AROUND TOWN
May 9, 2008 San Miguel de Allende

Meetings & Lectures

Unitarian Universalist Fellowship

Retired community health nurse Janet Allan discusses her unique experience as a teacher at a small rural school just outside Nairobi, Kenya, at this week’s Unitarian Universalist Fellowship meeting.

Invited by a young Kenyan teacher to live and teach at his mother’s school, she spent the month of October 2007 teaching health education and cultural exchange classes daily at St. Steven’s Academy in the town of Limuru. Her presentation provides a glimpse into the everyday life of poor, but very bright, enthusiastic and motivated students and teachers who live a life without video games, television and movies, but are hungry for information about the world and themselves.

Prior to her retirement, Allan served as a community health nurse for more than 30 years in rural Alaskan villages and urban Portland, Oregon. She now spends her time living and teaching in San Miguel and Melaque.

The UU Fellowship meets every Sunday at 10:30am at Posada de la Aldea, Ancha de San Antonio 15 and welcomes people of all ages, races, religions, sexual orientation and gender identity. Visitors are invited to attend the service and then join the UUs in the hotel restaurant for brunch.

Midday Rotary Club

On Tuesday, May 13, we are pleased to have as our guest speaker Edgardo Kerlegand, artist and owner of Galería Barro in Fábrica la Aurora. As an art teacher, who gives workshops in Zen drawing, Kerlegand will address the topic of the artist within us, as he believes that everyone can be a good painter or draftsperson. Kerlegand gathers from his experience through living in a Greek monastery and from his study of Zen and Oriental philosophies. He states that he has long been developing a sense that the only way to learn how to express ourselves through drawing is by observing nature and by confronting ourselves with the big question: “Who am I?” 

Edgardo Kerlegand was born in the state of Chiapas and started painting at the age of 12, at which time he had already developed a strong interest in the human figure. The spiritual aspect and the introspection of his characters have been determinants in his work, and its principal influence comes from Oriental paintings, orthodox iconography, German expressionism and the Mexican muralists.

His exhibitions have been favorably received in the US, Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, Guatemala, Croatia, Bosnia, Yugoslavia and, of course, in Mexico.

The Rotary Club of San Miguel de Allende-Midday meets every Tuesday at their new location, the Hotel Real de Minas at the intersection of Calles Ancha de San Antonio and Stirling Dickinson. Check-in time is 12:00–12:25pm and the meeting starts promptly at 12:30. Visiting Rotarians and others interested in Rotary are invited to attend this meeting. Rotary is an organization of business and professional persons united worldwide who provide humanitarian service, encourage high ethical standards in all vocations and help build goodwill and peace in the world. For more information, please go to the website: www.rotarysma.org. 

Classes & Workshops

Chess workshops

Free chess workshops for adults meet Mondays 5–6:30pm in the central patio of the Biblioteca Pública. The Biblioteca has good chess sets, but bring your own if you like. More than a dozen players occupy the north portal of the patio each week.

Players also gather at Mama Mia, Umarán 8, on Wednesdays, 5–7pm. The rooftop terraces offer spectacular views of churches, mountains and sunsets.

Adults also play chess at Casa de la Cultura on Chorro, 10am–2pm on Saturdays.

The view is extraordinary and after the holiday recess of last week, you should have the energy to run all the way up the switchbacks on the road to the top of the hill.

Volunteer Opportunities

Does your nonprofit need some extra help? Send your short requests to edit@atencionsanmiguel.org with “Volunteer Opportunities” in the subject line. Maybe you have an event coming up, some extra support could be appreciated.


Biblioteca Pública

The Biblioteca is currently looking for a volunteer coordinator to facilitate the various volunteer activities and responsibilities for the organization. Ideally, this candidate would have professional experience coordinating volunteer activities, have some Spanish language ability and experience with multitasking and management. Candidate must make a commitment to the Biblioteca and be a full-time San Miguel resident.

Hospice San Miguel

Hospice San Miguel is looking for volunteers with experience in fundraising and publicity. Please call 154-4287 or email markb@hospicesma.org. 

Field volunteers needed for Patronato Pro Niños

PPN, one of the oldest and most vibrant charities in SMA, is looking for a selective group of volunteers who would be willing to dedicate two or more mornings per month to go out to the outlying areas of the municipality of San Miguel de Allende to visit schools, talk about the work that PPN is doing to assist children with medical and dental problems, and to invite those children who need medical attention to the office of PPN for evaluation and assistance at little or no cost to the family. The volunteers ideally would either be reasonably fluent in Spanish and/or have a car/truck/SUV which can withstand the back (mostly unpaved) roads of the municipality. If interested, please contact Steve Livingston at steve@stevelivingston.com  with your name and contact information.

Save A Mexican Mutt (SAMM) is a charitable organization that rescues, spays/neuters, provides veterinary care, socializes, and transports highly adoptable Mexican street dogs to the United States for adoption. We need volunteers to foster dogs for up to six weeks and to transport dogs to the United States. If you live here full or part-time and can provide a temporary loving home for one of the many dogs in line to be transported to their forever homes or are traveling to Texas, New Mexico or Colorado by car and can transport one or more dogs with you, please contact Kelly Karger at info@saveamexicanmutt.org and see our website at www.saveamexicanmutt.org. (Save A Mexican Mutt is a US 501c3 charitable organization. Donations to SAMM are tax-deductible on your US federal tax return.)

Feed the Hungry looking for screening volunteers

Feed the Hungry is looking for volunteers to help with the preventive medical screening of our school children. We are looking for persons with one or more of the following skills: Bilingual persons, drivers with access to vehicle with high ground clearance willing to drive out to the ranchos, computer data input persons. This medical work is being conducted in cooperation with Patronato Pro Niños for the children our organizations serve. For more information please contact us on 152-2402 or contact@feedthehungrysma.org. 

Pro Musica

Pro Musica de San Miguel AC puts on more than 30 classical music concerts throughout the year in the city. We are looking for volunteers to fulfill various roles. These include helping out as ushers at St Paul’s church and other venues during concerts, selling tickets prior to the House and Garden Tour at the Biblioteca on Sunday mornings, helping to organize suppers in private homes after concerts for our musicians and patrons, and assisting with publicity, marketing and fundraising. We are a fun group of people to work with and the music is fantastic! Contact Pro Musica’s President, Michael Pearl, at 152-2688 or email him at mpearl5493@aol.com.