Cook & Affect: Assisting a Vocational Training Culinary Arts Program in Guatemala

WATCH FIELD REPORT HERE

In rural areas of Guatemala, the indigenous Mayans have been economically marginalized for decades. One of the biggest challenges they face is finding sustainable jobs, beyond seasonal agricultural work. Luckily, a fantastic local non-profit called Amigos de Santa Cruz is addressing that need and helping the locals of one such town help themselves and find work.

Since partnering with Amigos de Santa Cruz back a few years ago (see 2010 field report here), we have been charting their amazing progress in building their CECAP center, which is a vocational educational center for the local Mayan inhabitants of Santa Cruz. Since Santa Cruz has very limited educational and work opportunities for its inhabitants, this center provides very valuable training for the locals in six fields: sewing, computer education, carpentry, welding, foot loom weaving and culinary arts. On a recent visit, we saw these classes in action and salute Pat Torpie, the organization's founder and their amazing staff for helping prepare and place so many locals for employment that will allow them to provide income for their families. Their program director Juan Antonio is a great cook and patient instructor who shares their vision and is an integral part of the program's success.
                          
                            WATCH FIELD REPORT HERE
One of the greatest successes of CECAP has been the culinary arts program, as all 17 of the graduates from the first two years have steady work as cooks in hotels and restaurants in the area. Building upon this success, we offered to help them develop their program, as they are looking for ways to make the program self-sustainable. They have established a small restaurant in the CECAP building, which has majestic views over beautiful Lake Atitlan. In one year, profits from the restaurant Sabor Cruceño have already allowed the culinary arts program to be self-sustainable.  

In order to expand their menu and bake goods they can then sell in the local market, Cause & Affect decided to help them by purhcasing the kitchen supplies they need to start baking pizzas, desserts, cakes, etc. With $955, Cause & Affect purchased a new food processor, a Kitchen Aid hand mixer, a rolling pin and various other kitchen accessories needed to expand the program's menu, instruction and profitability. 

We then brought in our resident chef, Linda Champagne (Adam's mother who lives in Guatemala and used to teach cooking classes and write cookbooks) to share her expertise by conducting a series of cooking classes to teach new recipés. In her first class, she taught them how to make pizza, including making the crust from scratch. Special thanks to Mom for her great help - and very impressive Spanish skills! It's such a joy to work with Amigos de Santa Cruz and their wonderful work helping the residents of Santa Cruz find such rewarding work.     WATCH FIELD REPORT HERE

 

Helping Deaf Children from Calcutta's Slums Become Heard

WATCH FIELD VIDEO HERE

WATCH FIELD VIDEO HERE

Life is very tough here in the slums of Calcutta, India but it is even more challenging for the deaf and hearing-impaired. Faced with such a lack of medical care, many diseases and conditions go undiagnosed. The same is true for deafness. As a result, many parents simply assume these children are just stupid or mentally-handicapped. In many cases, these kids do not get properly diagnosed or ever learn sign language. Can you imagine being trapped in your own home, unable to express your most innermost feelings. Never being able to play with your brother, tell your mom that you love her or ask your father how his day was?

WATCH FIELD VIDEO HERE

Fortunately, an amazing woman named Brinda Crishna recognized this problem and decided to open an amazing non-profit to help address this shortcoming of aid and education.  Today, VAANI (which means "sound of the soul") works in several regions in India, but Cause & Affect decided to address the situation here in Calcutta, where VAANI works directly with deaf children and their families through their Kolkata Metropolitan Project. 90% of all the project's deaf children and families come from lower socio-economic backgrounds and low literacy levels.




The project is an effort mainly to combine center-based specialized services with a community-based approach and aims to:

• Ensure that all deaf children aged between 0-14 years have access to diagnosis, early stimulation and education
• raise awareness of the issues surrounding the primary education of deaf children
• work towards raising the expectations of parents and the wider community for the deaf child’s potential
• help the parents and the wider community to understand the value of educating the deaf child

It has been a challenge convincing parents who are mainly concerned about their child’s educational needs to also be involved in his/her emotional and social growth. VAANI's community mobilizers have worked hard to make them understand the need for communication, and to convince reluctant parents to come with their children to the resource centres and to be a part of the VAANI extended family.


 WATCH FIELD VIDEO HERE

After numerous field visits, Cause & Affect looked for the most direct way to assist the project. Our timing couldn't have been better, as they were looking for funding to open a brand new Resource Center. This facility will house a new Early Prevention Program to allow babies up to 3 years old to participate in the project as well.  Cause & Affect donated $1,000 to purchase supplies and materials for the project. As the video shows, this project is transforming these children's lives. It is amazing to see children suddenly have the ability to express themselves for the first time in their life. We are so thankful to VAANI for their amazing work and professionalism!

Please allow us to continue supporting worthy projects like this by donating here.
Special thanks to Eric Wiesner for your assistance and generous donation - you da man!

"Theater for Development" as a Means of Empowering Mayan Children in Guatemala

Watch Field Report Video Here

Proportionately the largest indigenous population in the world, the Mayans of Guatemala have a proud cultural tradition, but sadly, they have been discriminated against for centuries. Though they have won a right to a free education in recent decades, the odds for their academic success are stacked against them. There are a few main reasons to explain this achievement gap:
1. Their rural schools are severely lacking in school supplies;
2.  Spanish is their second language (they speak Mayan dialects at home); and
3.  The discrimination they face from non-indigenous students.
As a result, they often feel out of place and afraid to express themselves in school, which adversely affects their performance and often results in drop out.

What is needed is a way to create a more comfortable academic setting, where the Mayan students feel free to express themselves to fellow students and teachers. In my humanitarian work in other countries, such as Brazil, I have seen firsthand the positive effect that "theater development" has on marginalized populations; Theater for Development is an innovative tool used in the field of international development, wherein participants act out dramas, comedies, musical numbers and dance performances as a means of self-expression. The component of role play allows them to experience the situation from another angle and the improvisational component allows them to think on their toes and experience new forms of thought and action.

On the heels of other projects' successes, Cause andAffect was eager to administer this innovative methodology in a Guatemalan context, so upon our field visit in February, we were overjoyed to discover that CasaSitio (a wonderful partner organization of ours) was also interested in bringing this practice to their recipients.

We then partnered with a Brazilian organization that was conducting a Theater for Development training workshop in another city of Guatemala, so Cause and Affect agreed to finance the training session. With $1,000 we were able to send CasaSitio's practitioners to the 4-day training session, pay for the training materials and then install the theater project into their curriculum. 

We had to wait eight months for the training session and implementation of the program, but we are very pleased to announce that the social theater workshops are in full swing, and are already paying a valuable dividend in improving the academic performance of these Mayan students!

As the field report video documents, the students are overjoyed to have a forum in which they can freely express themselves, engage in role play and become more comfortable with their surroundings. With a more healthy integration into their schools and a new-found enthusiasm, they are already planning brighter futures.

The success of this project once again shows just how far a small amount of money, invested in a responsible manner, can create very effective change.

To contribute to projects like this, please visit our website and our Give page here, where you can easily make a donation via PayPal or credit card. Special thanks to CasaSitio for their assistance and our generous donors!