Día Del Niño

Today Mexico celebrates “Día Del Niño”. On Children’s Day, schools are closed and there are many celebrations focused on kids which means parties, piñatas and lots of candy.

In other news… Pearlita (middle) is experiencing 4 year old angst as her best friend forever (Allie, on the left) has made another good friend in the new 4 year old arrival at Buen Pastor. Poor Pearlita is riddled with jealousy as time and time again, Allie chooses to play with “Negrita”.  Not knowing how to handle her emotions, she stands erectly and howls in the direction of the two playmates, enormous crocodile tears dripping from her chin.  I hope relief comes soon.

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Mules of Monte

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5 de Mayo Fundraiser

On 5 de Mayo, Katie, Beca, and I invite you to participate in a collective fundraising effort across state and national borders.  We’re calling upon our friends, on bar and restaurant owners, service industry folk, musicians, artists, educators and librarians to come together for one night and to celebrate the positive aspects of the ever tenuous relationship between Mexico and the United States and to benefit our blossoming art education cooperative consisting of North American women and Mexican girls in Guanajuato, Mexico.

Everyday we are bombarded with images and news that focus on separation and propagate fear. The reality is that there are hundreds of thousands of us, on both sides of the border, from either or both cultures that are strengthening the relationship, developing cultural understanding and acting as agents of change.

On May 5th, we’re hoping our friends around the world will participate in a collective fundraising mission in helping these twelve young women express themselves through art. We’re hoping it’s painless and FUN! Please look over the attached fundraising kit (PDF) for information about this event, who we are as an organization, and the workshops we are in need of funding for.

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Mother

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Eufrasia Day

Photos by John Doherty

Last Thursday, we celebrated Santa Maria Eufrasia, the founder of Buen Pastor. The girls sang for the madres, the women and children of the shelter, volunteers, and visiting friends. For their last song, they invited the shelter kids to come sing and dance “Father Abraham” with them. It was very sweet to see the two groups facing each other, and the girls of the internado cheering for the children of the alburgue. The girls then mentioned they heard a rumor that the mothers of the shelter can’t dance, and to disprove that rumor, they would have to come up as well.  Of course the little ones cheered their mothers on.  And then Katie, Beca, and I were called up as well.  So we all sang Father Abraham and went along with moving body parts and ensuing silliness.

Singing was followed by dinner. After dinner, each girl was presented with her own book.  Awhile back, Sharon and Yoli hosted a book luncheon where they raised enough money to buy books for all the girls and double our library at Buen Pastor. Then Sharon, John, and I went book shopping in Queretaro where we selected a book for each girl.  Last week, Yoli sewed book bags and when my San Miguel friends arrived on Thursday, we matched books to names. It was incredibly fun to hand out the books, one at a time, to the girls.  They screamed in delight at the announcement of the Twilight Series and Ghostgirl. These books brought out the same, shrill pitched excitement that the Jonas Brothers do.  The little ones were happy to receive more Olivia the Pig. It made my librarian heart sing to see so much enthusiasm over books!

Altogether, I’ll never forget Thursday’s Santa Eufrasia celebration. Besides the joyous reception of books, what made this event so special is that it brought together the family of Buen Pastor… from the amazing women I’ve befriended through the Adobe Youth Voices Project, and people that care, to the Madres, the girls, the women in the shelter and their children, and of course, the San Miguel de Allende contingent. We’re all family joined by the indefatigable and jubilant work of Buen Pastor, and forever spirited by Santa Maria Eufrasia, whose name, by the way, has really grown on me over the past four years.

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Cowboys

Four horsemen of the hills of Mineral de Monte.

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Home alter

On the road home from Santa Rosa.

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Bicentennial Compromiso

While the girls play, Marla sits in the corner of the courtyard and memorizes Bicentennial Compromiso Compartido. The speech is a two-paged, single-spaced narrative of the history of Mexico.  Marla has been chosen to represent her class and will recite it in front of them this week or the next.

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Chapel

Chapel located in Mineral de Monte

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Disco Fieber II

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What Gives?

I’ve been a big fan of Betty Londergan ever since I discovered her blog, WhatGives365, last January. Her positivity easily catapulted What Gives to my favorite blog on the Internet.  Betty spreads hope and incentive by highlighting an inspirational project everyday for one year. She roots for the Underdog, brings attention to folks quietly doing great things, and makes the world a better place one post at a time. What’s more, she donates $100 of her own money towards the good work she highlights daily.

After her year is up, she hopes to visit many of the wonderful places she’s written about.  I hope she makes it to Guanajuato… today, she featured Buen Pastor’s storytelling project.

In related news: you can read about what we did this week with the girls at Week 2: Photo Scavenger Hunt.

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Singing practice

On Thursdays, the girls have singing practice.  They’re preparing for their presentation a week from Friday when we all come to celebrate Santa Maria Eufraisa, the founder of Buen Pastor. It’s so fun to watch them. Their practice is a mix of singing, jumping, zumba, hugging, running, and overall infectious enthusiasm!

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Santa Rosa Hermosa

PRIVATE PROPERTY

• Don’t cut the trees.
• Don’t throw trash.
• Beautiful Santa Rosa.

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Destroyed Red

Red door on Carrica in the neighborhood of San Javiar.

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Enchilada Suisa

Beca and I took the bus to Santa Rosa yesterday.  Before walking back the four hours to Guanajauato, we had lunch at a very nice, delicious, clean, and colorful restaurant. That’s Beca in the photos, enjoying her Enchilada Suisa. If this restaurant were any closer, I think F and I would live there.

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Cotton Candy

Churros and cotton candy outside the mercado. 10:30 P.M.

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Mailing address for AYV

Adobe Youth Voices has a new blog – Please drop by!

In response to Karen’s comment in the post below, you can mail things like cameras, computer chords, memory sticks and anything you like for the Adobe Youth Voices Project to Beca’s PO Box:

Rebeca Beeman c/o Gerardo Espinoza
Apartado Postal #357
Guanajuato, GTO.
Mexico 36000

I’ve heard conflicting reports, but regular mail should work just fine. If you can spend extra, DHL is a very good option to securely send things.

When you do send mail, make sure everything is out of its packaging, except for padding purposes, and that nothing looks new.

Thanks for sharing in the excitement!

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Moving right along

Beca created this wonderful video to present the Adobe Youth Voices project. Beca, Katie and I have been working hard on curriculum while having a lot of fun putting ideas together.  We’re so excited to see what the girls will create.

If you would like to support this project, we’re still in need of the following items:

• Student Sponsorship for course participation: $150 per student
• 6 digital photography cameras
• 1 digital video camera
• 13 Memory Sticks
• 12 blank DVDs
• Computer cables

Anything and everything helps… thumbs up and encouraging emails included!  If you want to contribute financially, click on the DONATE link in my blogroll and specify the ATV project.  Or send me an email and let me know you’re with us in spirit!

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Couch

I never see anyone sitting on this couch.

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Bookcase

Over the weekend, John and Sharon delivered a bookcase that they had a carpenter build especially for Buen Pastor. Now, we finally have someplace to put our library collection! The bookcase and the books will be a nice surprise for the girls when they return from Spring Break.

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