Elon Students: Building a new elementary school in Chiapas

[Pedrocafe]

A group of students is working to build a school in Chiapas.  With the help of their school they have created the following post card to promote an upcoming educational event.  The postcard has a beautiful movie that is really worth viewing.

Check it out

http://org.elon.edu/pericleanscholars2008/postcard.htm

[Tom at MTI]

I work with a group that over the past 10 years has built a school, community center and sanitary latrines for a group of dispossessed scavenger families on the Mexico City dump.  I wonder if there is something we could do in common with your group?
Tom Carter

[Pedrocafe]

Hi Tom,

Sounds really interesting!  How do you go about organizing, funding, and carrying our your constructions?

Peter

[Tom at MTI]

I belong to a group of retired school teachers and administrators.  For a service vacation each year we try to find a project we can fund and accomplish in a reasonable amount of time.  For the last 10 years we have worked with a large international aid NGO on a continuing project at Tultitlan, a Mexico City dump.  Over the years we have built a school and community center there and most recently have started building ecological composting toilets.  Because of our ties we will probably continue some projects there, but some of the group members have been wanting to also visit other areas of Mexico.
My personal interest and background is in community development, and I look for projects with local involvement.  I've been interested in reading this website and the things going on in Chiapas.  I was in San Cristobal  40 years ago and have always been interested in returning.
 
One caveat - Because of our ties with NGO's,  our groups projects have to be absolutely nonpolitical.

[Pedrocafe]

Dear Tom,

Have you checked out the web site that the Elon students created for their school project in cooperation with Schools for Chiapas.  This is a really beautifuly movie / slide show with voice over that tells the story of building a school in Chiapas... http://org.elon.edu/pericleanscholars2008/postcard.htm.  I really urge you to view it and pass it along to others.

Certainly we at Schools for Chiapas consider education and schools to be a very political issue in terms of empowerment, community development, and learning.  On the other hand if "political" implies elections and candidates and power struggles, then these school building projects are specifically focused on the needs of children.

Is there any way that we can work together?

Yours for kids,

Peter

[Tom at MTI]

Well, the NGO that we have worked with has ties to the official Mexican government.  They operate in Mexico by the permission of the government.  Our little group is way down the ladder as far as official status but we wouldn't want to jeopardize  our connection with the NGO by working with groups that at least are tacitly in opposition to the government.  As individuals however, there would not be any problem in visiting or participating with any group we chose. We have discussed visiting Chiapas during one of our trips and maybe then we could tour some projects there. 
I've never heard of the students school but I did view their video, it was nice. They showed a broken down school building which looked very fixable.  Do the students have any building skills? Do they speak Spanish?   How much time can they spend at one time?  My guess is that they need to develop connections and trust with the community first before they can accomplish much.  We've been going to the same place and working with the same people for 10 years and have developed fairly close personal ties there.  That seems to be the most effective way to accomplish things and get community participation.

[WINDBLOWER]

I finally reviewed the movie clip.  I had mixed emotions, but I took two steps back and thought that this clip was nicely done, emotionally charging, and should be a very productive forum for conversations and contributions.

I also showed this to a group of Mexican and African American students at my school.  My objective was to accomplish two things.  I wanted the Mexican students (especially the students I don't teach) to know that there was someone in the building that could see beyond the cultural barrier and I wanted the African American students to appreciate and think about the comforts they enjoy and to know that a free and public education is a right and a priviledge that is not enjoyed by everyone and should be appreciated. 

Their first reaction was of silence.  Then after I saw the emotions in their faces, I knew it is was not only emotional for me but for anyone that would take the time to view it.

Most of the students that I don't teach had not heard about the Zapatistas, but I was bombarded by questions, and more questions.  The attitudes of my students the next day were remarkable.  When a student was disruptive, one or two of my students would explain the importance of listening to me and that there some people who will never have the chance to be in our class.------MYYYY!!!!  I can't tell you how that made my day---and most importantly encouraged my spirit. 

There were a few Mexican students that did not see the clip that asked about it when they saw me in the hallway.  What a wonderful way to pass on knowledge.

I want to thank the production company of Elon University for this clip.  My students go to the movies every weekend, so this movie clip was just another learning tool that was at my access and I took every advantage of it.