Arte Acción Copán Ruinas

2010-12-30T11:45:00.002-06:00

Gracias, a

Gracia y adiós...

2010-12-30T11:40:00.002-06:00

Ya llegó la hora…. Nuestra oficina ha sido vaciada y cerrada. Arte Acción Copán Ruinas ya no existe. Después de un mes de ceremonias de clausura, fiestas de despedida, certificados y recuerdos para los niños y los facilitadores, los miembros de Arte Acción Copán Ruinas han cerrado la puerta. Fue un momento triste, pero vamos a volver a estar juntos en enero para la continuación del Proyecto Maya, el Proyecto Arqueológico y los talleres que planificamos ofrecer a los niños en la comunidad de Santa Cruz. Así que nuestro trabajo continúa, aunque ya no como una organización. Es la triste realidad, pero también abre nuevas ventanas y todos estamos muy contentos de afrontar nuevos retos. Por ahora me gustaría dar las gracias a todos y cada uno de ustedes que han contribuido a casi doce años fabulosos de arte, diversión y desarrollo comunitario. Un gran agradecimiento para nuestros compañeros de Arte Acción en Tegucigalpa, los voluntarios que compartieron su tiempo y experiencia con nosotros, nuestros maravillosos patrocinadores por su generosidad y confianza, nuestros amigos que estaban todos esos años con nosotros y por supuesto los niños y niñas de Copán que han sido participantes fantásticos en nuestro proyectos.

¡Gracias!

Les deseo a todos un maravilloso 2011, que les traiga paz, sabiduría, creatividad y mucha diversión ...

Carin Steen

Thanks and goodbye…

2010-12-30T11:28:00.002-06:00

So… It’s done. Our office is emptied out and closed. Arte Acción Copán Ruinas no longer exists. Alter a month of closing ceremonies, goodbye parties, diplomas and gifts for kids and facilitators, the Arte Acción Copán Ruinas members have closed the door behind them. It was a sad moment, although we’ll get back together in January to continue the Maya Project, the Archaeology Project as well as all kinds of workshops we plan to offer the children in the small village of Santa Cruz. So our work continues although no longer as an organization. Sad indeed, but it also opens new windows and we’re all excited to face new challenges. For now I’d like to thank each and every one of you who have contributed to almost twelve fabulous years of art, fun and community development. A big thank-you to our partners of Arte Acción in Tegucigalpa; the volunteers who shared their time and experience with us; our wonderful sponsors for their generosity and confidence, our friends who stood by us all those years and of course the children of Copán who’ve been the best participants ever.

Thank you!

I wish you all a wonderful 2011, that it may bring peace, wisdom, creativity and lots of fun…
Carin Steen

2010-10-29T07:34:00.011-06:00

Arte Acción Copán Ruinas cerrará sus puertas

Por Carin Steen, directora

26 de octubre 2010

Al final de 2010, la Asociación Cultural Arte Acción Copán Ruinas (antes Copán Pinta) dejará de existir. Después de casi doce años de talleres de arte, eventos, exposiciones y mucha diversión en el casco urbano y los alrededores de Copán Ruinas, vamos a cerrar. Algunos de nuestros amigos, alumnos y patrocinadores ya lo sabían, para otros podría ser una sorpresa. Si quieres saber exactamente porqué vamos a cerrar la oficina, cuáles son nuestros planes para el futuro y lo que haremos con nuestros materiales y equipo, por favor, ¡siga leyendo!

¿Por qué?

No hay una sola razón por la cual decidimos cerrar la oficina en Copán Ruinas, es una combinación de diferentes factores, algunos profesionales, otros más personales.
Para empezar, parte del problema es, como sin duda sabes, la crisis financiera. Nos ha golpeado duro (especialmente en combinación con la situación política aquí en Honduras) y como siempre, las iniciativas culturales son los primeros en sufrir. Pueda ser que la situación mejorará, pero después de todos estos años estamos un poco cansados de la lucha por el dinero, sin saber si vamos a poder pagar el alquiler de la oficina al final de cada mes.

Luego hay una cuestión de trámites legales. Para poder continuar con nuestra organización necesitamos renovar el contrato legal con nuestros socios en Tegucigalpa (Arte Acción, que, por cierto seguirá como de costumbre) o comenzar a operar de forma independiente, dos opciones que implican un proceso muy lento, tedioso y costoso para el que no tenemos fondos ni tiempo.

Por parte más personal, mi trabajo ha cambiado mucho en los últimos años. Es genial tener un equipo a mi alrededor y no estar a cargo de cada pequeña cosa solita, pero en los últimos años me he convertido más y más en directora de una ONG, trabajando cada vez menos como artista y educadora. Aunque todavía me gusta mucho mi trabajo, quisiera poder dedicar más tiempo a esa otra parte de mí que también es muy importante. Y aunque voy a extrañar el trabajo comunitario, también siento que tengo algo que aportar como artista.

En cuanto a nuestros logros, ¡Arte Acción Copán Ruinas nunca ha sido más grande ni mejor! Pero sentimos que de alguna manera hemos llegado a nuestros límites. Crecer, lo que sería natural, significaría ser más profesionales en formas que no necesariamente aspiramos. Siempre hemos disfrutado de nuestro estilo informal (pero profesional) de trabajo y la buena relación con nuestro grupo meta y los patrocinadores. Crecer más significa más responsabilidades administrativas, más burocracia y menos satisfacción personal y eso no es nuestra ambición.

Hemos desarrollado miles de talleres a lo largo de los años y lo podríamos seguir haciéndolo hasta el final de nuestros días. Siempre habrá lecciones que enseñar y siempre habrá niños dispuestos a aprender de forma lúdica. Pero, ¿por qué no terminemos aquí y en este momento, ahora que hemos recibido más reconocimiento de la comunidad que nunca? Hemos realizado unos proyectos innovadores y logramos obtener el reconocimiento general por los métodos de la enseñanza lúdica y artística. Hemos despertado en nuestros alumnos la curiosidad y el afán de expresarse. ¿Qué más podemos pedir? Es hora de que otros a se pongan de pie y hagan lo que hay que hacer.

¿Qué será lo próximo?

Entonces, ¿qué va a pasar en el 2011? En primer lugar, todavía hay mucho trabajo por hacer antes de que finalice el año. El año escolar está a punto de terminar lo que significa que en la actualidad estamos terminando nuestros proyectos. Una vez hecho esto, vamos a estar ocupados con las evaluaciones, informes y la cordinación de dos eventos importantes, el Día Deportivo en Sesesmil I (el 18 de noviembre) y el Festival Cultural Maya en La Pintada (el 10 de diciembre). Luego vamos a limpiar nuestra oficina y donar todos nuestros útiles, materiales y equipo a las instituciones que más lo necesitan (escuelas, bibliotecas, otras organizaciones culturales, nuestros socios en Tegucigalpa, etc.) Nos quedaremos con algunos de los materiales porque sí, algunos de los proyectos continuarán...

Elsa Morales y Marlen Vásquez continuarán la enseñanza sobre la cultura maya en diez comunidades. El taller de arte semanal que actualmente ofrecemos cada sábado continuará también, probablemente en colaboración con la biblioteca pública. Elsa y Marlen también ayudarán a coordinar las actividades en la escuela en la comunidad de Santa Cruz, una escuela que hemos “adoptado” para el próximo año. Además de enseñar, Elsa y Marlen también manejan un negocio lucrativo de costura.
Como un proyecto complementario a la enseñanza sobre la cultura maya vamos a coordinar un programa de arqueología para jóvenes en la comunidad de San Rafael, con nuestra amiga y arqueóloga Argi Diez.
Manuel Enrique (Kike) Murcia y Dionicio Hernández continuarán entrenando el equipo de béisbol y fútbol. Kike está pensando en abrir su propio centro de de deportes y equitación en Copán. A Dionicio Hernández le han ofrecido un empleo en el Parque Arqueológico de Copán.
Moisés Mancía volverá a sus prácticas agrícolas y nuestro dinámico instructor Londin Velásquez se va a la capital para estudiar.

En cuanto a mí, tengo muchos planes, aunque ninguno definitivo. Voy a estar lo suficientemente ocupada los primeros meses con la redacción de una evaluación muy completa de casi doce años de Arte Acción Copán Ruinas. Luego me quedo al menos unos seis meses más para coordinar las actividades que contiuarán y para concentrarme en mis propios proyectos artísticos. Espero poder sobrevivir pintando, diseñando y escribiendo. Una idea es usar mi experiencia en el campo y en la elaboración de metodologías artísticas sobre una variedad de temas para ofrecer métodos de enseñanza completos para ONGs en la región centroamericana. Después del mes de julio todavía no sé que pasará, pero tengo el plan de posiblemente mudarme a España…A estar más cerca de mis raíces y la familia en Holanda, ¡pero no tan cerca! Me parece que España es una buena opción, entre Honduras y Holanda. ¿Quién sabe?

Así que en dos breves meses Arte Acción Copán Ruinas dejará de existir. Es un poco triste, por supuesto, pero al mismo tiempo, estoy emocionada y con mucha confianza para el futuro. También me siento profundamente agradecida por la experiencia y me siento muy orgullosa de mi equipo de trabajo. Algunos de ellos son alumnos míos, niños en aquel tiempo, y ahora fabulosos instructores con la mente abierta, que ven cada dificultad como un reto. ¡Estoy segura de que van a llegar muy lejos!

Bueno, sólo me falta un agradecimiento… Quiero dar las gracias a todos los que tan fielmente y generosamente nos han apoyado: mis compañeros a quienes amo más que a nadie en el mundo; los voluntarios que han invertido su tiempo y experiencia en nuestra organización; nuestros patrocinadores que son los mejores del mundo; nuestros amigos y socios de Arte Acción en Tegucigalpa y todas las demás personas de todas partes del mundo que nos han ayudado con donaciones, algunas pequeñas, otras grandes, pero siempre haciendo una diferencia.

Y por último, por supuesto, también un agradecimiento a todos los niños y niñas en Copán Ruinas para quienes hicimos todo esto y sin los cuales no habría Arte Acción Copán Ruinas en primer lugar ....

¡Mil gracias!

2010-10-29T07:08:00.001-06:00

Arte Acción Copán Ruinas is closing its doors
By Carin Steen, director
October 26, 2010

By the end of 2010, the cultural association Arte Acción Copán Ruinas (formerly Copán Pinta) will cease to exist. After almost twelve years of art workshops, events, exhibitions and lots of fun in and around Copán Ruinas, we’re going to call it quits. Some people already knew, for others it might come as a bit of a shock. If you want to know exactly why we’ll close shop, what our plans for the future are and what we’ll do with our supplies, please read on!

Why?

There’s not just one reason why we decided to quit, it’s a combination of different factors, some professional, others personal.

For starters, there is, as you undoubtedly know, the financial crisis. It has hit us hard (especially in combination with the political situation here in Honduras) and as usual, cultural initiatives are the first to suffer. The tide might turn, but after all these years we’re a bit tired of the struggle and not knowing whether we’ll be able to pay the rent by the end of each month.

Then there’s the red tape. In order to continue our organization we’d either have to renew our legal contract with our partners in Tegucigalpa (of Arte Acción, who, by the way, will continue as usual) or start operating independently, both options implying a very slow, tedious and expensive process for which we don’t have funding nor time.

On a more personal note, my job has changed a lot over the last few years. It is great to have a team around me and not being in charge of every little thing myself anymore, but in the last few years I’ve become more and more a director and much less an artist and teacher. Although I still like my job very much, I do wish I could spend more time on that other part of me that is also very important. And as much as I’ll miss doing community work, I also feel I have something to contribute as an artist.

As for our achievements, Arte Acción Copán Ruinas has never been bigger and better! But we feel we have somehow reached our limits. To grow, which would be natural, would mean to become more professional in ways we do not necessarily aspire. We’ve always enjoyed our rather informal (though professional) work style and the close relationship with our target group and sponsors. We fear that getting bigger means more administrative responsibilities, more bureaucracy and less personal satisfaction and that’s just not our ambition.

We’ve conducted thousands of workshops over the years and we could continue doing so till the end of our days. There’ll always be lessons to be taught and kids willing to learn in a fun way. But why not stop here and now, now that we receive more appreciation from the community than ever. We’ve done some groundbreaking, fun projects; we’ve obtained overall acknowledgement for informal teaching methods and we have awakened in our students a curiosity and eagerness to express themselves. What more could we ask for? It’s time for others to stand up and do what needs to be done.

What’s next?

So what will happen in 2011? First of all, there’s still lots of work to be done before the end of the year. The school year is almost over which means that currently we are wrapping up our projects. Once done, we’ll be busy with the evaluations, reports and organizing two major events, a sport day in Sesesmil I (November 12) and the Maya Cultural Festival in La Pintada (December 10). Then we’ll clean up our office and donate all our supplies and equipment to those institutions that need them most (schools, libraries, other cultural organizations, our partners in Tegucigalpa etc.). Some of it we’ll keep because, yes, some projects will continue…

Elsa Morales and Marlen Vásquez will continue teaching about Maya culture in ten communities. The Saturday art workshop will probably continue too, likely in collaboration with the public library. Elsa and Marlen will also be involved in our “pet” school in the village of Santa Cruz where they’ll coordinate extracurricular activities. Besides teaching, Elsa and Marlen also run a lucrative sowing business together.
As a complementary project to the teaching about Maya culture, with our friend and archaeologist Argi Diez we’ll coordinate a archaeology project for teens in the community of San Rafael.
Manuel Enrique (Kike) Murcia and Dionicio Hernández are set on continuing training the baseball and soccer team. Kike is planning on opening his own horseback riding school and sport centre in Copán. Dionicio Hernández has just been offered a job in the Archaeological Park of Copán.
Moisés Mancía will return to his agricultural practices and our dynamic instructor Londin Velásquez is going to the capital to study.

As for myself, I’ve plenty of plans, although none definite. I’ll be busy enough the first few months writing up a very thorough evaluation of almost twelve years of Arte Acción Copán Ruinas. Then I’ll stay around until at least July to coordinate the continuing activities and to focus on my own artistic projects. I hope I’ll be able to make a living painting, designing and writing. One idea is to use my experience developing hands-on methodologies on a variety of topics to sell complete teaching methods to NGOs in the Central American region. After July I’ll see, but my mind is sort of set on going to Spain… Closer to my roots and family in Holland, but not too close. It seems like the perfect go-between between Honduras and Holland. Who knows?

So, two more short months and Arte Acción Copán Ruinas will be history. It’s a bit sad, of course, but at the same time I’m excited and confident about the future. I also feel profoundly grateful for the experience and immensely proud of my team. Some of them my former students, they are now terrific, open minded instructors who have developed tremendously and who see every difficulty as a challenge. I’m sure they’ll go very far!
Rests me to take a deep bow and thank you all who have so faithfully and generously supported us: my colleagues whom I love more than anything in the world; the volunteers who invested their time and experience in our organization; our sponsors who are the very best in the universe; our friends and partners of Arte Acción in Tegucigalpa and all the other people from all over the world who have helped us with donations, some small, some big, but always making a difference.
And last but not least, of course also a shout out to all the kids in Copán Ruinas for whom we’re all doing this and without whom there would be no Arte Acción Copán Ruinas in the first place….

Thanks!

2010-10-21T09:17:00.003-06:00

Diseño mural: Carin Steen (Holanda / Honduras)

Tema general:
Comunidad Global, Cultura Local

Título:
Aprendamos de los mayas … cuidemos la naturaleza…

Explicación por la artista:
A pesar de que nací en Holanda, ya desde hace catorce años vivo en Copán Ruinas, Honduras. Copán Ruinas es un pequeño pueblo en el occidente de Honduras, cerca de la frontera con Guatemala, y muy famoso por las ruinas que dejaron los antiguos mayas en este lugar. Aunque la cultura maya viva no es tan expresiva como la de otras partes en Centroamérica, no se puede negar su vigente presencia. Las ruinas atraen miles de turistas cada año con la consecuencia que hay muchos negocios que atienden a los visitantes, muchos de ellos usando aspectos del arte maya en su decoración o nombre. Pero también los mayas vivos, los chortí, contribuyen a la cultura tan especial de este pueblo, a pesar de que ya han perdido muchas de sus tradiciones antiguas.

Desde llegar a Copán Ruinas me ha fascinado la cultura maya: su arquitectura, la escultura tan exquisita que sólo se encuentra en Copán Ruinas, y la historia del desarrollo y al final colapso de esta sociedad.

Durante mis diez años en que trabajo en el desarrollo comunitario (a través del arte) me he enfrentado con muchos de los problemas de que sufre Honduras: la violencia, la destrucción del medioambiente, la inseguridad alimenticia, la falta de servicios esenciales para gran parte de la población y la instabilidad y corrupción de la política. Estudiando la cultura maya me dí cuenta que hay muchos vínculos entre los antiguos mayas en Honduras y la población de hoy: la gran civilización maya colapsó en el siglo IX por agotar los recursos naturales y abuso de poder. Los mayas pobres sufrían de hambre y enfermedades mientras la élite peleaba por el poder, hasta caer el sistema que había florecido por más de cuatro siglos.

En la Honduras de hoy podemos observar las mismas tendencias y si el país sigue como sigue, el futuro pueda ser lo mismo a lo que les pasó a los ancestros mayas. Por esto creo que es sumamente importante que aprendamos de los ancestros, o que al menos los niños de hoy lo harán para en el futuro no volver a cometer los mismos errores del pasado.

Y hay esperanza… Durante los últimos tres años la organización que dirijo ha ejecutado un proyecto educativo sobre la conservación de la cultura maya antigua y contemporánea para niños y niñas chortí. Los participantes han mostrado gran interés en el tema y mientras sienten orgullo por las maravillas que dejaron sus antepasados, también están conscientes de los problemas que causaran su ocaso.

Este diseño del mural quiero dedicar a los niños de Honduras para que aprendan de sus ancestros mayas y su cosmovisión tan respetuosa. Al mismo tiempo quiero invitar a todos los niños y niñas del mundo a que estudien su pasado para que la historia de su propia comunidad sea una inspiración y guía para el futuro.

Descripción del mural
La parte central del mural es una compilación de imágenes de la cultura maya. El marco consiste de glifos representado los distintos planetas y estrellas, así formando el universo. El árbol en el centro es la Ceiba, árbol sagrado y centro del universo para los mayas, con ramas que extienden al cielo donde viven los dioses y raíces creciendo en el inframundo. El tronco representa el presente, donde vemos dos hombres, uno del pasado, otro del presente, sembrando maíz que era y sigue siendo el alimento principal de los mayas. A la izquierda, arriba, vemos a Ixchel, diosa de la luna, representando la noche. Al otros lado, a al derecha, se encuentra K’inich, el poderoso dios del sol. Los tres glifos (a la izquierda, a la derecha y en la cima del árbol) son los puntos cardinales del Este, Oeste y Norte. Abajo a ambos lados vemos dos Pauathunes, gigantes enormes que cargan el universo en sus hombros. A ambos lados de la pieza central, en un efecto de trompe d’oeil, están pintados un niño y una niña maya chortí sembrando un arbolito, representando el aprendizaje del pasado y la esperanza para el futuro.

Especificaciones:
Tamaño: 2.5 x 8.5 metros
Pintura acrílica
Lugar: Avenida de la Soleá
Barrio Polígono San Pablo
Sevilla, Andalucía, España
27 de septiembre – 10 de octubre de 2010

Painting with an audience: FAQ’s

2010-10-19T11:18:00.004-06:00

Art for All, Mural & Sculpture Event, Seville, Spain

“Oye, hija!”
Not ever in my life have I been addressed as “daughter”, not even by my own parents, but in Spain it seems to be the proper title for a paint-spattered, “world famous”, international, female mural painter, because I heard it at least thirty times a day.

I was very happy to be assigned one of the few walls on ground level (considering my frantic fear of heights) and did not envy my fellow painters at all who were working at 18m walls. But it did have its drawback: a constant audience. Not that I’m not used to that: it took me a while, but in Honduras I’ve learned to work while being surrounded by people with a complete different concept of personal space. It can happen that I’m painting while complete strangers are fingering my curls. Sometimes I have to ask people to move aside a little, so I can actually move my paintbrush over the surface. But in Honduras people are not very vocal or expressive. They’ll tell you they like your work (“Qué bonito”), and that’s about it.

Not so in Spain. Or, as I don’t pretend to know Spain, at least not so in the neighbourhood of Polígono San Pablo in Seville, Spain.
From the moment I’d bring out paint and brushes in the morning, a waterfall of comments started rolling over me, slowing down during siesta time (2-5pm) to become just as fierce again in the early evening hours. The most frequently asked question was:

What are you doing?

Once (a little bored after answering the same question for the umpteenth time), I answered in the following matter:

Currently, I’m in the process of blending three different tones of burned sienna into a special optical effect that will allow me to obtain an illusion of shadow on the ancient Maya glyph that represents the cardinal point of the East.

All I got back was a blank look. I had way more success with the following answer:

I’m painting.

Although totally nondescript and superfluous, it seemed to satisfy most onlookers.

The second most frequently asked question undoubtedly was:

Who’s paying for this?

Even though the people of San Pablo really seemed to appreciate our work, they were a bit worried that it was being financed with their tax money. When we assured them this was not the case at all, they seemed to like the murals all the better. Especially after the rumour went around that we are some of “the best muralists in the world”, some of us charging no less that $400,000 for a mural!

I think # 3 on the FAQ list was the kind of questions whether I could paint someone a portrait of his granddaughter or dog / the living room wall / bar stool / bathroom etc. The answer was no, of course. Sorry, but no time. (And they probably wouldn’t be able to afford it anyway, with the current rate of $400,000 per art work!).

Another biggie was, not surprisingly:

What does it mean…?

Again, I soon found out that short and simple answers were the most appreciated. I got in trouble a few times when I explained that the centre part of my mural represents the Maya past with the exception of the modern Maya guy sowing maize, thus representing the present. The audience did not agree. That cowboy did not belong in my mural and he didn’t look at all like a modern Maya man. When I explained that where I live (Copán, Honduras), the Maya men actually do look very much like him, I was told several times that no, he was no Maya Indian. Well, who am I to argue…

For the rest it wasn’t so much questions that were being asked, but comments that were made, as well as stories, anecdotes, monologues, reviews and recommendations. I heard many a life story (“My grandmother used to be a painter too, but then she got diabetes and…”), complete mural reviews, always ending with: “…but I like yours best!” (I bet they said that to all the artists!) and art criticism (“I love Inca art!”).

Funnily enough, no one ever bothered to ask me whether I had time to answer their questions or even if I'd speak Spanish in the first place!

And so I chatted my way through my mural Sometimes I pretended to be deaf or not able to understand Spanish. However, this didn’t stop people from talking to me at all. As a matter of fact, I observed quite a few people talking to themselves anyway and it also seemed completely normal for two, usually elder, women on their way shopping to stop in the middle of the pavement (generally in front of my mural) and just talk. The two of them. At the same time, I mean. So no, I don’t feel too guilty about sometimes shutting myself off. But as much as it was distractive, it was also a lot of fun to work in a residential area and to hear from its habitants. After all, they’ll have to live with what I and my fellow artists painted them, so I’m glad they seem to like it. A lot, actually, I think, from what I’ve heard. (All the time).
As one woman put it:

This neighbourhood used to be a piece of sh*t. Now I’m proud to live here!

It’s quite an honour to have contributed to that!
Carin Steen
On Art for All, Seville, Sept 27- Oct 10, 2010

Carin's art show in the ViaVia, this Sunday!

2010-05-06T06:43:00.002-06:00

New! The latest excuses for skipping school! (From the teachers’ end…)

2010-04-27T17:56:00.001-06:00

Last Friday the teachers of the public school went all together to say goodbye to the former director of their school who apparently is dying. Beautiful, and a great gesture of compassion. But did the 1,000 or so students really have to lose yet another day of school because of it? Couldn’t the teachers have visited him on a Saturday????
New this year: the rainy season has started and as usual it rains (hard) between 3-5pm. The director has decided that whenever it starts raining, the kids of the second shift (noon-5pm) should leave as soon as the first raindrops hit the roof. The idea behind this is that the kids won’t get wet. Reality is that they DO get wet, but wouldn’t if they’d stay at school till 5pm. The kids have already been dismissed four times at 3pm since Monday last week.
And the best of all: Today the sun was at its full zenith, in other words, at noontime the sun was directly overhead and shadows were at their smallest. The children of the morning shift (7am-noon) were dismissed at 10am because they would surely get cancer if they would walk home at noon. Right…

Carin Steen

Let’s talk about the weather…

2010-04-22T19:54:00.000-06:00

Compared to my home country Holland, everything here in the tropics is incredibly intense: the colours (vibrant green mountains against a clear blue sky and bougainvillea so pink, it hurts your eyes), the smells (seducing fragrance of tropical flowers and rotting garbage), passions (love, envy, anger and frustration), the music (whatever the style, it’s always LOUD!) and yes, the weather too. Hardly ever do we have a day that is “just nice”. It’s either extremely hot; so humid that it feels like you breathe pure water; or so dry that your skin screams for cream or oil. We even have amazingly cold days that, with a feeble 12°C, might not quite live up to the winters up north, but still, without any heating system, the chill creeps into your bones and make your fingers turn blue when working on the computer. The last few months have been far too dry and the green mountains faded from vivid green to a washed-out yellow. Cars passing by blow up thick clouds of dust that cover the whole world with a greyish film of dirt. The Copán River, such a freighting mass of water in the rainy season, is nothing more than a pathetic little stream. Gardens look miserable, harvests are ruined and potable water is so scarce that in most neighbourhoods there’s only water every other day.
But all that changed overnight last Sunday. Although a month too early for the rainy season, the first real storm broke over the valley of Copán around 8pm and made me realize yet again to be careful with what you wish for… For half an hour, the lightning was so intense that the sky was almost constantly lit up, treating us humble people to an impressive show of waving palm trees and rain falling down in thick curtains. Of course there was a black-out too, which made the whole thing all the more dramatic. And then, just as suddenly, the storm was over. The power came back on which was helpful while I was sweeping about two inches of water out of my house. But it wasn’t until the next day when I left for my morning hike that I realized how much damage the storm had caused: trees were uprooted all along the road, signs blown over and lamina roofs lifted from houses and stables. All throughout that day I heard stories from people from town and the surrounding villages about damage done. Some of our students in La Pintada were so frightened, they hid under the mattress. In El Tigre, where we run our Health and Sport Project, about 300 pine trees fell down and the roofs of several houses were completely blown away (see photo). Some of our students not only lost their roof, but also part of their livestock. One boy told how only six of the two dozen of chickens his family owns reappeared after the storm.
Since Sunday we have had two more rainstorms, but luckily none as hard-hitting. Hopefully it stays that way when the rainy season starts for real. Rain is still much needed. But so is a roof over your head. Especially when it rains.
Carin Steen

My job description

2010-04-17T16:58:00.004-06:00

Some people think my job consists of being out in the villages all day, teaching, painting and having fun. It’s not. Fun, yes, teaching and painting all day, no. Being a director means I actually do a lot of directing. Besides directing, my job is mostly about writing reports, grant proposals, important emails, silly emails, annoying emails and unfortunately also a lot of spelling corrections in the reports of my darling employees whose native language is Spanish while mine isn’t, but who need my spelling check way more than I do theirs. And then there’re tons of evaluations; updating of websites and blogs; some more directing to do; even more orthographic disasters; and yes, occasionally I do conduct a workshop.
Anyway, there are also burdens I don’t have. I’m more than happy that we do not run a scholarship program or provide material aid to the community, so at least I don’t have to drag drop-outs back to school; deal with long lines of people who want just anything as long as it’s free; or dreadful inventories of goods received and distributed. But every once in a while there’s a person or family or even a whole community that touches your heart and makes you want to do something special. Maritza from the village of El Triunfo is one of those people and I’m glad we got the funding from Join!forkids to fix up the school (see a few posts back). We recently received some crates from Angela Rivas and Howard Rosenzweig that were used to transport marble for the bathroom in their new hotel and with some plywood, paint and imagination we transformed them in bright and colourful furniture for the “Carin Steen” Kindergarten in El Triunfo.
Another few of our favourite people are Ángel and Darwin Fuentes, two boys we have helped through school for the last few years (thanks to the support of our friend Cesar Borregón). The family’s just got a piece of land assigned and their biggest wish is to be able to build a small house. Not much is needed, but more than the family can afford. I said I’d try to find help and posted a request on our Facebook page. Less than two weeks later, helps is on its way: an ex-volunteer from Canada, Allison H. decided not to ask for any gifs for her upcoming wedding, but for donations for the Fuentes family instead. I can’t wait to bring them the good news! You see, not really my job, but a lot of fun.
By the way, Maritza Dubón came to town yesterday to register her month-old granddaughter. The little girl’s name is Carin Maritza. Poor thing, named after a Kindergarten!
Carin Steen

Not Going to the Fair

2010-03-26T12:50:00.004-06:00

It’s become some sort of a tradition that really has nothing to do with our work. I mean, how educational is a trip to the Fair? What fun is it to see drunken guys slouched over tables, their pants wet with pee? The apathy on the faces of the people in charge of the games and rides? The complete lack of emotion when they hand you your plastic cheaper-than-cheap prize you won shooting blanks? The stink of stale beer, urine, unwashed bodies and cotton candy? Still, there is an undeniable appeal to it that makes me go year after year. Not that I’ll ever get into any of those scary rides without safety precautions. Not even the mini Ferris Wheel, despite my awe for the monstrous arms of the guy who turns the wheel manually! The colours (Pink! Orange! Yellow! Turquoise!) are just amazing and the not-so anatomically-correct “hot ladies” painted on the signs to attract the audience are almost too beautiful to be true… I LOVE the Fair that visits Copán every year. And in order not to make a fool of myself wandering around with my mouth half open in blissful wonder, I always bring along a bunch of kids. I invite them as “part of the scholarship” they receive from us, just to justify the whole thing. And truth is, the Fair is even better if you take some rascals who thoroughly enjoy risking a whiplash in the bumper cars, overdosing themselves on artificial colorants or getting dizzy and even a little scared on the Ferris Wheel.
But this year we never went. Josué, a kid with the greatest smile and cutest dimples in his cheeks who comes by our office everyday just to say hello, has been one of the lucky few always invited to the Fair. It was him who asked me weeks ago if were going again this year. "We’ll see,” I said. But then we were busy painting out of town, we took a day off, we’re doing tons of other stuff and before I knew it, the Fair was over and the grounds were abandoned but for layers of litter.
On Monday morning, after the festival of Copán was over for the year, Josué came by and hung around my desk, not looking as radiant as usual. It was only when I saw him that I realized we had missed our yearly excursion.
“We never went to the Fair, did we?” I said.
Josué was very quiet. After a while he asked:
“So you didn’t go to the Fair either?”
“No, I didn’t.”
“Oh.” Josué was deadly quiet for a while. Then he said with a trembling lip. “I thought you went without us…”
Oh my God, what had I done!
“Of course not,” I assured him and it wasn’t until I solemnly swore, my right hand raised, the other one over my heart, that I would never EVER go to the Fair without inviting Josué, that the smile reappeared back on his face.
Oof…
So next year you’ll see me at the Fair again…
Carin Steen
Foto: Fair 2009, Josué in the middle

Painting in El Triunfo Part II

2010-03-19T12:16:00.004-06:00

Yet again we were ready for a long, hot and dusty day. But the weather decided otherwise and the 1,5 hour trip to El Triunfo was wet and cold. Chilled to the bone we arrived in El Triunfo where we drove out the cold by hard physical labour. We put new screens in the windows, a new door for the latrine and a faucet inside the classroom. The furniture needed a second layer of paint and both inside and outside walls needed to be finished. But we were not alone. Although Marlen called in sick, we had the help of the teachers Alba and Maritza, and the adorable eight year old Alexander (“Chandi”). Soon we had an audience and even more help, because a bunch of girls also wanted to paint. Maritza brought us a pot of hot coffee, a neighbour pitched in with steaming elotes (corn on the cob) and Santiago, a curious kid on a bicycle, bought us cookies form the pulpería. It was hard work none the less and we didn’t finish until 5.30pm. But the job was done. The tiny school looked great with us looking as colourful as the building itself. Although we all dreamed of soaking in hot water, we skipped our plan to stop at the hot springs because it was late as it was. For now, mission accomplished…

But more work still needs to be done. We still have a few games in the making as well as a small library. There was no time to paint any murals (numbers, letters, shapes and such) on the inside walls, so I’ll do that next time I’ll be in the neighbourhood. We also plan to organize a few training sessions for Maritza and Alba as well as two young teachers from La Pintada. Hopefully I can convince them that kindergarten is all about playing, not about copying the alphabet. Still, whatever the children learn is better than nothing and I have great respect for Maritza and her friend Alba who are actually working as volunteers this year. Previously, Maritza earned a small stipend from the Municipality of Copán Ruinas (about $ 100 a month). Thing is, Maritza is a Liberal in heart and soul, and the new local government isn’t. So no more support for Maritza’s projects. That’s how things are done in Honduras. All the more reason to keep supporting this amazing woman.
Carin Steen

Painting in El Triunfo: Photos

2010-03-19T11:33:00.007-06:00

Our helper Chandi

Marlen holding the baby girl

Estela and her family, at home (hold on to those boobies!)

Londin eating chicken soup at Maritza's.

Marlen and Kike cleaning brushes

Lourdes Estela, the baby for the first time in her father's hands.

Painting in El Triunfo Part I

2010-03-17T10:50:00.007-06:00

Once upon a time, a long, long time ago, I met an amazing woman who changed her world and who keeps working her magic, even though she looks far from a fairy. Well, a godmother fairy maybe. I’m talking about Maritza Dubon from the tiny village of El Triunfo. One of the few things worthwhile mentioning about El Triunfo is that it is located almost two hours from Copán over dusty roads, just before the bigger community of Nueva Armenia. The road to Nueva Armenia cuts right through the village and thus it sees quite a bit of traffic (at least ten cars a day). Besides that, El Triunfo is more about what isn’t there. Or it used to be, because thanks to Maritza’s tireless efforts, a lot of help has found its way to the village. For starters, the children don’t have to walk to Nueva Armenia anymore to go to school. Years ago Maritza started her own school and soon the students didn’t fit in the one-room building anymore. She then somehow got the municipality to build her another, bigger building and the former school was turned into a kindergarten. Maritza herself taught grade 1-6 while her oldest daughter Lourdes Estela took care of the fifty-odd kinder-kids. Since I met Maritza I’ve been trying to help her here and there and the bond I feel with this community only became stronger when the kindergarten was named after me. (A great honour, yes. Also a great responsibility…)
Last year we helped the kinder with supplies and games and we also went to El Triunfo one day in January to paint the school of bare cinder blocks. We didn’t have any money designated for this, so we used whatever we had and the results was bright and colourful. An improvement, but I was very aware about things that still needed to be done and that even painting was a job half done with leftovers of water based paint. So I promised Maritza I’d try to look for funds and I was very happy to tell her that I indeed had gotten 850 euros from the Dutch foundation Join!forkids to fix up the school and make durable toys and educational material. So for the last few weeks the whole Arte Acción Copán Ruinas team has been working on making all sorts of games and toys. Elsa made a fabric busy-board with buttons, zippers and clips for the tiny ones to develop their motor skills. Marlen made a huge tick-tack-toe board with round and flower-shaped pillows. Kike and Londin made some shelves that I transformed with some paint into an interactive game. A memory game, cans to run on, more shelves… What a great job we have to be able to do this for a living! We haven’t finished inventing yet, but we found a rare gap in our busy schedules to be able to all go to El Triunfo again, to paint the school, but this time for real. We were all set, the car/driver/handyman hired, the only problem was that I hadn’t been able to confirm our visit with Maritza, because cell phone communication is spotty since she lives in a place high up in the mountains with no way to charge a battery. So it wasn’t until last Sunday that I finally got a hold of her and strangely enough she asked me if I couldn’t come another day. Why? Oh, because she was about to leave to El Jaral, to the maternity clinic there.
“Oh, I didn’t know you were pregnant again,” I said, realizing that Maritza always looks likes she’s in her fifth month or so.
“No, it isn’t me. It’s Estelita. I’m gonna be a grandmother!”
Oh. I quickly remembered to congratulate her on this fact while my brain did the math: Estela can’t be much older than fifteen. In fact, she is fifteen. Damn.
Anyway, I assured her we wouldn’t cause any trouble, that she only had to tell someone to open the school for us and that would be it. Of course I ended up buying a big basket with baby stuff and in the end we gave the brand new mom, the two grandmothers and the so far nameless baby girl a ride home. Three generations filled the cabin (Estela with cotton in her ears against the “evil air”). The other grandma, us and the painting supplies in the back of the pick-up. The father of the baby (there actually is a father of the baby) had already gone home from the clinic, because he couldn’t stand standing up any longer (???? I’ve seen women sitting /laying/ stretched out /slouched on any possible surface there for days!). Anyway, it was quite special to be there to take pictures of the father laying eyes on his daughter for the first time and of the baby’s arrival home (and the young mom holding her boobies that now seem to have a life of their own).
Then, after delivering the baby and such, we finally started to paint. We laughed, we worked, we got sunburned, but by the end of the day the furniture and outer walls looked quite nice. And that was just day 1.
To be continued….
Carin Steen

Funny, tough and meaningful...

2010-01-19T11:53:00.003-06:00

Oops! It has been a while since the last post and that while I'm almost on my way to Canada again to help prepare a new bunch of Huron students for their trip to Honduras in May. But before that, here some of the funniest, toughest and most meaninful experiences of last year's group...

Carin

Funniest…

It’s tough to pick one moment. I would say just every day trying to get the kids at one particular table in the younger class to listen. They were so high energy but at the end of the day very entertaining. Bernice

I'm going to have to go with Krystle on this and say the times that we were in our room in the dark trying to entertain ourselves! Especially trying to speak in accent. Hahaha... it makes me laugh just thinking about it. Kayleen

Oh dear, where do I start!? Either throwing bugs on Jenn (sorry, Jenn) or incessantly chasing boys at the school with absolutely no success and constantly tripping over myself while they flawlessly scamper across the mountain. Lindsay

Although not funny when it happened, looking back I guess it makes a funny story...getting trapped in the house due to the fish line across the street, resulting in both Kayleen and I sitting in the dark trying to entertain ourselves...power was out. Krystle

Breaking into my homestay with Kara after getting locked out (this involved trying to get our keys to work for a good 20 mins, yelling pitifully for Gilma our host mom to come and help us, hanging off the garage wall for about 10 mins while contemplating climbing down the face of the door, and finally deciding to jump into the back of their pick up truck from the garage wall, all while a Honduran man watched and wondered what in the world us crazy gringas were doing. After which my host mom ran out from her bedroom screaming que paso! que paso! and told us we had to much beer to drink that night and were a little crazy as a result, that there was no reason why our keys would not have worked. ) Allison H.

Going into the tourist "market" and attempting to pay 3L for something that cost 50L. Needless to say the store clerk was not very impressed. Julie

Following Tony the one-eyed man around Copan to change traveler’s cheques with Lindsay (after we convinced him that changing them with his friend on the street was not going to fly). We finally found a shady little hole-in-the-wall, quite literally because it had only one bare bulb, where an elderly man was willing to rip Lindsay off. Danielle

Funny moments, oh, there were lots of them! I thought it was pretty funny when I joined the students on their first trip to Barbasco and while returning in the back of the pick-up truck, the kids from the neighbouring village of San Rafael (who receive English classes) were yelling at us. One of the students asked me what they were yelling. It was “bye-bye!” In ENGLISH!!!! Other funny moments: one student after the other losing her flip-flop or sandal in a tropical downpour that turns the streets into rivers. And don’t ever be late, because Londin will come and get you to drag your butt all the wat to Guatemala and back! Carin

Most meaningful…

Having the opportunity to go on the community walk with the kids and them trusting us enough to let us into their homes. Bernice

Seeing the change that the kids had from when we first arrived to when we left and also the change that that the community had. In the beginning there was a lot of shyness and curiousity, but when we left the kids were always happy and smiling and the community would come around and watch us during certain activities, even kids who were not in school started joining in the activities, I loved that!! :) Seeing their faces light up when we arrived each day... And swimming in the river with the kids, I loved that too, showing them that we could have fun just like them. Kayleen

Other than every moment I had with the kids in the schools, it would have to be when the boy in my host family (who is typically extremely shy) called me over one day all excited, only to sit with me and show me his family photo album! Lindsay

Seeing the excitement in the kids when we got there to set up for the movie night. Krystle

Seeing the smiles on the kids faces everyday, seeing them enjoying the activities, seeing the progression that took place over the course of three weeks in terms of our relationships with them and the way the kids acted around us, hearing the kids say when we left for the last time that if we ever did something like this again to come back to their community, and hearing from Wendy how much Gary (the teacher) appreciated us being there and thought that we had done something really special for the kids and he noticed a difference. Also I think I will always remember the kids from Santa Cruz running towards the truck and yelling excitedly at our arrival and in anticipation of watching a movie in and with their community. Allison H.

Seeing the results after each of our activities and seeing how the children progressed throughout our short time with them. Julie

Melvin's smile while being swung in a circle. He may not have always understood what was going on and he may have drooled all over himself and he may want to be a woman when he grows up, but his smiles will stick with me forever. Or Marco wanting to be an artist when he grows up (and knowing that he has a chance to work with Arte Acción through the new training program). Go Marco! Danielle

The one-on-one attention the students were able to give the kids that they otherwise never have, the fact that they really established relationships with the children, the fact that they were able to communicate despite not-perfect Spanish, the interaction with our instructors, just to name a few thinks! I also think the final evaluation we did was important, helpful and meaningful. Carin

Toughest…

Definitely leaving the kids was the toughest moment. It was so hard to leave Copán as well. Bernice

On the last day having to leave the children and the community. Seeing them for the last time and not knowing if I would see them again. And, like Allison, hearing what Gary had to say about us after we had left our last day. Kayleen

Saying goodbye...hardest thing I've ever had to do. Both to my host family and the kids in Barbasco. Lindsay

Saying goodbye is always hard. Krystle

Adjusting to the language the first week. Julie

Leaving on the last day and knowing that it is very likely, albeit not certain, that we may not see these kids again, that our experience, however great it was, had to come to an end. Allison H.

The evangelical church service. We were all insulted when they started translating just in time for the offering and then the message about women’s' place was too much. You all know that I'm a Christian, but I couldn't take that either. Danielle

Having fourteen volunteers and an anniversary event at the same time was a tough cookie! But then again, we couldn’t have organized the event without them… But I wish I’d had more “personal time” to spend with the students. Yes, I think for me the toughest was to have so many people to attend to, so many questions to answer, but at the same time, that’s part of the fun! Carin

2009-05-06T14:45:00.003-06:00

Our Canadian volunteers have arrived! Fourteen students from Huron University College and their professor, Wendy Russell, are now in Copán to work during three weeks at local schools. Although the trip was almost postponed (yes, swine flu issues…) the group made it to Copán and was welcomed by the first tropical downpour of the year (a month too early, but there wasn’t much we could do about that). So within hours the students saw the streets turn into rivers, eat there first dinner of beans, rice and tortillas and experienced no less that twice the power went out. Welcome!

2009-03-06T14:54:00.003-06:00

London Ontario vs. Copán Ruinas

After 20 hours of taxi-bus-plane-plane-bus-taxi, going from -16 degrees Celsius to +16 degrees, I'm back home in Copán Ruinas from my third trip to London, Ontario. (And let me explain that +16 degrees feels awfully cold without a heater, long johns or a down parka!)

Yet again I had the chance to help prepare a group of students for their trip to Honduras this May and hanging around at Huron University College, its Rubinoff Boardroom and its food court felt wonderfully comfortable. I had some good sessions with the 14 students, all girls this time and I think I helped them visualize a bit what they can expect once working at the schools in Copan (mostly that they can expect just ANYTHING!). They seemed enthused and interested and I'm sure we'll all have a great time once here! It was also great to see some students from previous years, many of whom I'm still in touch with.

And how strange but wonderful to go from the underdeveloped tropics to the overdeveloped cold! All these cultural differences, some big but most just subtle changes in ways people behave. Saying “thank you!” to the bus driver for example. I have never seen anyone do that here in Honduras. Correction, I actually do that myself sometimes, but only when I personally pass the driver on my way out of the bus and when I’m greatly relieved to have survived a three-hour, nerve wrecking ride through the mountains of Honduras, not after traveling four blocks in downtown London! Other small culture shocks? Swiss Chalet does NOT sell cheese fondue; feeling trapped in layers and layers of extra clothes; for the price of one pack of cigarettes you can by NINE items at Dollar Store and gas stations do not sell alcohol. The trees are made of metal (but o so colourful!) and I didn’t quite get the hang of shoveling snow (to be completely honest, I didn’t even try…). Taxi drivers have funny accents and like to philosophize about God whereas traveling in a bus and inserting the ticket correctly in the right place isn’t that 0easy at all. Pancake Day is a national holiday and Canadians actually do consume maple syrup (or something cheaper that tastes like it). I somehow always happen to meet people who migrated to Canada from Holland lifetimes ago who insist in practicing their ancient Dutch with me. And although I don’t feel that “Dutch”, I must say, pancakes in Holland are better (except the ones Brian makes, of course!). All in all I had a great time, not in the least because of Wendy and Brian who let me stay in their terrific house and took such great care of me (“Where are your mittens!). Yes folks, I think I really, really like Canada…

Carin

2009-01-19T13:23:00.003-06:00

The Canada Connection keeps on growing… Right now we have yet another Canadian volunteer, Jillian Ritchie, who works for the McKenzie College in Moncton, New Brunswick (www.mckenzie.edu, check it out!). Since classes haven’t started yet, Jillian helps out where she can (and there’s actually quite a lot to do, so we’re happy with her help!) and brought us some wonderful art supplies! Thanks!

And it won’t be long before I (Carin) set foot on Canadian (frozen!) ground again, because my trip to London is scheduled for February 19th. I’ll be there for a week to help the Huron students prepare for their trip with some workshops on the arts as a medium in community development; cultural differences; international development and also some practical stuff as how to prepare a class (the students will be working at rural schools), how to conduct an evaluation and such. It will be fun!

2008-11-21T10:14:00.002-06:00

The students of Huron University College are getting ready for their trip to Honduras in May 2009! Read all about it at www.huronuc.ca/honduras. And just in case you didn't know, Huron is considered one of the best universities in Canada! For more information:
http://www.huronuc.on.ca/media/media_advisories/huron_university_college_tops_the_charts_in_macleans.

2008-10-23T09:35:00.001-06:00

Community Based Learning
the experience of
Arte Acción Copán Ruinas, Honduras

For four years in a row, Arte Acción Copán Ruinas (a NGO that organizes cultural activities for young adults and children in Honduras) received students of Huron University College, from 2004-2007.
Although initially hesitant about working with a group of twelve inexperienced volunteers, the partnership has been very successful. Throughout the years, and in close collaboration with the Huron students, we have developed a format that is satisfying for all parties involved: the Huron students and professor(s), our organization and the Honduran children the students worked with.

Providing a Community Based Learning experience is not easy. All too often foreign visitors, students or volunteers are merely observers in a totally different culture, trying to apply their own experiences and values in places and situations where this might not always work. As for the receiving party, Hondurans sometimes tend to modify their behaviour to the expectations of the visitors. In order to really experience another culture, it is necessary to become part of it, and the easiest way to do so (when there’s only a short period of time) is becoming part of the daily routine, by having a job to do.

The Huron students that volunteered with our organization all conducted different kinds of workshops at rural schools. The first few years we tried to offer a program as varied as possible, but we soon found out that neither the students, nor the local children benefited to the maximum from this format. Instead, we decided to work in only three rural communities where the students taught during a 2,5 week period, in groups of max. four students. This way the students were able to build relationships with the children they worked with; to get to know the community they worked in and to understand from first hand experience the problems the locals have to deal with (lack of access, water, electricity etc.). By the end of the 2,5 weeks we organized a festive encounter between the three schools. Last year we had about 250 people present during this terrific final event. It was especially endearing to see how proud the children felt of their “own” community” and their own ”gringos”,

In our relationship with Huron, we, as in representatives of Arte Acción Copán Ruinas, have always stated clearly that our main goal is not to provide the Canadian students with a great learning experience, but our own, the children of the rural communities the students worked in. Whereas it is the Huron’s professors’ responsibility to ensure an interesting experience for the Canadian students, it is our duty that the local children benefit from the visit in a constructive way. We have been able to achieve this because the children clearly benefit not only from participating in the workshops and learning new things, but also from building relationships with “gringos” during an extended period of time. The relationship between the Huron students and local children is based on equality, friendship, respect and a mutual eagerness to learn from each other and not on the exchange of materialistic goods. This is a healthy relationship that can be used as a base on which to develop many a project.

Another important factor in the success of the mutual learning experience is the continuity of the projects, as we experienced during the last two years Huron students worked with our organization. By working in the same communities year after year, the partnership only becomes stronger. The Huron students will understand better what to expect from the experiences of previous visits and the local children will look forward to the visit of “Los Canadienses”. Unfortunately, this continuity was interrupted last year, but we hope to be able to continue working together in the future on a yearly basis, because it seems to be the perfect period of time to develop such projects and also to strengthen the relationships between Huron and the selected communities which might result in sustainable help for the children and their families. This has happened regularly so far: we still receive donations from Huron’s ex-volunteers to buy supplies for a school, or a certain family in need.

As for our own organization, we made new friends through Huron and are still in touch with many of them. Twice, we received long-term volunteers (3 months) who had visited us previously as Huron student volunteers. Besides the obvious and direct benefits our organization receives (donation of art supplies and educational materials, number of workshops and activities developed by the volunteers, cash contributions) we feel that the Huron experience has helped us to develop a format for volunteer work that functions really will for all partiers involved, and not only for volunteers from Huron.

The only remark left is that personally I’d love to see more of a cultural exchange, that is, a learning experience for both cultures about both cultures. After learning more about Canada’s First Nation communities, I was amazed by the similarities between the Honduran Maya Chortí and indigenous people in Canada, especially in the problems they face. I think the experience in Canada can be very helpful for the Honduran indigenous people, if only for the recognition of aspects of each other’s cultures and the similar problems.

Carin Steen
Copán Ruinas, Honduras, 12-10-8

2008-10-23T09:28:00.002-06:00

Oh... before I forget, in case you forgot....

October 11, 2008

Honduras - Canada

3-1!!!!

2008-10-22T11:23:00.002-06:00

The Canada Connection is growing stronger every day! Since July 0f 2008 the Vancouver based foundation Jugamos (www.jugamos.org) is sponsoring our brand new Health & Sport project. The founders of Jugamos, Robyn Cowie and Geoff Affleck spent six months in Copán Ruinas to set up this program. Right now, our instructor Luis Vado is teaching about health and hygiene in rural schools and setting up a girls' soccer team. He´s also training our baseball team and member of the local AIDS prevention team.

Our instructor of the Maya Project, Londin Velasquez, recently went to Toronto to participate in an international youth forum about arts & development (www.ignitetheamericas.ca). He had a great time and a chance to meet up with ex-volunteer Ilke Schaart who took him to China Town and a baseball game.

In May of 2009 we expect another dlegation of Huron University College volunteers who'll be lucky in enough to be in Copán for our 10th anniversary!

2008-05-27T12:55:00.004-06:00

Moisés , Londin and I, Carin, just came back from an interesting trip through Guatemala and Belize. The reason for this trip was for the young instructors of our Maya project to see living Maya culture with their own eyes. An indeed they did! In Belize we were received by friends from the Julian Cho Society, an organization that helps indigenous people in land issues, among many other things. In Guatemala we saw different Maya people, all proudly wearing their own indigenous outfits, many speaking their own tongue. For Moises and Londin, both Maya Chortí but not used to anything so colourful, bright, brilliant, exotic and "Maya", it was an overwhelming experience.
In eight days we went from Copán Ruinas to the south of Belize, from there to the splendid site of Tikal, next to Lake Atitlan and then a pit stop in Antigua Guatemala before taking the early morning shuttle back home. It was quite an itinerary and it wasn't always easy traveling with two completely unexperienced adventurers with a tendency to ignore my well meant instructions. (" I told you to change all your Honduran money at the border because it is worthless in the rest of Central America!" - " Believe me Londin, I'm pretty sure you don NOT like a double espresso" etc. etc.) The boys had a tough time in Belize where they could not communicate well because of the English spoken there (they were so overwhelmed when entering the country that the migration officer asked me if they were mute!) and Londin's limited English vocabulary didn't help him an awful lot when he saw "fish fingers" on the menu. Moises' best sleeping experience was the one night we spent in the office of Caja Lúdica, a befriended artist organization in Guatemala: we slept on mattresses on the floor. We could have saved ourselves a lot of money we now spent on decent hotels. But anyway, it was a great trip, something the boys will never forget! (Look us up on Facebook,com for more pics!)

2008-05-27T12:48:00.001-06:00

Our friend Greg is on the run! (on his bike, that is.) Follow his adventures through the link below. Here a message from the bike master himself:

The Otesha Algonquin tour 2008 is on the road. We're dusty, full of farm-fresh honey and our pannier bags are full of ambition beans.

You can check out http://otesha.blogspot.com to keep up with our treading.

Thank you immensely to all of you that donated to make this trip a reality for me. I can't express how important you all are. Such great friends!

Please write to let me know how your summers are going, I would love to hear from each of you,

Greg

2008-05-27T11:02:00.004-06:00

Okay, on a lighter note: here some vocabulary to practice your Spanglish!

WATER My vieja gets mad and I don't even know water problem is!

BRIEF My homie farted... bad, and I couldn't brief.

MUSHROOM Orale vato, when all my familia gets in the car, there’s not mushroom.

CHICKEN My vieja wanted me to go to the store, but chicken go by herself.

LIVER & CHEESE Some vato tried to sweet talk my ruca. I told him, orale loco liver alone, cheese mine.

JULY Ju tol me ju were goin to the store and July to me! Julyer!

WAFER I wanted to go with my mom to the flea market pero she didn't wafer me!

HERPES I had some cake to share with my wife, this is my piece this is herpes

TISSUE I told you if you didn't know how to do it, I could tissue.

HARASSMENT Aorale vato my old lady caught me in bed wit my sancha so I said harassment nothing to me!

CASHEW I was running after you but I couldn't cashew!

BISHOP We went out to the club y mi vieja got drunk and fell down, so I had to pick the bishop.

JUICY Hey vato, I'm going to eat Paco's food, tell me if juicy him!!

2008-05-27T11:01:00.000-06:00

After 38 days the hunger strike against corruption came to a conclusion. The strike was initiated by public defenders who felt tied in their work because certain powerful and rich people accused of corruption turned out to be untouchable. The strike was supported by many organizations and individuals in the country, among them fellow artists Waldina Mejía (author) and Karla Lara (singer / songwriter) who bravely joined the hunger strike right in front of the congress building in Tegucigalpa.

Victor Fernandez, president of the Association of Public defenders said that this is only the first step in their struggle to have certain files opened and replacement of a number of attorneys. Some claims were met by the government, but the war against corruption is far from over.

2008-05-07T13:21:00.003-06:00

DESPERATELY SEEKING:
A willing volunteer to translate our website on Maya culture for children from spanish to English. Once translated in English we can promote this site among schools in English speaking countries and so spread the word on Maya culture around the world....
Have a look at the site! www.mayacopan.info

2008-05-07T13:17:00.002-06:00

For four years in a row, we had students of Huron University College volunteering with Arte Acción Copán Ruinas, but unfortunately they're not joining us this year because in stead of doing educational projects in rural Maya Chortí communities, the students this year are on a research trip. Rumours go they're in Copán, but we haven't seen them yet...

2008-05-07T13:11:00.002-06:00

Ilke Schaart (Huron University College) organized a multidisciplinary presentation last month about her three month internship with Arte Acción Copán Ruinas, She showed the documentary about the Maya Chortí she helped producing, as well as many pictures, her own testimony and last but not least a one of our kid's favourite art workshops: mask making! And as if she wasn´t busy enough, Ilke even managed to raise $100 fire Arte Acción Copán Ruinas! Congratulations!

2008-05-07T13:05:00.002-06:00

Greg Horne from Victoria volunteered with Arte Acción Copán Ruinas last year and painted some terrific murals with kids and young adults. This summer he's cycling for environmental awareness, as you can read here in his own words:

This summer, I (Greg Horne) will cycle from Ottawa to St John, NB with 15 other people on an Otesha bike tour. The goal of this trip is to inspire young people to make environmental sustainability a reality through everyday choices, personal empowerment, and community activism. To make the trip happen, I need to raise $1900. If you can donate something, that would be awesome. I really appreciate any contribution you can make. You can read more about the project, about me (if I don’t know you already), as well as donate online at: http://www.givemeaning.com/thon/greg If you can’t, but know someone who may want to support a youth empowering environmental initiative (parents, teachers?), please invite them to this group or pass along the link. As well, send me an email if you’d like to help out but aren't into inter-money (I’m looking for camping/cycling gear too.) Otesha is a youth driven, positive thinking, community building organization that aims to empower young people to take environmental sustainability into our own hands. While cycling from Ottawa to St. John, NB, we will deliver theatre productions in high schools and facilitate workshops on sustainable living in their surrounding communities. Check out www.otesha.ca for more info. Thanks again, with spokes of inspiration, Greg

Contact Info
Email:	greg_oscar@hotmail.com
Website:	http://www.givemeaning.com/thon/greg

2008-03-01T16:44:00.002-06:00

Use this link to see where we handed out the donations.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKq6zL_1gFM

Donations from Canada!

2008-02-26T10:04:00.003-06:00

Thanks to the Canada-Connection we were able to provide two hundred children with individual bags and six schools this year with a general amount of school supplies, as well as fourteen of our regular students. It was fun to see all those happy faces! And all thanks to a $500 donation from the Huron students who visited us in 2006 plus an extra $130 from Scott Atchison and family. We also got support from Spain thanks to Mireia Faura who brought us a whole bunch of art supplies, funnily enough (for the insiders) of the brand Milan!

By now, the school year has started and so have our projects. We're up and running again after moving into our new office and opening our store. Now back to classes with our Maya project, our advanced course, our Saturday workshop, baseball and soon a health-art project in three very remote communities. So, busy as ever, but happy!

See more pictures of us handing out the donations at www.facebook.com (Arte Accion)

2008-01-21T20:50:00.000-06:00

Okay, I'm new to this blog spotting -thing, but I understand it's a great way to keep people updated on the latest gossip. We have some good and some bad news. Here it is...

Good news! The wonderful, bubbling Chave, cook in La Casa de Todo, gave birth to a precious baby boy on January 3rd. She finally has her own baby boy now and doesn´t have to smother Milan anymore with her hugs and kisses. And talking about Milan, he just had his first birthday on January 5th with a surprise party in the Via Via and all!

Sad news... Quito, my three-legged-pain-in-the-butt stray dog who happened to have adopted me, has died. He was poisoned when roaming the streets. At least he had a happy few last years of his harsh life as a Copaneco dog. I feel sorry for him, but can totally survive with the rest of my zoo.

More sad news... Lise, Ron and Milan are going back to Holland. Not any time soon, the plan is September, so we have time to find replacement and train our new team members. At least we'll have some real good back-up in Holland once they'll be there!

And more sad news... Our Toño, el Guapito, has left us. When he didn't show up for work after the holidays we went looking for him and found out that he had left for the US together with some others from his village, without telling anybody. We all think it's very stupid and unfortunate. We miss him terribly but hope he'll make it up north and find what he's looking for.

News! We're moving! On February 1st we'll leave La Casa de Todo and take over the whole building of our actual office. Downstairs will be the gallery and store, upstairs the offices and work space. The Saturday workshops and playground will move to the new location of the children's museum Casa K'inich, in the old fort up the hill that is being remodelled right now.

And to end this post with more good news, we will have some great long-term volunteers this year! Right now, Cesar Borregón from Spain is helping us to professionalize our television program. Soon we'll have Mathilde from France; Chris Allio from the US to help us with management strategies; María José, a professional art teacher from Bolivia; and Rosan from Holland who'll conduct a video project in La Pintada, this summer.

As you can see, we never sit still... Time to hear from you!
Best,
Carin

Welcome!!!!

2008-01-21T20:26:00.000-06:00

Hello there Oh-Wonderful-Canadian-Friends!Welcome to the Canada Connection! We created this blogspot especially for all our friends up north who have visited us; volunteered with us; or have been supporting Arte Acción Copán Ruinas in one way or another. Soon we´ll have a brand new web-site with a direct link to the Canada Connection, but for now I'd like to invite you all to write something on our blog. Tell your fellow "paisanos" about your experience at Arte Acción or just keep us updated on whatever is going on in your life. Write us!

Best,Carin, Lise, Ron, Londin and the rest...

In The Air

2008-01-21T08:39:00.000-06:00

Blogspot Arte Accion Canada is in the Air!!!!!!!!!