Meetings & Lectures

Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, April 5, 2007

The Rev. Jeff Jones leads the Easter service at this week’s Unitarian Universalist Fellowship meeting with a talk entitled, “Where Jesus is Revered, Not Worshiped.”

On this Sunday, when many in the world are contemplating the meaning of Jesus’ death, Rev. Jeff Jones will lift up Jesus, not as deity or inspiration of inerrant scripture, but as one whose life and teachings deserve our profound respect. He addresses three aspects of Jesus’ life: as ethical teacher, as spiritual guide, and as the Christ within.

Rev. Jones is the minister of the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Fredericksburg, Virginia. Having served his congregation for six years, he began a six-month sabbatical with his family this past January in San Miguel de Allende.

The UU Fellowship meets every Sunday at 10:30am at La Posada de la Aldea, Ancha de San Antonio 15. Visitors are invited to attend the service and then join the UUs in the hotel restaurant for brunch. For more information about Mexico’s only chartered UU Fellowship visit portalsanmiguel.com/lifestyle/unitarians/unitarians.html

Big Sisters program on Rotary agenda

Anne Wilson talks to Rotarians and visitors on Tuesday, April 10, about the “Grandes y Chicas” program that she has established in San Miguel. Based on the international model of Big Sisters, the program has been used successfully at Casa Hogar-Santa Julia Don Bosco girl’s refuge.

Each of the “big sister” volunteers spends at least two hours per week with a younger girl. They share various activities together such as checking out library books, visiting the Jardín Botanica, playing board games and other simple activities. According to Wilson, girls are more likely to discuss personal problems and build trusting relationships when they can engage in one-to-one relationships with older role models.

The program has also expanded to provide group psychological and life skills counseling. The focus is to get girls to stay in school and provide them with real career choices.

In her preferred role as “ambassador without portfolio,” Wilson has brought her own diverse background skills to San Miguel. She was one of the first women in the US to train doctors on critical-care cardiac equipment. Later on, she helped professionals in the fields of medicine, law, education and architecture to structure their businesses and increase profitability. More recently, she has worked around the world establishing adult technical and professional training centers.

The Midday Rotary Club of San Miguel meets every Tuesday at 12:30pm in the upstairs theater at the Villa Jacaranda Hotel (Aldama 53). Visiting Rotarians and all others are invited to attend. Lunch follows at 1:30pm. For more information, visit the website: www.rotarysma.org. 

Garden lecture series—“Good Bugs/Bad Bugs”

We have the privilege this month of having a scientific expert present a slide show about insects in our gardens on April 11, at 10am. Antonio Marin Jarillo majored in biological science at the University of the State of Morelos and was professor of Zoology at the same university from 1977 to 1982. Since then he has been curator of the national collection of insects at the Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Forestales, Agrícolas y Pecuarias (National Research Center for Forests, Agriculture and Livestock) in Celaya. Antonio has given various workshops related to agricultural entomology and has published several articles in scientific magazines and spoken on entomology at national conferences.

The presentation is at the botanical garden and space is limited so reservations are required. Contact nzerriffi@yahoo.com  to save a place. Members of the garden: 70 pesos. Non-members: 100 pesos. The lecture is in Spanish with translation provided by Mario Mendoza, sub-director of the botanical garden. The presentation and Q&A lasts about one hour.

Come learn more about Casita Linda!

Casita Linda invites you to join us in celebrating our accomplishments of this past year and sharing our vision for the future. The date is April 12, from 4 to 6pm. The primary objective of Casita Linda, a non-profit organization, is to build simple, decent housing for the most disadvantaged. Come for refreshments, meet the volunteers and find out more about us. Carol Jackson and Art Bone host this event at their home at Francisco Lanzagorta 35, Colonia Independencia (going up Avenida Independencia take a left at the beige apt. building, go one block, take a right and the house is immediately on your right). For more information please contact Jean Gerber, 154-9446 or email at jean@casitalinda.org. 

Tours & Excursions

Botanical Garden tour

Every Tuesday morning, discover the marvels of cacti and other Mexican plants as well as the history of El Charco with Mario Mendoza, Assistant Director of the garden. The tour includes a visit to the nursery which contains many rare species and is not usually open to the public.

Entrance fee is 30 pesos (waived for members) and the tour is 50 pesos. All proceeds benefit the garden. The tour is in English and starts at the main entrance at 9am, lasting about 2 hours. Bring a hat and water. Space is limited, so reserve by calling 154-8838 or email charcodelingenio@gmail.com. 

Volunteer Opportunities

Library volunteers needed

The Biblioteca Pública needs volunteers in several departments.

In the Tienda, we need two more people, preferably with retail experience, to work morning and evening shifts during the week (10am to 2pm and 3 to 6pm). Volunteers with basic computer skills are needed in the computer center, hours are flexible. The Sunday House & Garden Tour needs a cashier (11am–12:30pm) and always welcomes house and bus guides on Sundays from noon to 2:30pm. The English program needs English teachers who will be here this April and May.

A minimum three-month commitment is requested for these positions. If you are interested in volunteering, please email Judy Boston at volunteers@bibliotecasma.com .

Atención volunteers needed

Atención seeks volunteer proofreaders. If you are obsessive about grammar, spelling and punctuation and would like to contribute your expertise, contact Atención at edit@atencionsanmiguel.org. 

See you in the funny papers

Mark Saunders, creator of Atención’s “Más o Menos” cartoon, invites suggestions from readers for funny material about living in San Miguel that would lend itself to a cartoon. Selected ideas will be drawn by the cartoonist, and authors will be given credit as well as a signed copy of their cartoon. Please send your “expat” cartoon ideas to edit@atencionsanmiguel.org.