Rural women benefit from scholarships
By Roger Hind, Nov 10, 2006

Mujeres en Cambio Luncheon Thursday, November 16, 2–4 pm Patsy’s Place 200 pesos

The objective of Mujeres en Cambio is to help young, rural Mexican women gain an education and foster their self-sufficiency, self-esteem and self-respect.

Mujeres en Cambio provides scholarships to more than 120 girls from the ranchos around San Miguel. Scholarships are offered to promising young women recommended by their school principals. Continued receipt of a scholarship is dependent upon maintaining good grades. High school students receive an annual scholarship of approximately US$275.

Many of our students graduate from high school and continue on to college, technical school or university. We support these students with a larger annual scholarship of approximately US$1,000.

We recently surveyed our students so that we can provide a snapshot of the young women we are helping to educate.

More than 50 percent have seven or more family members living in a two-room house. Many share the house with 10, 11 or 12 people.

Eighty-seven percent are living in households in which only one or two people are working to support their families. Frequently, this is a mother selling tortillas as the breadwinner.

Subsistence farming is the mainstay in these rural communities. They grow corn, beans and squash for family food throughout the year. In 2005, there was virtually no corn crop from lack of rain. The villagers had to buy all their corn and beans for that year, adding an additional financial burden.

Only 16 percent of the households have indoor plumbing.

Most of the students have to commute by bus or pickup truck to attend upper levels of school. Some travel as long as 1½ hours each way.

Forty-three percent of the 91 households surveyed have family members working in the United States.

Mujeres en Cambio is entirely run by volunteers. We rely on the generosity of our supporters to raise the US$50,000 needed each year to operate our program. One of the ways we raise funds is by holding monthly events. We are delighted that this month Patsy Dubois has generously offered to open her home, “Patsy’s Place,” to us. Patsy will be providing a delicious buffet lunch in the serene and beautiful surrounds of her magnificent home.

There will be a cash bar with wine, beer and soft drinks. As an incredibly generous gesture, Patsy will be supplying your first drink free. Thereafter, there will be an open bar, with profits going to Mujeres en Cambio, thus further increasing our scholarship funds. Thank you, Patsy!

To keep our costs down, and therefore to maximize the benefits this fundraiser will provide to our students, we will be carpooling to and from Patsy’s Place. People who need a ride should be at Calle Cardo, opposite St Paul’s church, at 1:15 pm on November 16. Those offering a ride should drive past between 1:15 and 1:25pm to pick up passengers.

Please note that entry to the lunch is by advance-purchase ticket only. There are only 60 tickets, and they always sell out quickly. No tickets will be sold on the day of the event.

Tickets are 200 pesos and are on sale at Casa de Papel, Mesones 57A (the China Palace Building), RE/Max Colonial Real Estate, Portal Guadalupe 12 (diagonally across from the Parroquia) and Solutions Mail Service, Recreo 11. If you can help with the carpool, make sure you give us your details at the time you purchase your ticket. Directions to Patsy’s Place are printed on the tickets, and you may also ask for a map when you purchase your ticket.

If you require more information please visit our website, www.mujeresencambio.com, or call Roger at 154-6552 (note that no reservations can be taken). Take a sneak peak at why this trip to Patsy’s Place will be a very special experience by visiting www.patsydubois.com 

Amigos holds third blitz this year
By Jim Karger

What do you get when you combine 9 veterinarians, more than 40 volunteers and a relentless compassion for animals? You get the third successful spay/neuter blitz in the last 12 months by Amigos de Animales de San Miguel de Allende.

This time, Amigos’s surgery center was set up October 21 and 22 in Centro Social, located in Colonia La Luz. With six operating tables manned simultaneously for two days, 132 dogs and cats owned by citizens of the community were spayed or neutered. Some underwent additional life-saving surgeries as a part of what has become the well-oiled machine of Amigos de Animales that, in the last five years, has been responsible for nearly 4,900 spayings and neuterings of dogs and cats, resulting in far fewer homeless, abused and starving animals on the streets of San Miguel. 

Special thanks goes to volunteer veterinarians Deborah Laredo Irigaray, María Graciela Alcántara Cruz, Javier Pascual Jasso, Maria Susana Murgua Arguelles, Rodrigo Garibay Meijueiro, Christina Valencia Parish, Alejandra Lopez and Alma Ruth Miranda and vet student Aline Magné Barrañón. The entire team was led by Dr. Octavio Capitán Tovar.

Thanks also goes to all of the volunteers of Amigos de Animales led by Blitz Coordinator Kelly Karger, volunteer coordinator Cathy Eignus, operating room lead vet tech Angél Dittenreider, head of dog recovery Lisa Wandler, head of cat recovery Pam Knoles, head of intake Leigh Gersnoviez, head of checkout Miriam Neith, food by Karen Baird and Elisa Borrego, public relations by Lisa Wandler, and coordination with Ecología led by head of governmental affairs Arno Naumann. 

The new head of Ecología, Don Patterson, attended on Saturday, and his team from Ecología provided setup and breakdown assistance, along with San Miguel’s police department, which provided two of their canine officers to assist with the animals.

Amigos de Animales de San Miguel de Allende is a Mexican nonprofit association. To learn more, visit the website at www.amigosdeanimalessma.org  Donations are both needed and appreciated and can be left at La Conexión, Box 262, at Aldama 3. Checks can be made to Amigos de Animales for a regular receipt or through the San Miguel Educational Foundation (SMEF), which will provide a US tax-deductible receipt. If you are interested in volunteering for Amigos’ next blitz, email volunteer@amigosdeanimalessma.org.

Jim Karger is the President of Amigos de Animales de San Miguel de Allende.





THANK YOU

This issue of Atención was made possible by contributions from …

Joseph Dispenza
Nancy Dobbs
Margaret Failoni
Mauri Formigoni
Jeremy Goodwin
Vicki Gundrum
Tim Hazell
Roger Hind
Jim Karger
Stephen Keyes
B. K. Lake
Claude Lawrence
Charles Miller
Gary Mitchell
Linda Sorin


Editing & Proofreading

Darryl Clifford
Luba
José Luis Mendoza Aubert