By Donna Quathamer (Mar 24, 2006)
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I arrived in San Miguel just over five years ago with an idea and a lot of hope, and probably some naiveté. On each of my seven previous visits to San Miguel I had conversations with women who worked in the mercado, sold merchandise on the streets and cleaned homes, and I asked them what they would need to make their lives better. |
Every one of these women said, in her own way, that she needs a place for her children to stay so she can go to work without leaving them home alone. This shared need has evolved into Hogar de los Angeles.
When I was teaching at Lewis University, near Chicago, I told my students that we all have a piece of wisdom and that in sharing our personal wisdom we all gain. Now that we are celebrating our fifth anniversary, the moms of Hogar de los Angeles have their pieces of wisdom to share. "I want to pass onto my three girls that they are important people, that they can do whatever they set out to accomplish," said Rosa María Trejo Martínez, our youngest mom at age 19.
| In exchange for the care of their children, the mothers give an hour of service each day, which has become an unplanned benefit. Dominga Ramírez Juárez says, "I had no idea that in addition to not worrying about the safety of my children, I have the added benefit of new friends. It's great to share some of the problems we may be having with our kids. But the best part is adult conversation." |  |
Laura Cruz, while cuddling her child, shares, "I feel good about my commitment of five hours a week. I try to spend even more hours when I can. Whether I am caring for the children or cleaning the bathrooms, I know I am making a contribution and I am receiving so much in return."
Juana Morales Morales, our oldest mom at age 48, summed up many of the mothers' feelings with a broad smile. "This has become our home away from home. We feel like part of a large family. I am so very grateful."
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Five years ago Hogar de los Angeles opened its doors as a daycare center to serve families of single working mothers. It has grown to be a community center in which mothers find the support they need to make a better life for their families, a place for each of them to share their personal wisdom. |
Besides help with their children, these families receive medical care, home and bathroom construction, transitional housing, summer camp and food bank, all done in a relationship of mutuality that respects the dignity of each individual.
Hogar de los Angeles open house
Friday, March 31, 10am-1pm
Prolongación Pila Seca 18
New projects sprout at ALMA
By Robert B. Duke
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ALMA volunteers and staffers in the garden |
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Currently, ALMA houses 32 Mexican residents and 3 Americans from 68 to 102 years of age.
Spring is in the air at ALMA! To celebrate, the ALMA Garden Group has made two plantings of vegetables and flowers, and a third planting is scheduled in a few weeks. Beans, squash, beets, cucumbers, sunflowers and tomato plants donated from Dennis Leon's garden have already come up. This week we added more beans, squash, carrots and marigolds. In addition, herbs, peppers and other plants are sprouting from last year. With help from nature and ALMA employee Elias, who does the weeding and watering, ALMA's kitchen should have fresh vegetables all summer.
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If you haven't been out lately you should come and see not only the garden but also visit the facility and say hello to our residents. They appreciate your attention. |
Brick paths that wind around a newly constructed fountain and through newly planted trees and shrubs are being constructed. These paths are wheelchair-friendly and will enable the residents to enjoy the outdoors. To provide an effective ecological watering system for the new trees, shrubs and vegetables, two new water collection systems are in place, one for rain and one for gray water.
Bins to create compost are in place and in use. The composting system is fueled by the fruit and vegetable scraps from the kitchen. Vegetables go from the garden to the kitchen, then scraps go into the composting bin. Eventually, mulch is returned back to the garden as fertilizer.
Don't forget the popular, expanded Bodega sale, the last Saturday of the month. Also, the Bodega volunteers are planning to repeat their fashion show, "ALMA Jumps into Spring," in April. The show will feature clothes and art from the Bodega, and cocktails will be served.
Please consider being a volunteer. Contact María Williams at 152-0664 for information on ALMA or Rosalie Grower at 154-0186 to help with the Bodega or for pickup of your items for the Bodega sales.
A US tax deduction can be obtained for checks issued to San Miguel Education Foundation (SMEF) by writing "ALMA" on the memo line and sending the check to Box 981 in San Miguel. For the computer literate, payment can be made to SMEF via our website www.almasma.org. We also welcome regular donations through Lloyds and Banorte. Call Joan Duke at 152-7537 for ways to donate or help ALMA.
Show your spirit for ALMA
ALMA (Spanish for "soul") provides a home for seniors (both Mexican and non-Mexican) regardless of their ability to pay. ALMA presently gives loving care, clothing and meals to over 30 people, most of whom are poor Mexicans, although there are several American residents whose monthly payment for a private room helps subsidize care for the other residents. ALMA provides a wonderful service to the community and depends almost entirely on donations.
Each month volunteers hold a sale of donated goods at the ALMA bodega in La Lejona. Typically, the proceeds of a sale cover the utilities for a month, so a little bit more can be spent on comfort and care for the residents. It's nice to know that attending the sale and buying an item or two makes a difference.
At the sale you will find an eclectic mix of clothing, shoes, household and electrical items, books, posters and LPs-all at great prices! Free tours of the facility with an English-speaking guide are offered during the bodega sale hours.
If you have not previously visited ALMA, it is worth going out just to see the facilities, and the residents always appreciate seeing a new face, even if it's only to say "Buenos días."
During sale hours, the ALMA van (a two-tone metallic blue/silver Chevy) provides shuttle service, departing approximately every half hour, from opposite Espino's grocery (near the "Y" formed by Ancha San Antonio and calles Zacateros and Codo).
If you have saleable items to donate, please call Rosalie Gower at 154-0186.
ALMA bodega sale, Saturday, March 25, 10am-1pm
ALMA, Jacarandas 148, Col. La Lejona
Help the Red Cross help you
By Robert and Joan Duke and Dr. Roberto Maxwell
| The Red Cross has been responding to medical emergencies and serving San Miguel de Allende and other communities in Mexico for 26 years. The organization's expenses are 90,000 to 95,000 pesos per month, which is used to fund the following: | |
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-Provide emergency care for all urban and rural medical emergencies;
-Provide urban and water rescues;
-Stand by to serve in case of natural disasters, such as hurricanes and floods;
-Stand by at popular sporting events;
-Collect food for the needy (last year the Red Cross collected tons of food that was sent to Veracruz and Chiapas); and
-Provide transportation for patients to Querétaro, Celaya, the Mexico City airport and even to the US border (all of these with a fee).
Last year the Red Cross's budget was 1,137,585.40 pesos. The expenditures included:
-Payroll for 11 paramedics and 1 administrator, 28%
-Gasoline, 19%
-Ambulance maintenance, 11%
-Building maintenance, 12%
-Equipment, 10%
-Other, 20%
The Red Cross receives income from the following sources:
-Presidencia, 41% (31,500 pesos per month)
-Special patient trips outside San Miguel, 20%
-Last year's collected donations, 11%
-Donors who give 500 pesos per month, 9%
-Other, 19%
We all know San Miguel is growing, and to keep pace with this growth and the developing needs of our community, the Red Cross has several goals for improving its service, including faster response times, hiring bilingual personnel, acquiring better equipment and improving the on-site housing conditions of the paramedics (e.g., improved bathroom and sleeping facilities).
Among other things, the Red Cross needs to have more staff and ongoing training for all personnel, the ability to adhere to the replacement schedule for old equipment and ambulances and internet service at their base of operations.
The Colectiva Anual, the Red Cross's annual donations campaign, begins in March. In 2004 it raised 34,000 pesos and, in 2005, 130,000 pesos. Their goal for 2006 is 250,000 pesos, and they need your financial help so the San Miguel Red Cross can continue to serve the residents of our city. Donations would be greatly appreciated and are tax-deductible in Mexico and the United States.
Personal donations can be made to any of the following individuals: Jaime Fenton at Villa Jacaranda, 152-4016; Dr. Roberto Maxwell, 044-415-100-3592; Rocío Melendez, Red Cross administrator, 152-4121 (10am-2pm weekdays); Barbara Lichter, Red Cross volunteer, 152-2303.
Piano concert to remember Galloway
By Nonie Mulcaster
Music in the Country with Friends was the brainchild of Margaret Galloway, who was involved with this annual event even during the years she devoted her time to ALMA, the home for the aged. As a tribute to Margaret, pianist Nigel Cox will play music by Mozart, Schubert and Bartok in the garden and patio of Nonie Mulcaster, fifteen minutes outside of San Miguel de Allende.
Nigel Cox is a pianist of international fame who won the hearts of sanmiguelenses with two concerts at St. Paul's Episcopal Church sponsored by Pro Musica. Packed houses for each concert gave thunderous applause for brilliant performances.
Nigel was a friend and admirer of Margaret Galloway and feels pleased to offer this intimate concert to remember Margaret and to aid ALMA through donations. In the past people have enjoyed the beautiful garden setting while listening to fine music.
Colonia El Mirador can be reached through the entrance to Los Frailes. Come and bring your friends; this will be a concert to remember!
Memorial concert for Margaret Galloway by Nigel Cox
Sunday, March 26, 3:30pm
Pedro Páramo 34, Colonia El Mirador
San Miguel Passover celebration
By Estelle Irwin
The following is adapted from N. Autrubel's "History of the Jewish People."
The most beloved of all the Jewish festivals is Pesach, or Passover. It celebrates and symbolizes freedom, the value most cherished by Jews for more than 3,000 years. Jewish families on Pesach night have always gathered together to recall their most unforgettable historic experience, their bondage in Egypt and their liberation.
Pesach, the Festival of Liberation as we know it today, achieved its social and spiritual significance only after the Temple lay in ruins and the Jewish people were scattered far and wide. The bringing of a sacrificial lamb or goat into a central sanctuary was no longer possible. Therefore, the celebration became a festival of reunion for all the members of the family.
The Seder
As a substitute for the Passover sacrifices and rites in the Temple, the latter-day Sages of the Talmud, who flourished during the first centuries after the Destruction, established the institution of the Seder. This was the religious service for the home. Since that time the Seder has served as the "heart" of the festival celebration for Jews in every part of the world, including San Miguel de Allende.
The Seder service
Passover begins on the eve of the 14th day of Nissan (March-April) and lasts eight days (the eighth day was added during the Middle Ages). But Jews of modern Reform congregations observe only seven days. The advent of the festival is marked by elaborate preparation. This was particularly true in the days when Jewish life in the ghettos was intensely religious and the community was highly integrated and single-minded. Special cooking utensils, special dishes and silver are used for the entire period and at no other time throughout the year. There are special wine bottles, matzo covers and a special Kiddush goblet, or benediction cup, for the head of the household. The festival table, too, is arranged in a way reserved for the Seder service and feast.
Around the narrator-usually the head of the household-the rest of the family is gathered at the festive table. Originating in Greco-Roman times, and in imitation of the way they then banqueted, the custom is for the head of the house to recline on cushions placed at his left side. This is meant as a sign of ease and of his free status. Wine cups or glasses are filled for everyone. There is a special cup for Elijah in the center of the table. It is reserved for him as a memorial to the Jewish expectation of the coming of the Messiah, of which the Prophet is said to be the forerunner.
The service continues in a serious vein as the reader of the service lifts the matzo from the table and to an ancient musical theme intones from the Haggadah: "Lo, this is the bread of affliction which our forefathers ate in the land of Egypt! Let all who are hungry enter and eat of it, and all who are needy let them come and celebrate the Passover!"
And so, in this gentle spirit, the father goes on to narrate to his children in melancholy but exalted cadence the story of the Bondage in Egypt and the Liberation that followed. Psalms of joy and praise are intoned. The family service finally ends on a note of gaiety. Grown-ups and children together blend their voices in the singing of medieval Hebrew nursery rhymes. This is because Pesach is basically a festival for children, designed to help them to know and cherish their people's tradition of equality and freedom.
Reservations for the Passover celebration are a must and can be made by calling Estelle Irwin at 152-1486 or Dorothy Jacobs at 152-0927.
Passover celebration, Wednesday, April 12, 6pm
Posada de la Aldea, Ancha de San Antonio 15
US$25/250 pesos
Reservations required
Fundraising dinner to complete the park in Colonia Olimpo
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Food, open bar, live music Saturday, April 1, 3pm Reservations: 152-4310 or 044-415-109-2700; tomafrazee@yahoo.com 500 pesos |