La Cumbre - Seeds of Help

Brenda on left Walter on Right

Right so I arrived in Chinatla on Monday night and met up with Walter, the founder, and Brenda who deals with the day to day running of the Seeds of Help Charity (http://www.seedsofhelp.org/) The charity I will be working with for the next few months. On Tuesday we drove up to La Cumbre. 1km straight up into the Cuchumontanas mountains. After driving through the clouds we reached the plataue called La Cumbre ("the top" in English), and home for me at least, until April. On first impressions its not too far off the Wicklow Gap on a summers day : )

Air is a good bit thinner, meaning that its pretty hard to breath and Im told the sun is really dangerous for the same reason. Its also cold pretty much all the time even though the sun is warm. This means that you need about three layers of clothes at all times and you are constantly putting them on and off. I am so happy that I decided to buy a sleeping bag the day before I came. At night it is Baltic, and they havent heard of insulation here so a sheet of plastic and galvinised above it, is whats keepin my room, warm at night.

Tuesday morning we drove to my new house. I met Roberto a local guy who works for Seeds of Help full time and will be my closest colleague in my time here in La Cumbre. I also met with another volunteer from America, of which there is two at the minute, who is here with the peace corps. There is also a German guy Stefan, who is here for a month. By chance Roberto and George were holding a class for the local kids at my new house. Have to admit at this stage, between the light headedness and the the culture shock I was a little bewildered. After a while, I got envolved with the class because I didnt really know what else I was supposed to do, to be honest. As it turns out I was right.

12 Houses in 4 hours. Not bad for my first days work?

As I later found out, the typical routine for the volunteers and Roberto is, a kids club in the morning and a womens club in the afternoon. The kids club could envolve making houses from cardboard like in the picture and the womens club topics range from family planning to hygeine in the house. I cant honestly give a definitive account of how effective either is. I suppose as regards the kids club, as they are on summer holidays it keeps them busy, and their brains active, along with that of the volunteers. Also I suppose its similar to summer camps in Ireland the goals would be to help the kids develop socially and build self esteem.
The womans group obviously allows the women vent their concerns and possibly topics which might seem tabboo or innapropriate are discussed which might not have been in the past.
There are about 12 different "villages" that they work with so the 2 peace corp workers split up and go to different villages every day. It is a policy of Seeds of Help that the local people always contribute to whatever activity is happening. For instance the kids all brought their own card board and glue for these classes, building houses. This is very important to the philosophy of Seeds of Help, and justifiably so.

Today I seen another aspect of the work that Seeds of Help do, and to where some of the project fee I paid goes I would like to think. We went to visit a family of whome the eldest girl is being sponsored for further education. It is pretty typical that most kids leave school well before they reach 12, in fact it is not untypical for girls to be married at 12. The reasons for this are simply, 1- it is not enforced by law,  2 - their family need them to work and 3 - it normally costs money to continue after 12 in a private school. For the kids that dont go on to further education they normally work with their families or also have the option of working with a local farmer for 1 euro a day, in the fields. Seeds of Help sponsor children that show both aptitude and willingness to work hard and also come from the poorest families. The school they attend is normally a Technical bording school (also a charity) down the mountain in Chiantla, and they usually study for a further 3 years here inititally before possibly going on to University. Of the success stories they can claim 2 teachers and a student studying to be a Doctor, so far. The bording school is charity run but does require fees. The school has typical classes but also woodworking, typing, mechanics amongst others. Including fees, supplies and boarding the usual cost of sponsorship per year is 700 dollars. As well as giving a chance in life to someone who normally wouldnt have one, the idea is that these sponsored children will show the importance of education to the rest of their community and will also return and teach what they have learnt. By no means do I think I know the solution to poverty but from talking to a few people that have a good idea they always emphasise the part education has to play.

The girl in the green jumper Maria, is getting sponsored for school next year. Their house consists of one room the building to the rear is another family's

I hear you ask where do I come in. Well I would be lying if I hadnt thought a bit about that myself over the last few days. If I am honest, I have enjoyed helping out with the kids and I wouldn't like to stop it altogether but I think I can be more effective in other ways. Alas there is a plan. Partly formulated by myself but given the green light today by the powers that be (Walter/Brenda), and the promise of help by the other volunteers and Roberto. There are two parts really:
The first envolves water tanks, a major part of Seeds of Help's work. Seeds of Help provide the cement, steel and the knowledge to build a water tank. The community or family are expected to provide the sand and the man power. The reasoning behind this is one the people learn how to build more tanks when needed and two they dont get reliant on charity. After the new year I will be envolved with a number of tanks hopefully, but before that I need to finish off the tank for a school including wash hand basins and soak away, and repair two tanks that aren't working properly. My role here will always be to carry out anything that Seeds of Help require of me. After all I am passing through and they have the experience and local knowledge to know what is best for the community, but there is also an aspect of self motivation to anything that is going to get done up here.
The other part of my work here will be promoting the up grading of the houses. I have only been here for a week or so but I havent seen a house yet that is fit for purpose. They have no insulation or waterproofing of walls. For such a cold and wet climate (in rainy season) it is no suprise there are so many health issues. The plan is that Roberto, myself and the other volunteers (when possible), along with anyone else who are interested, are going to up grade Roberto's house. Roberto lives in a relatively new earth block house with a clay tile roof. It is simple and typical of the region. With similar problems such as being cold, dark and having rough surfaces everywhere holding bacteria.
The possible up grades are to include, sheeps wool insulation to underside of roof, draft proofing, lime render to outside of house (lime produced locally), earth plaster and lime wash to inside, resurfacing with earth and lin seed oil to floor, back boiler and shower installed. Probably a few more we will think of, but I am not sure how much can be achieved yet either.
The reason for all of this is simple. All of these improvements are simple, cheap and effective ways of improving the health of the occupants of these types of houses and can be carried out by the occupants themselves. For example, because the sheep up here are mainly reared for meat their wool is considered worthless. This means there are stockpiles of unwanted wool everywhere. (hopefully) Apparently they use a soap up here that contains Borax. A natural insectiside. When the wool is washed with Borax it is an ideal roof insulation. Wool actually gets warm when wet and it can hold up to 30 percent moisture without effecting its insulating qualities. Good solution I think, for a start anyway.
By working with the peace core volunteers, who are here for two years, and Roberto, who is here for life, these techniques can in turn be passed on to other families. The idea is that I will act as foreman on the first project but will take a role as labourer and Roberto as foreman for the next one. The persons house who the second project is for will work on the thrid and so on...
Now I have to admit even though I know the theory behind this work and have some experience with sheeps wool and lime, there is a lot of this that I will be doing for the first time myself. But sure its not my house what : )
On a serious note, just how much the house can be improved I am going to measure. By recording, the temperature, humidity and moisture levels in Roberto's house, hif fathers which is identical and next door and the outside over a period of 6 months or so we will be able to gauge how effective the improvements are. Also as Roberto is going to be living in the house I hope to get good feedback form him and his wife thrrough surveys etc..
Although Roberto is getting a decent deal, he is also going to have to put up with his house being turned into a class room whenever needed in the future, and put up with us tinkering with his house for the coming months. Seeds of Help also inisisted that he pay for the sheeps wool himself. To be honest I couldnt argue with Brenda as she has been working here for years and knows how to play things right and fairly.
In case your wondering I will be using some of the money that was raised by everyone before I left. Thanks again everybody. I hope you think it is as worthwhile as I do and I wont be disapointing anybody. Seeds of Help have a set budget already and to be fair this really is my baby but I know it wouldnt be happening without them, with the support and knowledge they have already provided.

An "Adobe" or earth block house typical of the region.

Although I will be busy with my own stuff I also hope to get envolved with the Peace Core volunteers in agricultural projects they are interested in. Something I know absolutley nothing about but would like to. Projects such as constructing a smoker to preserve meat and others concerning growing different vegetables. School starts back in mid January so when my Spanish is good enough I would also like to get envolved with some teaching. The kids are currently teaching me so I probably owe them : )

I am very excited at the minute. Keep you up dated anyways...