Friday, August 26, 2011

Water Workshop #1: Huge Success!



Yesterday, I had the pleasure of taking in the first of our water-themed workshops developed over the course of the Sources-Fuentes adventure.  Ana-Marie, Emanuele and Marie-Helene put on a rather polished performance for the all-female Canada World Youth group here in Santa Rosa.

 Right from the start they promised this wasn't going to be a day spent sitting infront of a Power Point presentation, eyes-glossed over, willing the breaks and the lunch to come sooner.  They were right!  With their three main themes of Consumption, Access and Bottled Water, we all enjoyed a fun filled day with games, small group presentations, debate, and even a candy-filled evaluation at the end of the day.

CLICK HERE to view a workshop photo album!












Following the 5 step "Image Shifting"model, the facilitators incorporated so much of the learning that we've had throughout this project.  There wasn't only technical content about water, but also a dynamic presentation style, working in two languages, and ensuring that the day was really participative.

To watch a really interesting 7 minute video we enjoyed and debated go to "The Story of Bottled Water".  It just might make you think twice about choosing bottled over tap.

Well, I don't want to give it all away.  Stay tuned, because this workhsop will be coming to a "Canadian city near you", this autumn, to be enjoyed by 8 more Canada World Youth groups there.

The Honduran team is cooking up their own workshop too, which will be revealed next week when we venture back to Belen Gualcho, Honduras to share our findings about their water situation in that community, and to inspire more youth to get involved in water issues at the local level.  This time I'll try not to crash the truck!

Stay tuned, logged-on, and committed to action! ;)

Monday, August 22, 2011

WTF -> Workshops Totally Finished… or almost…!


2 more weeks and its over??? Seriously !?!? I can’t believe that we have a few more days to work on these workshops and then it all ends… or actually it just STARTS! There many things to do after the program ends but as for now we are just focusing in making a few tweaks on our tool and doing lots of translation. One might think that working in 3 languages is hard but let me tell you that it’s not…. It’s not hard….it’s just a pain in the …. head! We are 1 day away from starting our validation workshops, it’s time to test our “little” experiment and find out if we’ve created a monster BUAHAHA!!!!! Or if we’ll turn into monsters after finding out if we need to remove or add things to our tool.

Life in the office is a bit crazy…meetings here and there between Canadian and Honduras groups (not in exclusive kind of way but in a “let’s get this thing together” kind of way). We all have different responsibilities among the group some are busy going around buying stuff for the validation workshops and others are freaking out a bit about the translating part…lots and lots of information! Some are thinking how can there be so much to do and so little time… but there’s always a way to get things done (Oh yes that’s what I think). So I took some time off from translating and decided to vent by writing a blog :) yay yay!!!

So yes… lot of work but like I said… I’m sure we’ll manage to get everything done and ready ;) !!! Switching subject a bit…it’s only Monday and I can’t wait for Sunday to be here woohoo …. First of all the translation work will be done by then AND…. OLIMPIA the greatest team EVEEEEER (at least in Tegucigalpa…my hometown :P ) will be playing against Deporte Savio, Santa Rosa’s soccer team!!! I guess that will lower my stress level a lot….although… I’m really into FUTBOL (spanish for soccer) especially when my team is playing and I yell a lot during the game…well at least I’ll get to set free my lungs!

I guess that this time there’s no story about any cockroach or milking a cow …its juts me venting about our work this week! I’m not surprised though, I kind of knew that the last weeks were going to be a bit crazy, it’s just that it all seems to be happening so fast… We will be saying goodbye to our Canadian teammates in 12 days!!! Wow… now that I think about it… I better stop whinning about how much work there is to do or how translating isn’t really fun…. And just try to enjoy our last days here! I’ve learned so much during this almost 3 months, worked with great people, milked a cow and had near death experiences (I mean the cockroach experience)… I just have to think about those things and keep in mind the goal of this program and I’m sure that in 2 weeks from now I’ll be blogging about how this was all worth it!!

Thursday, August 18, 2011

Drinking Water, Sea Water and Hot Water


Last week was quite productive as a whole. On Monday we had the opportunity to visit a water treatment facility in Santa Rosa de Copan. We had also previously visited a water treatment facility in Perth, ON. What was incredibly interesting is that both facilities use almost the exact same processes to treat water. The engineer that gave us the tour in Santa Rosa de Copan told us that they guarantee the water that gets to the taps of the homes of the city is safe enough to drink; they run regular tests. What’s shocking is that nobody knows this; people believe that the water isn’t safe enough and the majority of the population of Santa Rosa still purchases bottled water. How is this possible, having access to a safe product for free, but still opting to purchase it instead. After the initial disbelief over the situation, I was reminded of all the people I know in Canada that have access to safe drinking water, but genuinely believe that bottled water is somehow safer and better. Anyways, back to Honduras, I’m sure there’s another side to this story and there is a reason why people still feel the need to drink bottled water. But I do wish there was more energy invested in finding out the truth, and if the water really is safe enough to drink in Santa Rosa, which seems to be the case, create more awareness.

The rest of the week mostly consisted of continuing the development of our workshop. Towards the end of the week though, I definitely felt as though we were all ready for a break and could not get our minds off of the mini-vacation we had planned for this past weekend. Thursday evening finally came, and we could not hide our excitement! After a day of work in San Marcos Ocotepeque, we hurried home to prepare our luggage for our 4 day excursion to the beach!!! Five of the six members of our group left Santa Rosa Friday morning at 4:00 AM, destination Sambo Creek! We finally got there mid-day. After an exhaustive day of travel, we were overcome with energy and could do nothing else but run and jump when we saw the never ending beach that we had access to from our hotel. It felt like paradise. We even had a mango tree right outside our hotel room from which we immediately starting collecting mangos the minute we discovered it. Saturday was spent touring Cayos Cochinos, a group of 16 minuscule islands in the middle of the Caribbean Sea. I am not exaggerating when I say that I have never seen water so clear in my life! We did some Snorkelling and saw some incredible coral reefs, after which we stopped on one of the islands for lunch. Our meal was fried fish which was fished approximately 1 hour before we ate it! After a walk around the island where we had lunch, which took no more than 5.2 minutes, we finally headed back to Sambo Creek. On Sunday, I abandoned the group and went on a little excursion on my own to the hot springs of Sambo Creek. Simon, my tour guide was absolutely incredible. He spent the day with me and we hiked in the forest around the hot springs. The actual going-in-the-hot-spring portion of the tour was preceded by a mud bath; talk about being pampered! I then spent the next couple hours stepping in and out of hot water like a lazy turtle. Like all good things, the excursion had to come to an end. When I returned to our hotel, a few of us walked along the beach for a couple of hours before a nice home-cooked pasta dinner. The day we were dreading, Monday, our last day, arrived. I spent the entire morning on the beach, walked one last time to the community of Sambo Creek, had a quick lunch, and as I was going to take a quick shower right before leaving, I discovered that the main water valve of the hotel had been shut for maintenance purposes. Without any other choice, we all hoped on a bus back to Santa Rosa de Copan around mid-day smelling like salt water.

Tuesday was back to work. I definitely felt invigorated and ready to work after a few days of relaxation. Only three weeks left in Honduras (AHHH!). Will we finish this crazy adventure we’ve embarked on and have a workshop by next Wednesday? I sure hope so!

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

No a las minas!



Recuerdo mucho una cadenita de oro que me regalo mi mami cuando era niña y que aun conservo con mucho cariño. Quien iba a pensar que tantos años después iba a cuestionar la necesidad del oro en mi vida. En estos días, tuve la oportunidad de visitar una mina de oro aquí en Honduras. El tan preciado oro, causante de tanta violencia e injusticia en la colonización sigue dejando estragos, afectando las comunidades menos favorecidas y comprometiendo los recursos naturales de millones de personas. Como puede ser que países mas fuertes sigan explotando los mas débiles.
Porque permitir empresas extranjeras de explotar el país por un impuesto de un 1% a la municipalidad? Quien va a devolver el estado de las fuentes de agua, suelos con cianuro y otras porquerías? Será que en los supuestos cinco años que exige la ley, podrán entregar el medio ambiente como estaba antes? Para que van s servir estas zonas explotadas después de la mina?
Fue muy bonito observar las montañas y aun zonas verdes a los alrededores de la mina, y muy triste imaginar que 40 años después de la explotación quedara convertida en zona muerta.
Suena dramático, pero nuestra realidad es difícil de aceptar. Parece que la mayoría estamos evitando conocer la verdad. Siempre es mas fácil continuar nuestra pequeña vida perfecta, nuestro pequeño mundo donde lo importante es mi bienestar hoy, sin pensar en el bienestar de todos mañana. Si, lo se, es complicado aceptar que nuestras necesidades egoístas afectan a alguien mas.
Que tal si tomamos acción!
Porque destruir nuestros recursos naturales por un bien tan innecesario?
NO necesitamos oro para vivir… No comprar oro es un solución muy simple.

Es chocante enterarme que las peores consecuencias se notan aun  60 a 200 años después de que se termina la explotación, pues se produce un acido, que contamina los suelos por siempre. Entonces donde quedan los planes de seguridad alimentaria del país?
Claro, seguramente vamos a plantar en esos suelos contaminados en un futuro. Es impresionante saber que aproximadamente mas del 30% del territorio hondureño esta siendo explotado por diferentes clases de minas y la mayoría extranjeras. Las ganancias ni siquiera quedan en el país… Es esta una manera inteligente de proteger la sostenibilidad de un país?.
Muchas preguntas… Mucha injusticia.

Je me souviens beaucoup d'une petite chaine en or que ma mère m'a donné quand j'étais enfante et je garde encore très précieusement. Qui aurait cru qu'après tant d'années j'allais me questionner à propos de la nécessité de l'or dans ma vie. L'autre jour, j'ai eu la possibilité de visiter une mine d'or ici, au Honduras. 
L'or si apprécié causant d'autant violence et injustice dans la colonisation continue à laisser des ravages qu'affectent les communautés moins favorisées et mettant en péril les ressources naturelles de millions de personnes. Comment est-ce que les pays les plus forts continuent à exploiter le plus fragiles. Pourquoi permettre aux entreprises étrangères d'exploiter le pays pour un impôt de seulement 1% à la municipalité? Qui va être capable de retourner l'état des sources d'eau, des sols avec cyanure et d'autres cochonneries? Pourront-ils remettre l'environnement dans l'état original dans seulement cinq ans comme l'exige la loi? À quoi vont servir les zones exploitées après l'exploitation des mines?
 
Il a été très étonnant d'observer les montagnes et zones toujours vertes aux alentours de la mine mais à la fois très triste d'imaginer ces zones  après 40 ans d'exploitation, une grande zone morte.
On dirait que c'est dramatique mais, notre réalité n'est pas facile d'accepter. On dirait que la majorité d'entre nous évitons de connaitre la vérité. C'est toujours plus facile continuer notre petite vie parfaite, dans notre petit monde où le plus important est mon bienêtre aujourd'hui, sans réfléchir  au bienêtre demain.

C'est le moment d'agir maintenant!
 
Pourquoi détruire nos ressources naturelles pour avoir une chose si inutile?
On n'a pas besoin d'or pour vivre... la non-achat d'or est une solution très simple
Il est choquant m'informer que les pires conséquences vont apparaitre 60 à 200 ans après que l'exploitation se termine, parce qu'il va se produire un acide, qui contaminera les sols pour toujours. Alors, où restent-ils les plans de sécurité alimentaire du pays ?
Nous allons surement planter dans ces sols contaminés dans un avenir. C'est impressionnant à savoir qu'à peu près plus de 30 % du territoire d'Honduras est exploité par différents genres de mines, en majorité étrangers. Les profits ne restent même pas dans le pays ... Est-cette une manière intelligente de protéger la durabilité d'un pays ?
Beaucoup de questions... Beaucoup d'injustice 

Monday, August 8, 2011

Cucaracha, leche y Canela: A city girl in the farm


It was Sunday morning…my alarm was set to wake me at 4:00 am but for some reason I had woken up a couple of minutes before it started to beep…something beside my window was making strange noises. The alarm went on and I suddenly felt something walk beside my foot….AGHHHHH!!! Jumped out of bed, turned on the light and started saying CUCARACHAAAAAA oh yes… I had friend in my bed…a cockroach just sitting there looking directly at me just like saying “na na na na you can´t catch me”. Ana Maria and I started looking for something to catch (kill) her with, but when we turned our heads the cockroach had already had its sweet escape! We looked and looked but our little “friend” was nowhere to be found. By that time it was already 4:15 and we were going to be picked up at 4:30, so we rushed to change and get everything together for our day at the finca (Farm). We left the house with this awful feeling of knowing that the cockroach was still out there…or even worse… IN there…, but nothing would mess with our excitement of going to the farm. The reason why we had to go so early was because we were milking cows!!!

I’ve lived for 21 years in a city and never had any kind of farm experiences before, but milking a cow was something that had always impressed me. Nothing in my life had prepared me to the experience I was about to go through, it didn’t matter how many times I had watched Animal Planet´s special on cows or how many times I had “milked” my FARMVILLE cows hahaha nothing was compared to this. We met this cow called Patty which was the first cow that approached us; she was extremely friendly, so of course we decided to use her as our guinea pig in milking cows!! Before we started making our milking attempts Josue tried to teach us the best ways on how to milk, but I’m not sure if we actually succeeded. It took me a couple of times before the milk was finally starting to come out and when it did, nothing in the world could stop me from smiling. Of course the milking feeling was weird and for some moments I felt bad for Patty cause I didn’t know if what we were doing hurt her, but Josue said that I was doing a good job. I carried a (probably dumb) smile in my face for a couple of minutes (maybe 20 minutes), I was extremely proud of what I had just done and couldn’t wait to tell everyone I knew hahaha.

Ok, so, cockroaches CHECK, cows CHECK, how about some HORSES ;) ? Ooh yes, it was horseback riding time! I had ridden horses a few times during my childhood but it was more like 10 minute rides in the park while someone walked beside the horse and it was pulled with a rope (for safety reasons). But this was something different I was doing it all by myself, well kind of… there was still someone walking beside me (again safety reasons) but the horse wasn’t pulled by anyone else but ME!!! I had a 40 minutes ride along the farm on Canela, a really nice and well trained horse. When I finally came back to the main house I was once again wearing my proud smile for many minutes.

This was not a typical Sunday but it was a complete success: cows, horses, a really good Honduran lunch, time to play football, a few attempts on fishing and a nice time with CWY Emilie Maccot, Asonog Staff and the girls from the Hamilton-Santa Rosa exchange. I went back home feeling pretty good about my day and realized I had some blog material. Every day we get to learn different things and have really cool experiences and that’s one of the things I like the most from CWY programs. Whether its water consumption, mining companies and its relation to water, Sanitation issues in small communities or HOW TO MILK A COW…there’s always something new and exciting everyday!

Ps. #1 This blog is dedicated to Patty and Canela for their support on my day at the farm ;)
Ps. #2 Why doesn’t anybody ever mention that the next day after riding a horse for a long time, your legs are killing you and you have a sore bum??? :(

Still, theres nothing like a day at the farm!

Monday, August 1, 2011

Len-agua-je Universal

Empezare mi nota con un, dicen por ahí… que la música es el lenguaje universal. Que quieren decir con esta frase??? A mi parecer la música es una forma/manera/método (como ustedes quieran llamarle) en que todas las personas que habitamos este hermoso planeta podemos unirnos sin tener frontera alguna que nos separe, sin distinción de raza, cultura, idioma, costumbres, religión, etc, etc… Pero hace un tiempo me he dado cuenta que debemos tener otro “lenguaje universal”, imagino que se preguntaran cual puede ser, o según el titulo de esta nota talvez ya lo sepan… así es mis queridos lectores es el AGUA, pero más que simplemente el agua, el punto mas importante que debemos de resaltar es la CONCIENTIZACION acerca de este recurso tan básico y necesario sin olvidarnos de todo lo que esto conlleva (contaminación, fuentes, hábitos, reservas, manejo, acceso, saneamiento, etc.).

También dicen por ahí… que los jóvenes somos el futuro de un país, ciudad, comunidad, familia, pero en realidad los niños/as y jóvenes somos el presente, somos los que estamos viviendo todo tipo de consecuencias por las malas o buenas decisiones que como humanos se han tomado en el pasado y se siguen tomando, lo que si, es que tenemos la obligación (a mi punto de vista personal) de crear conciencia tanto en jóvenes como en adultos y empezar o darle seguimiento a CAMBIOS tan importantes y necesarios para que nuestra existencia no sigua decayendo en cuanto a la salud de nuestro planeta y asusta de verdad que si.

Así que dejando ya tanta palabrería, debo agradecer por la oportunidad de formar parte de este proyecto llamado FUENTES porque tengo la dicha de trabajar con jóvenes y organizaciones muy importantes, asi que les invito a mis queridos lectores a que trabajemos y concienticemos, empezando por nosotros mismos para mejorar nuestras condiciones de vida, en nuestro ambiente, en nuestra sociedad y como dije antes, el recurso más importante para seguir haciendo todo lo que queramos es el AGUA, así que todos hablemos YA! el lenguaje universal: AGUA.