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.

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

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

October 11, 2008

Honduras - Canada

3-1!!!!

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!

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!)

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

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!!

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.

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

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...

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!

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

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

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

Donations from Canada!

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)

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!!!!

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

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