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Ground is broken
Submitted by Ken Hutz on Mon, 2007-11-19 22:54. Volunteers' BlogWe 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
Submitted by admin on Mon, 2007-11-19 03:12. Volunteers' Blog[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
Submitted by admin on Fri, 2007-11-16 20:06. Volunteers' Blog[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.
