another day in the jungle

Friday, March 06, 2009

Dental Journey 2009

A team of 11 (mostly) Albertans from the Canadian group "Dentistry For All" arrived last weekend to begin a full 5-day Dental Journey here at Project Ix-canaan.

The potential patients began lining up at 4 a.m. on the first day, and by the final day, we were awakened at 1 a.m. by the sounds of people waiting in line outside the clinic with their towels or blankets over their shoulders to be sure they would be one of the 50 - 60 people that the dentists would be able to work with that day ...

The team set up four stations for cleanings and fillings ...

as well as one station for extractions ...

and another for sterilization of equipment and giving away of toys and gifts to the patients.

And here are a couple of satisfied patients exiting with their frozen mouths and arms full of toys and ... best of all ... Crocs!!

Monday, March 02, 2009

A Three-Month Volunteer

For the last three months, Margo Van der Sluys, from Holland, has been here volunteering with Project Ix-canaan. Margo loves weaving, and while here, she did a lot of experimenting with various materials and she taught several young people the tecnique.

She also spent many hours involved in various types of educational activities with a group of children through the Ix-canaan Library.

Sunday, March 01, 2009

A New Butcher Shop

El Remate's first Meat Market (Carniceria) sells only the freshest beef!

Posted by Picasa

Lunch at the Women's Center

After spending the morning unpacking and organizing medicines and medical supplies, we continued on our tour of Project Ix-canaan, ending at the Centro Femenino where the Ix-canaan Women's Group was prepared to serve an excellent lunch of tamales and black bean salad.

After lunch, we went to visit and talk with the nurse's aid at the local Puesto de Salud to get a rounded view of the medical services offered in a small village.

The nurse was joined by the technician who is running the new Malaria Prevention Program, also through the Puesto de Salud, who explained the new program and showed how it has lowered the cases of malaria in our area from thousands per year to just 75 cases in 2008.

Posted by Picasa

Saturday, February 28, 2009

University Students Bring Meds

Today a group of students from North Carolina State University visited us with a huge donation of medicines and medical supplies.

Students used every available spot in the clinic to begin unpacking the 20 large suitcases and duffel bags that were filled to bursting.

While others sorted and classified the thousands of small packets and boxes.

The organization of such a wealth of supplies is far from finished, but by mid-afternoon it was clear that the clinic's supply of basic meds has been replentished for at least a short while with (among lots of other things) ...

Medicines for pain.

Vitamins for adults, children and babies.

Needles of all different sizes for injections of different types.

And piles of gauzes, bandaids and cotton for cleaning and dressing wounds.

Amongst the piles of supplies are also many things that are used for emergencies or in hospitals that will be donated to the local volunteer Red Cross and to the new volunteer hospital in San Benito.

Saturday, January 17, 2009

Student Advances

Adelaida, one of the students who receives scholarships from Project Ix-canaan, has finished the second year of her 3 year program to become an Accountant.

Monday, January 12, 2009

Meet Luis Cua

Luis is working for Project Ix-canaan as a computer teacher. He studied to become a teacher in Guatemala City, and just recently arrived here in Peten. He has set up a formal and comprehensive program to teach the local children computer studies. There is a suggested donation of Q10 per month for the kids who take the class.

The class has proven to be so popular that all of the available 7 computers are in use each hour and now children are coming in from outlying villages and asking to participate.

Saturday, January 03, 2009

2009

Samsimian is sorting through some Mayan pottery while looking forward to another year in the jungle!

Posted by Picasa

Saturday, September 13, 2008

Keeping the Library Active

In September of 2008, Joan Centra, from New York, volunteered to work in the library and oversee activities for the children who came to use the facilities. Many children used the opportunity to practice their budding computer skills ...

while others were thrilled to have an opportunity to develop their artistic abilities through crafts or puzzles.

Wednesday, September 03, 2008

Dennis Bedard Dental Group

While I was in Canada in 2008, the Dennis Bedard Dental Group came to do a 4-day Dental Journey here in the village. This was the 4th year that this group has come to help the villagers with their dental problems.

The villagers lined up well in advance to get their numbers, then waited patiently for their turn.

The team did cleanings, fillings and extractions for people of all ages and averaged about 50 patients per day.

Posted by Picasa

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Anne Moon volunteers at NUFED

Another volunteer that was here in March was Anne Moon from Vancouver. Rather than advertising for people to come to the Project Ix-canaan Library for English classes, we decided to do something a bit different, and Anne went into the local NUFED School to teach English.

Anne's teaching support at the school was well received and it gave us the occasion to visit the NUFED School. It is a Technical Institute that covers grades 7, 8 and 9 and serves the many small villages in this end of Peten. I was surprised to see that the construction of the school has never been finished.

The school consists of 4 walls with a roof and has no floors, doors, windows, paint, minimal furniture and no books or other teaching aids.

Friends of Ix-canaan (based in Calgary, Alberta) have decided to continue supporting the NUFED School through Project Ix-canaan by finding volunteers to help teach the curriculum, as well as looking for the funding to finish the construction of the school and equip its library with the textbooks the students need for their courses.

A Chichipin Caterpillar

I am always amazed by the ingenuity of Mother Nature. Today we saw the first chichipin caterpillar of the season. This caterpillar lives out its life span on the chichipin bush and its coloring allows it to blend in perfectly. Not only that, but when the caterpillar emerges from its cocoon, it has become a distinctive butterfly that still carries the same chichipin colors. Maybe I can capture that miracle on film when the time arrives.

Posted by Picasa

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Making Soap

I have been reading about and practicing making soap so that we are ready to bring in a "soap making teacher" from one of Canada's premier "soapers" to teach the Ix-canaan women's group all about making soap. We also need someone who feels creatively able to design packaging, labelling and soap finishing.

So far, I have made soap twice ... the photo above is from the second time. The first time I made a soap without aroma or color (below), but I did pour the second half of it over chunks of loofah to create a few "scrubbing bars". That worked well.

Many of the soaps are of a small size because two local hotels have told us that if we can produce a soap that is up to their standards, they will start to buy from us. These two designs are just to begin ... one is a more or less typical small round soap (I used toilet paper rolls as molds for these) and the other is shaped like a small pyramid (I used egg cartons for these). The larger soaps (and a few of the smaller) are scented with lavender oil and colored with paprika.

This second batch (above) is double because I took the opportunity to teach two women of the women's group, Doña Juana (the president) and Doña Bety (the treasurer) how to make it.

I had been thinking of the possibilities of making a useful yet beautiful soap from local ingredients, so made one type of soap with cinnamon, which has insect repellent qualities. The smell of the cinnamon, however, was not strong enough to last through the process ... we discovered that it is necessary to also use essential oils to give a good aroma.

This past week, Enrique and I took a drive out to Dos Aguadas where a women's group had been set up to make and sell essential oils. They are making essential oils from allspice, and from 2 different types of trees, as well as 2 different jungle flower blends. I bought some of each to try and I think they are going to be perfect for the soap aromas. The allspice has insect repellent qualities like the cinnamon, so I think the two together will make an excellent spicily-aromatic repellent soap. When I discovered the beautiful flower blends, I thought that the second soap should be of Rainforest Flowers. The hotel guest could receive one of each ... the spice soap for the morning shower before hiking in the jungles, and the flower soap to shower off before dinner.

Posted by Picasa

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Cooking Classes

Recently, several members of the Grupo Femenino Ix-canaan chose to spend a week working with a cooking instructor (far left) learning how to properly prepare a variety of excellent Guatemalan dishes. The classes were co-sponsored by ProPeten and the Guatemalan government.

The women attended classes mornings and afternoons for 5 days, learning to create a variety of Guatemalan main courses and desserts. The day that I dropped by, they were working on "Poultry Dishes" and had made three different recipes.

The first one was Pollo Guisado, (Chicken Stew), which is chicken legs (preferably legs ... they give a much better flavor to the dish) and potato pieces (with other vegetables depending on your finances) in a sauce based on achiote (annato).

The second one was Pollo en Jocon, which is chicken cooked in a green sauce based on mil tomates.

The third one was far and away the best in my opinion. It was Pollo en Crema con Loroco ... Chicken in Cream with Loroco (small green unopened flower buds that have a distinctive flavor). I'm sure loroco is one of those foods that you either love, or hate. So far, I love it. At least I do when it is cooked with chicken in a cream sauce. I am definitely going to learn to make this dish.

To accompany the three chicken dishes, the women had prepared a Salad of Vegetables en Escabeche

and a pot full of the fluffiest rice I have ever seen!

This group of women is working hard to prepare to open a cooking school for tourists who would like to have the opportunity to cook and eat these regional specialities.

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Installing New Cables

After months of internet problems, and changes to almost every part of our satelite system, Enrique and Gonzalo install new cables and solve the problem, enabling me to begin to catch up on all the blogging that I haven't been able to do for so long.

Posted by Picasa

A New Camera

Dan McKinnon, good friend and Ix-canaan supporter from Calgary, Alberta, has responded to my plea for a new camera to enable me to continue documenting another day in the jungle. Thanks, Dan!!

Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)