations

Thu, 29 Nov 2007 19:00:13 -0500

It’s been almost a year and the time is quickly approaching for the big move down to Honduras. Elly and Rob have been working hard over the months preparing for Un Mundo’s reinstatement in the Cuenca. It all started back in January 2007 with an email from Tim. Over the months, one thing led to another and in June we flew down to Honduras to meet Ken and the community of El Pital for the first time. Since then, we’ve been busy gathering information, talking with past volunteers, coordinating fundraising events, cultivating partnerships, and planning for Un Mundo’s future.

Our first real dose of Un Mundo work came in October when we attended Project Honduras’ Conference in the beautiful town of Copan Ruinas, near the Guatemalan boarder. While we were there, we began to expand Un Mundo’s network and gathered tons of resources. A panel of Honduran professionals introduced us to some of the most pressing issues facing rural communities today, particularly the impacts on the youth, which was the main theme of the conference. We met other individuals and organizations working to combat different challenges throughout various regions of the country. We intend to deepen the relationships formed at the conference in hopes to forge lasting partnerships, particularly those working and living near the Cangrejal River Valley.

Recently, we’ve been working with an organization called WorldCamp which is based out of North Carolina. We’re trying to collaborate with World Camp to bring college students to Honduras during the summer and work in the public schools to educate students on issues surrounding HIV/AIDS. We are also researching the possibility of conducting a community needs assessment in El Pital this coming year. If implemented, this assessment will be a collective project to gather information about their needs, existing conditions, demographics, etc. We are hoping to generate support from local and international universities, using professors and students to assist with the assessment. We’re excited about all the work that lies ahead.

Rob & Elly

Ground is broken

Tue, 27 Nov 2007 14:59:37 -0500

We thought it would never happen, but it did. Ground has been broken. It sure looks like El Pital will be getting a new high school. After three years of setbacks, Oscar Gomez took matters into his own hands.

Oscar Gomez is the new director at the middle school at El Pital, and he’s determined to turn it into an impressive high school. He’s the kind of director Un Mundo’s been waiting for, for years. Upon assuming the directorship, it did not take Oscar long to write up an impressive, to say the least, five-phase building plan that envisions an exceptional high school for El Pital and surrounding communities. The new building will have eight, not three, rooms for study, a computer lab, library, and a huge work shop section for applied learning in environmental science, wood and metal working, and more.

The entire budget for the high school is approximately US$130,000. The community will be contributing labor and has formed a transparency committee to oversee the project.

When Rob and Elly get down there in February 2008 they will be working closely with Oscar and the rest of the community, focusing at first on getting a computer lab with Internet connection and English teachers from the U.S. Un Mundo hopes to help the high school considerably with its curriculum.

Thanks to all of you who have hung in there and supported this project over the years.

A two-week, too-short arts project

Fri, 07 Dec 2007 15:30:49 -0500

[This report is from Un Mundo volunteer Rachel McIntire —Admin]

In August artist Caleb Duarte and I visited El Pital, Honduras. We
left the Bay Area with overstuffed packs barely containing all of the
arts supplies, musical instruments and beautiful children's books
generously donated by our friends from the Mural, Music and Art
Project, Clif Judy, Les Dewitt and the Armenta and McIntire families.

This two-week project was designed with the intention of supporting
the current efforts of the community's school and library development
projects. Caleb and I had the opportunity to work with the school
administration and teachers as well as spend time with many families
and of course, all of the children. With the assistance of high school
students Caleb painted the new logo designed by the school Principal,
Oscar Gomez. Between organizing for the future and numerous river
explorations, we led percussion music workshops, and made time for
group storytelling, drawing and face painting.

It is my hope to support this three-year school redevelopment plan
through the introduction of artists, architects and activists to
contribute and collaborate in a sharing skills and interests with
those of the community members. For the next visit in February, Marisa
Jahn and members of the Paper Picker Press will work with the youth in
creative writing, bookmaking and design projects. Caleb Duarte hopes
to return during his summer break from SAIC to create a land sculpture
commemorating the community founders and together we plan to build a
more permanent presence of artists in the Cuenca for the future.

Throw-n-Sow: Tirar y Sembrar, Honduras 2006

Fri, 07 Dec 2007 11:49:38 -0500

[This report comes from Un Mundo volunteer Rachel McIntire — Admin.]

Throw-n-Sow (Tirar y Sembrar) is the brainchild of art collaborative Shada/Jahn. Throw-n-Sow is a biodegradable flying disc toy similar to a Frisbee that uses the centripetal force generated in the act of throwing to distribute seeds into the environment. Manufactured as a toy made from environmentally friendly biodegradable plastics, Throw-n-Sow consists of a main body and a separate container that slides and locks under the disc. This container contains adjustable holes of different diameter to accommodate variant seed sizes. In other words, Throw-n-Sow is a literally empty container into which individuals and communities emplace selected seeds.

Throw-n-Sow is an interactive eco-art project that engages diverse communities in each step of the project (manufacturing, seed selection, site selection, plant stewardship, art education). Throw-n-Sow raises questions about the expanded field of drawing, indigenous ecologies vs. selective human cultivation, landscape evolution and succession, ethnobotany, agronomy, etc., while aiming to valorize distributive intelligence and interdisciplinary learning as it passes between two or more individuals. Leaving behind a trail of seeds as it sails through the air, Throw-n-Sow essentially imprints moments of play into the landscape.

Throw-n-Sow was introduced to El Pital by longtime Un Mundo volunteer and TnS collaborator Rachel McIntire. Rachel arrived in Honduras July 3 with a backpack full of disks, fluorescent pink and green handkerchiefs, an array of art supplies and a heavy interdisciplinary curriculum.

The fun began shortly after Rachel was introduced to the new environmental science teacher, Marin Posa. Together, they were able to adjust the project to address local environmental issues and support the school's goal to construct a portable greenhouse. The school staff has been whirling with new ideas after receiving a grant to expand and rebuild their educational facilities. In addition to the construction of a six-classroom new school, library and cultural center, the school plans to incorporate a greenhouse into their expanded environmental science program. This expansion would allow students to cultivate a variety of fruits, vegetables and decorative plants and trees, while providing hands-on study of botany and ecology. The project would also generate revenue for the school and increase the availability of plants for families throughout the river valley.

Throw-n-Sow began with discussions on topics related to plant biology and propagation, local ecology and human and plant migration. The group examined plant life in the area and created a field guide of the existing plant life, including drawings, descriptions and populations. The entire school worked together to prepare a 20’x20’ “ground” for the throw. They tilled the soil, diverted the rainwater run off and cleared away all rocks and debris.

After completing the first week of exercises, the group selected a flowering plant to disperse in the prepared field. In teams of four the groups choreographed a throw, intentionally planning the marks that their interaction would create. Meanwhile, everyone in El Pital under the age of 20 became acquainted with the Frisbee-like disks. Plastic disks soared through the air, reaching high and low as the kids mastered the art of throwing and catching.

After the students mapped and rehearsed the choreography of the disk, it was tossed above the prepared ground. The group then mapped out their growth projects by recalling the throws of each group and where they imagined the most and least seeds had fallen. We devised a care plan that included morning and evening watering (if the afternoon rain did not fall) and protection from the chickens and piglets that populate the school grounds.

While the plants were silently germinating below ground we continued our study of plants, experimented with further prototypes of flying disks that disseminated seeds, and prepared to share our work with the rest of the school. The students decorated the classroom with their work and stenciled logos and bandanas, and each group prepared a presentation. The themes were choreography and mark-making, plant germination, dissemination of seeds and ideas, future of the project, and the school. At first there was some shyness around presenting, but after practice and encouragement the four volunteers were prepared.

The classroom celebration was a warm success. After the reception the project binder was completed and passed to the school directors to be saved until the opening of the library. The field guides the class created will also be part of the community-authored work available in the new library that will open sometime next year. Rachel gifted the disks to the high school and elementary school with the invitation to practice until next year's Throw-n-Sow team arrives with new activities and themes of study for the youth of El Pital. The energy of Throw-n-Sow continues to grow as the small sprouts emerge and grow to becoming flowing plants.

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Negroponte Feeling the Heat (NY Times Article)

Sat, 19 Feb 2005 09:18:09 -0500

February 19, 2005

Intelligence Nominee Comes Under Renewed Scrutiny on Human Rights

By SCOTT SHANE

ASHINGTON,
Feb. 18 - Human rights advocates repeated longstanding criticisms on
Friday of John D. Negroponte, President Bush's nominee as director of
national intelligence. They said accusations that he covered up abuses
as ambassador to Honduras in the 1980's had a new importance after
recent cases of American abuse of detainees.

In Honduras, Mr. Negroponte "looked the other way" when evidence of
rights violations came to light, said Reed Brody, counsel to Human
Rights Watch.

"Unfortunately," Mr. Brody said, "today the United States is
involved in serious human rights crimes committed in the process of
collecting intelligence. Is he just going to look the other way again?"

Sandra Coliver, executive director of the Center for Justice and
Accountability, a human rights law center in San Francisco that has
aided Honduran torture victims, said the nomination would hurt the
United States' image in Central America.

"In Central America," Ms. Coliver said, "Negroponte is indelibly
remembered for his role in increasing the amount of U.S. aid to the
Honduran military at the very time that the military's role in
supporting brutal death squads was becoming abundantly clear. What kind
of a message will this appointment send to the people of Central
America? That the U.S. is willing to overlook massive human rights
atrocities in the name of collecting intelligence in pursuit of U.S.
national interests."

Mr. Negroponte, 65, now ambassador to Iraq, is a career diplomat who
has worked all over the world in his 40-year career. He has faced
repeated scrutiny for his work as envoy to Honduras from 1981 to 1985,
when Honduran military units, some trained by the Central Intelligence
Agency, carried out kidnappings, torture and killings.

As the first director of national intelligence, Mr. Negroponte would
oversee the C.I.A. and the other 14 agencies that are part of the
nation's estimated $40 billion spying enterprise. The post is the
centerpiece of intelligence reorganization undertaken chiefly because
of the failure to warn of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

The C.I.A. and military are also under intense scrutiny because of
evidence that detainees in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere have been
tortured in questioning and in a few cases have died in custody.
Questions have also been raised about whether the intelligence agency
has handed over prisoners to third countries, where they might be
tortured.

At confirmation hearings for previous posts, Mr. Negroponte has adamantly denied that he tolerated or covered up any abuses.

He said at a hearing in 2001 that his top priority as envoy to
Honduras was "encouraging Honduras's return to civilian democratic
rule, including protection of human rights."

Efforts to contact Mr. Negroponte through the State Department were not successful.

He has won easy confirmations in the past, and the Honduras record
is not likely to be a major obstacle to his confirmation in the new
position.

Senator John D. Rockefeller IV of West Virginia, senior Democrat on
the Senate Intelligence Committee, said he was not particularly
troubled by Mr. Negroponte's record there.

"People grow and change over 20 years," Mr. Rockefeller said, adding
that the panel would conduct a "thorough" review of the nominee.

Senator Christopher J. Dodd, the Connecticut Democrat who pursued
the Honduran questions in 2001, when Mr. Negroponte was confirmed as
delegate to the United Nations, issued a statement on Thursday praising
him and not mentioning Honduras.

Senator Pat Roberts, the Kansas Republican who is chairman of the
Intelligence Committee, described Mr. Negroponte in a telephone
interview as "a person who has a great deal of credibility." Jack R.
Binns, who preceded Mr. Negroponte as ambassador to Honduras, said he
opposed the confirmation because he believed that Mr. Negroponte had
misled Congress in past testimony and because he might slant
intelligence to suit administration policies.

"Based on his performance in Honduras, there's that possibility,"
said Mr. Binns, who was ambassador from 1980 to 1991 and is now retired
and living in Arizona.

Oscar Reyes, whom the Honduran military seized in 1982 and tortured
along with his wife, Gloria, said he was dismayed to learn of Mr.
Negroponte's nomination.

"He'll say, 'I didn't know,' " said Mr. Reyes, 69, who now publishes
a Spanish-language newspaper in Washington. "But the U.S. embassy knew
everything that was going on."

Douglas Jehl contributed reporting for this article.

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