14 Days, 14 Thoughts It has now been 2 weeks since I've arrived at Project Somos as a volunteer assisting with the garden, social media, and fundraising! Even though it's a short amount of time, I have already learned and experienced so much. In an effort to sum it all up, here are 14 thoughts … [READ MORE]
Finding Fifty-Guest Blogger Michele Gole
For several months leading up to my 50th birthday, I adamantly declared that I would NOT have a party. I guess I was hoping that my fifth decade on the planet would just quietly and unobtrusively sneak in with minimal fanfare. Turning 50 did not seem like a reason to celebrate. Then I was introduced […]
Social Justice/Social Outrage
Living and working in Guatemala is always a learning experience. The political and social fabric is a colourful and somewhat chaotic weave of traditional values and a push towards “modernization”. Today the political arena is imploding with numerous scandals of serious corruption by the highest administrative officials, including the VP, who recently resigned in disgrace. […]
Somos Mamas (We are Mamas) Felting
Every Thursday our little group gathers to visit, drink tea and review the work from the past week and to look ahead at the next week. Our mamas have been producing needle-felted products since last May. For Ana and Tita, that is 14 months. For Antonieta, it has been nine months. And for Myra, it […]
Let Them Eat Tortillas
Yesterday morning we had a visit by a young mother with three young children under eight. They came with her sister and knocked on our gate to inquire if she could find a home for this abandoned sister and her children. She was married for eight years and her husband abandoned her 4 years ago. […]
Competing Priorities
It seems as Project Somos develops in its depth and width of activities, the quantity of competing priorities intensifies. This is not as easy to sort out as financial capacities or targeted and committed priorities, but has a complexity exponentially complicated by the human factor of families with mothers and children. On a daily basis, […]
Tika Talks-The Responsibilities of a Dog
According to child psychologist, Boris Levinson of Yeshiva University, troubled, withdrawn children became more talkative and engaged when he had his therapy dog around with the kids. An interesting study done by psychologist, Sigal Zilch-Mano said that people’s stress levels went down when taking a test with their pets close by. Another study showed that […]
Family #4 Arrives!
Yesterday was another monumental day at Project Somos. Yesterday we welcomed our fourth family to the Village! For the last number of weeks, Lucy (our recently hired local employee) has been out in the “field” meeting with different community leaders and groups. She has been introduced to various women and their children, who are living […]
Hope
Where there is no vision, there is no hope.-George Washington Carver 1864-1943, American Scientist When the candidate families arrived for a first visit at the Somos Village, I reflected on what they might have hoped to find. Our social worker, Lucy, had previously informed them about the structural layout, the programs and some of the Somos […]
The Best Donors in the World
We are recently back from our annual Spring trek to Canada. We spent two weeks in Vancouver and a week in Calgary. While there, we had two board meetings, one public presentation, visited and spoke at five schools, had dozens of meetings, ate many amazing meals and drank far too many cups of coffee! Fortunately, […]