Nourish Goes to Mexico

We arrived in El Gusano on Wednesday morning following a 5:30 AM wake-up call.  The team agrees that the community is very beautiful--we can't upload pictures right now, you'll have to wait.  El Gusano is next to a mountain range and is much greener than a community we had visited previously.  The weather is warm and breezy in the morning, but it gets horribly sunny and hot after 10 AM.

On our first day we took all of our materials to the school.  We took over the furthest empty classroom, which has big windows and is full of natural light.  After cleaning up and rearranging bookshelves, desks, and chairs, we managed to make a reading corner and put all of our new books on the shelves.  We also set up an arts corner with all of our new supplies, like pipe cleaners, glitter, construction paper, balloons, and much, much more, all for our projects.  We prepared a book of lesson plans over the course of the last semester that we have been referring to for ideas for things to do with the kids.

The students are really well-behaved, and are really excited about the new equipment we brought.  They love the new soccer balls and basketballs, and this morning we got to teach a gym class.

All of our host families have been extremely receptive and are preparing far more food than we could ever eat.  Almost all of us have our own houses.

This morning Adriana, FCB director, arrived with a group of local government officials, including the representative of the whole municipio, so that they could see the conditions of the school and the new community center.  Several government ministries (Education, Development) are getting involved, so we discussed all of the improvements that could be made to the new community center, such as installing new roofing, lighting, and painting the walls.  FCB just purchased three new computers for the center, and we will be working closely with a community member who is a college graduate and will be in charge of computer training after our project is over.

I have to run to lunch, but we will try to update you again soon!

We made it!

We're being fed properly, nobody is sick yet, and we are still getting along. Check out the videos and photos to see what we've been up to:

The Sun Pyramid - Teotihuacan, Mexico

Descending the Sun Pyramid

The Sun Pyramid as seen from the Moon Pyramid.

Diana Leal, a state government worker, came to talk to us about migration and development in Guanajuato.

A photo with everyone who happened to be in the Fundacion Comunitaria del Bajio (FCB) office in Irapuato, Mexico on Tuesday afternoon. The office is in Adriana Cortes' house, which is absolutely beautiful.

We are a team of seven undergraduates from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, and we'll be working in El Gusano, Guanajuato, Mexico for four weeks this summer. Project dates are May 10 to June 7, and we are getting very excited to be leaving on Saturday.

Our team has been working hard throughout the semester, writing lesson plans and getting donations in the form of books, jerseys, and computers.

Our partner organization in Mexico is Fundacion Comunitaria del Bajio, which works to connect universities, NGOs and communities to work on development projects that capitalize on communities' strengths to improve quality of life and initiate income-generating activities. They have been an incredible force behind the project and have worked tirelessly to help it evolve into something sustainable and positive for all members of the community.

As we continue to post over the course of the next month, please feel free to share your thoughts with us. We would love to hear from you!