University students give back to CASA
By Mary Murrell July 11, 2008 San Miguel de Allende

Six students from the University of North Carolina (UNC) selected CASA to study for four weeks during June. Now they are completing a documentary video about this internationally recognized nonprofit organization.

Team members selected CASA based on its successes in addressing critical social problems. They were especially interested to learn about CASA’s unique model for empowering women and promoting significant social change.

The students studied CASA’s award-winning educational and health services programs—a peer counselor program for birth control, an accredited school of midwifery, a family health facility and maternity hospital, family violence prevention program, child development center, radio educational programs, a library and a computer center. They met with staff and visited some of the 61 ranchos and 81 schools where peer counselors provide services. They also visited three clinics in other parts of Mexico set up by graduates of the CASA School of Midwifery.

The UNC students arrived in Mexico with a desire to learn about and understand the problems faced by women in rural areas and the model CASA has built to provide help. After four weeks of learning from and documenting the work and impact of CASA, the team has returned to the US where they will use their documentary film, photography, art exhibitions, and newspaper and magazine articles to inspire others to support the work of CASA.

The Clinton Global Initiative (www.ClintonGlobalInitiative.org), a nonpartisan effort to inspire change and deliver significant results around the world, recommended CASA as an outstanding organization in Mexico for the students to study.

During an interview with two UNC students, Briana and Caitlyn Greene, I asked what had surprised them about CASA. Duggan responded, “The scope of what CASA does was something I was just amazed to see. It has made me so conscious of how interconnected problems are and that we can’t just do one thing to help. We have to truly understand the different contributing factors and target the ones with the biggest impacts. For example, health services are not available in villages, and women have children unattended and with little prenatal care. So they need care before, during and after the birth of a child.”

Greene echoed similar views. “One of the best experiences for me was visiting birthing clinics in San Luis de la Paz, Guerrero and Veracruz set up by CASA graduates. In Tlamacazapa, a community in Guerrero, the midwife has much more to deal with than easy births. The community’s water is contaminated with arsenic and lead from paint they use to decorate palm baskets. The water problems have made it hard to get adequate medical staff to the community, and the midwife often serves as the sole healthcare provider while also dealing with health issues caused by the poor water quality.”

When asked what they are going to tell others about their experiences, both mentioned the “teaching others to teach” philosophy of CASA. Greene described her perspective as, “Now I know how important it is to build a strong and stable community in the ranchos, to educate people so they have more control over their lives, to make things better now and for coming generations. And I was so impressed with the way CASA trains young people from the ranchos to teach others effectively and to go back to their communities. The people in the villages are excited when the peer counselors arrive to have meetings about health, nutrition, ecology and family planning. You can see how much the peer counselors love their jobs and how strong a connection they have with each other. They go to work with smiles on their faces.”

They also contrasted the situations of the CASA peer counselors with their own lives. Many of the peer counselors come to work at CASA in their early teens. By the time they are the age of Duggan and Greene, some of the staff may have been working for CASA for five or six years. To assume more responsibility, they are required to complete their schooling with scholarships from CASA, what people call “the double impact.”

Duggan describes the realities for students who come to San Miguel to study midwifery, “one of the students from the midwifery school had not seen her family in months and wanted to come with us on our trip to the birth clinic in Guerrero. It was close enough to her home so we could stop by the community where her family lives. Her parents could not be reached by phone so she couldn’t let them know she was coming. But she wanted to try and after a 12-hour drive, we arrived. Her sisters were there but not her parents. She was so happy to be with her sisters. I kept thinking about how easy it is for me to talk to my mom and dad whenever I want to.”

The team posted photos, videos and daily logs to a website where you can see more details about their experiences, www.seechangenow.org/2008/Mexico. The students have also committed to raise funds so CASA can purchase dopplers for midwifery students. A doppler is a hand-held device with built-in loudspeakers to transmit clear, amplified fetal heart sounds to enable midwives in remote communities to assess the health of the fetus. The team goal is to raise US$5,500, which will provide 10 dopplers.

The students are part of Students of the World (SOW), a student-led nonprofit dedicated to raising public awareness and activism on social issues. SOW began in the nineties at Duke University and now has chapters at Brown, Columbia, Michigan, UNC and UT Austin. University teams select organizations with proven effective models for change to study and promote. In 2008, SOW is working in Mexico, Bolivia, Brazil, India, Kenya and Paraguay.

The Mexico team from UNC raised all the money needed for their trip through grant writing and personal appeals for contributions.

As I sat across the table from these two young women, I kept thinking of all the things they might have chosen to do with their free time this summer. But they were working in San Miguel, telling me how impressed they are with the peer counselors, about their 20-hour trips to visit clinics in remote villages and about the strong attachment between midwives and their patients.

They are in the US now, creating the documentary and thinking about what they learned in San Miguel. They continue to be concerned for the women and children of the ranchos; just today I received an email from them. They are following up possible ways to provide clean water for the village in Guerrero with the help of the CASA midwife who runs the clinic there.

CASA could use your support

CASA provides scholarships to students in the School of Midwifery, to peer counselors to finish their educations and to preschool children in the Child Development Center.

If you would like to help young children, young adults or future midwives attend school, please donate to the CASA scholarship fund. For more information, call Mary Murrell at 154-8970 or visit www.casa.org.mx.

Mary Murrell, Ph.D., is a CASA volunteer working on evaluating research and fundraising. She is pleased to work with Students of the World, which started at Duke University where she received her undergraduate degree.

Patronato Pro Niños plans new Children’s Health Center
By Ann Mauze

It’s a well-known secret that for years Patronato Pro Niños has needed additional space for its health and dental services as well as administrative functions. The Patronato has recently unveiled plans for a new Children’s Health Center to be erected on land in Fracc. Ignacio Ramirez donated by the local government for this purpose.

 It is close to the new General Hospital, near the Tuesday Market and close to local bus lines and other municipal services so that the families do not have to travel into town for other services they need. Its location will be perfect.

Patronato Pro Niños President Isobella Couperthwaite Kreizel announced, “When our new Children’s Health Center is complete, needy children from birth up to 18 years of age will be treated for both medical and dental needs in a far more efficient way than we can do now.”

The Children’s Health Center facility will offer complete medical and dental clinics. Dr. Juan Jose Ramos, our staff pediatrician, will have a state-of-the-art medical facility to treat many of the minor illnesses that are presented to him daily on site. The Mobile Dental Clinic at present functions year-round in one village a time, and this will continue, but there will be a Dental Clinic in the Children’s Health Center with a full-time staff dentist, so children will be treated there as well. This has the potential for doubling the number of children treated in a year. Much of the equipment, building materials, furniture and fittings have already been offered as donations by companies locally and from all around Mexico.

On the ground floor we will have a comfortable and secure waiting area, interview rooms that will offer the family some privacy, the medical and dental clinics, the much-needed space for administration offices, and medical and general storage.

On the upper floor we are proud to offer free ‘limited stay’ family accommodations for patients and their families who are unable to return to their faraway villages at night while undergoing treatments, or for those patients needing further appointments the following day. There will be six bedrooms that can accommodate three people each, along with bathrooms, a kitchen and dining area where they can prepare their meals, and a family sitting area complete with a children’s play corner.

In addition to the building, outdoor spaces will be dedicated to secure parking for the Mobile Dental Clinic and Medical Van, a garden and a safe outdoor children’s play area.

The organization, through its project leader Floyd Edwards, has been working hand-in-hand with the Federal, State of Guanajuato, and Municipal Governments to secure the necessary grants and approvals for not only the property, but also to begin construction this summer. Patronato Pro Niños board members Linda Simon and Eric Cházaro are serving as consultants on the project. Oversight is provided by architects Luis Alberto Hernandez and Luis Enrique Rodriguez.

All of these partnerships have given Patronato Pro Niños the leverage it needs to launch a major building campaign targeted at businesses, foundations, and individual donors. For tax purposes, donors can elect to give either to Patronato Pro Niños, AC, in Mexico, or to For the Children International, the organization’s 501(c) 3 funding arm in the US.

Supporting friends of Patronato Pro Niños can underwrite a selected space within the facility such as a clinic, an office, a bedroom, a kitchen, the children’s play area or the parking area. Donors may also name equipment for the Medical or Dental Clinics, administration offices, children’s play area, garden or waiting areas. A complete list of donation opportunities are available. If you would like to receive information on the Patronato Pro Niños Building Campaign please call PPN’s Development office at 152-7796 and ask for either Floyd Edwards, project leader or Isobella Couperthwaite Kreizel, president. They will be happy to discuss this with you.

The Sounds of the Supremes is coming

Sounds of the Supremes™
Thu, July 17, 8pm
El Alamo
Salida a Celaya, across from the entrance to Los Frailes
US$200/150/75
(415) 152-7796

On Thursday, July 17, Patronato Pro Niños are holding their annual fundraising gala—an entertainment-packed evening aimed at raising funds for its annual operating expenses. This year’s event features the “Sounds of the Supremes™.”

There are three categories of tickets: Platinum, at US$200 per person which includes reserved seating at a table for 10, and Gold, at US$150 per person for non-reserved seating. Both of these categories include cocktails, dinner, super mini-auction, concert and dancing. Admission is at 6pm. The third category, Silver, is US$75 per person with open seating at tables for four and a bottle and set-ups of the table’s choice. Entrance is at 8pm. The performance begins at 8:30pm.

For reservations, contact Lily at (415) 152-7796, or by email info@patronatoproninos.org. Tickets will also be sold in the Jardín, 10am–2pm, Monday–Friday, until July 11. American Express, MasterCard and Visa will be accepted online, over the phone and in the Jardín.

Advance sales only. No tickets will be sold at the door.

Centro de Crecimiento needs your help
By Anahi Sardaneta González

Centro de Crecimiento provides assistance to children with special abilities.

Through stimulation therapy and courses in primary and secondary education, the educational level and physical abilities are improved and contribute to a comprehensive recovery. Teachers, therapists and volunteers, who lovingly attend to the children, are integrated into this family, providing the security and confidence needed for proper growth.

Every month, the center serves about 175 children from poor families, both of San Miguel and surrounding communities. Children attending the center face problems such as cerebral palsy, autism and Down syndrome. Because many of these children show signs of serious malnutrition, the center has implemented a daily meal program, which in many cases has helped with the recovery process.

Additionally, specialized programs such as early learning, special education, physical therapy, equine therapy, and hydrotherapy are offered in order to enhance the children’s physical and intellectual progress. As part of an overall care process, family members are instructed to carry out rehabilitation exercises at home to supplement the efforts of the center and to reinforce the therapy at all times. 

The center may start the rehabilitation process with children ranging from as young as two months old, up to 18 years, during which time children have the opportunity to greatly improve their quality of life and prepare for a productive integration into society. To better achieve this, the center offers a job-training program where students can participate in various activities such as computers, craft workshop, jewelry and art, allowing them to learn a marketable trade that is paid, and at the same time learn valuable lessons in adulthood and independent living.

In 1977, Maria de la Luz Martinez Maxwell, affectionately known as Lucha Maxwell, graduated with a degree in physical therapy and founded the center with one student, a blind girl, who is now secretary of the association for the blind from Mexico City. Over these 30 years, Maxwell has witnessed important progress in the thousands of children who have come to the center. The task has not been easy, because of the severe economic problems that the institution has faced.

Actually, teachers, therapists and volunteers are continuing with the conviction that every day more people will join this cause in order to accommodate more children and incorporate new programs. 

With that motivation, the center will launch a new program for the 2008–2009 school year which provides early sensory stimulation to assist with the integration of blind children from three to six years old into the preschool system.

Bringing this dream to a reality will not be easy; the center needs your support, both financially and as a volunteer.

As a society, we have the opportunity to assist the center, whose members work so diligently to continue to seek new alternatives for these little ones who need us so much.

Three donation options are: 

1. Sponsor a child. This consists of the monthly contribution of 250 pesos and allows the sponsor the opportunity to maintain a close relationship with the selected child and be informed of his or her progress.

2. A one-time donation. 

3. Annual donation. This is the most convenient option for companies and associations. 

Donations are 100-percent tax deductible in the US and Mexico.


Centro de Crecimiento, A.C. 
Tel. 01 (415) 152-0318 
Zamora Ríos 6
colonia Allende 
www.centrodecrecimiento.org 

Save soles, lose your hand
By Nelda Falknor

Texas Hold ‘em, San Miguel Style
Sat, July 12, 7:30pm
Benefit for Texas Podiatric Medical Foundation/CASA
Instituto Allende
Ancha de San Antonio 20
US$10 donation at door

In the US, podiatrists treat foot and ankle problems. With the formation of a medical mission by the Texas Podiatric Medical Foundation (TPMF), the underserved in remote international areas also are able to receive needed foot care—and there is one in San Miguel.

In 2002, the TPMF began a mission at the Mexico border and Reynosa with monthly trips to treat children with foot deformities. Over 500 children received treatment and clubfoot correction, as well as shoes from an annual Christmas drive. In 2006, the clinic in Reynosa was torn down and the foundation took on a new mission in San Miguel, which previously had been served by individual American podiatrists.

In August of 2006, the foundation was able to raise funds and get enough volunteers for the first trip to San Miguel and the CASA hospital. The San Miguel mission has completed seven trips and is committed to trips three times a year (February, July and November).

Over US$100,000 in services, supplies and treatment has been provided. Each trip lasts one week and relies completely on donations and volunteers for staff and equipment. In San Miguel, an average of 60 people are seen each trip and 20 surgeries performed, pending availability of anesthesia and equipment.

To date, many underserved adults and children have been able to get treatment. One 50-year-old San Miguel woman had been unable to wear regular shoes her entire life and suffered pain from walking. With corrective surgery last summer, she was able to wear normal shoes and had no more pain. Many simple treatments can prevent pain and correct deformities for those in need. Other treatments have included removal of extra toes, clubfoot correction, bunion removal and wound care.

The San Miguel mission would not be successful without help from CASA, Dr. Carlos Gurrola and his staff, local churches, clinics and the community who help spread the word throughout the countryside to get adults and children to come to the CASA clinic. CASA also uses their outreach peer counselor team and midwives to promote the mission clinic.

TPMF is a 501c(3) nonprofit US organization focused on mission projects and postgraduate education and research. Donations may be tax-deductible for US citizens. The foundation is made up 600 members who are dedicated podiatric physicians, students and volunteers. The success of the mission has come from hard work, financial contributions and local support.

TPMF hosts an educational event at the Instituto Allende and the public is welcome to share an evening of fun and meet the Texas team, the people who have been helped, CASA staff and volunteers. The event includes food, drinks, music and entertainment, as well as prizes. We need your help to spread the word about the Texas mission and CASA’s efforts.

Our goal is to raise at least US$1,000, which will be matched by a generous sponsor. All proceeds will be used for the mission, CASA and the purchase of supplies such as anesthesia, equipment and sterilizers. Information is available at La Conexión.

Luncheon for Mujeres en Cambio to feature celebrated local chef
By Joan Strouse

Mujeres en Cambio Luncheon
Thu, July 24, 2pm
Hacienda de las Flores
Hospicio 16
120 pesos

Please join with other friends of Mujeres en Cambio for lunch on Thursday, July 24 at Hacienda de las Flores. All proceeds from the lunch go to provide educational scholarships to 160 young Mexican women from rural communities surrounding San Miguel.

Donnie Masterton, chef/owner of The Restaurant, the restaurant that people in San Miguel are so excited about, will be our guest chef. Donnie is preparing pan-seared chicken with garlic and sun-dried tomatoes for us. Accompanying the meal is a wide assortment of salads, side dishes, and desserts all prepared by Mujeres en Cambio core group members.

Entry to the July luncheon is by pre-paid ticket only and tickets are available for 120 pesos each at Casa de Papel, Mesones 57A. For further information, contact Joan at 152-2820—sorry, no phone reservations can be taken.

Pathways to excellence for nonprofits 

Conference
First Annual Nonprofit Conference
Thu–Fri, July 31–Aug 1
Biblioteca Pública
Insurgentes 25

The San Miguel Community Project, in conjunction with the Biblioteca Pública, is hosting its First Annual Nonprofit Conference. What makes San Miguel unique is the dedication and drive of our nonprofit service sector—from the board chair to the event volunteer—and this year’s conference celebrates and enhances our greatest asset: our organizations.

Join us to learn something new, meet someone new and find inspiration at the largest annual gathering of San Miguel nonprofits, foundation and corporate professionals, board members, consultants and volunteers. Organizations will be given discounted registration fees for team participation.

Highlights

Dr. Sharon Parsons, a professor at Southern University and A&M College in Baton Rouge, LA, is our keynote speaker and will offer several practical working sessions.

Rev. Dr. Thomas D. Lynch, Professor Emeritus at Louisiana State University, will offer practical hands-on sessions on financial management, strategic planning and budgeting.

Rev. Dr. Cynthia E. Lynch will offer sessions on grant writing and nonprofit management.

Mary Hubbard, IT consultant, Wellington, FL, adds a new information technology track to cover integrated spreadsheets and newsletter development.

Watch for more announcements this month. For more information, call Cynthia E. Lynch at 154-5254, Vonage (956) 467-5292, or email her at clynch@UTPA.edu.

In Memoriam, Ann Levine
By Elizabeth Starcevic

Former San Miguel resident Ann (“Annie”) Levine died of Alzheimer’s disease in Durango, Colorado on Monday, June 2, 2008. She was 90.

A memorial get-together took place on June 5 and her partner David, her son Billy, her daughter Toni, and her grandson Eulan were joined by many friends. They shared memories of her life and heard eulogies sent by distant friends and family. Ann’s cremation took place in Durango.

Known to her earlier friends and family as “Ann” and to her more recent friends as “Annie,” she was born to Rose Hoffman in New York City in 1918. Her father died in the flu epidemic just before she was born.

She was raised in New York City, living with her mother in the homes of the people for whom her mother was housekeeper. She married Max Stern in 1938. During her marriage to Max she worked as a secretary, bookkeeper and office manager. Ann and Max were passionate about the struggle for social justice. They were active in politics in support of the labor movement, racial integration and social welfare. They raised two children, Toni and William (”Billy”), with the help of Ann’s mother, “Hoffy,” who lived with her daughter her entire life. Max, a creative commercial artist and a teacher of art teachers, designed and sewed unusual clothes for Ann, who wore them with style. He died of the flu after a short illness at the age of 45.

Ann married Fred Levine several years after Max’s death. They lived and worked in New York City, Ann as an office manager in a television advertising company and Fred as a diamond dealer. They played much tennis and bridge, saved money and then, when Ann was 48, Ann, Fred and Hoffy retired to San Miguel de Allende where Ann and Fred played even more tennis and bridge. Ann took Spanish classes, studied hard, and became fluent. Her American friends in Mexico depended on her to help them take care of their legal and financial matters because her Spanish was so good. She and her many friends: Mascha Beyo, Luisa Velte, Linda Keogh, Pat Gehlert, Carmen Masip, Jo Edelman, Kay Franger, Sylvia Samuelson, Helen Stern, Norman Stern, Missy Harrison, Alice Stark and Leonard Brooks, to mention only a few, played hard and partied hard. Ann also volunteered as an English teacher for local adults, learned to weave on a large Mexican floor loom, and got even better than she already was at playing bridge and scrabble. She also 
got her Mexican immigrant status, giving her the right to work. Her marriage to Fred ended in divorce in 1974.

In 1977 she got a job as the registrar at the Academia Hispano Americana, a school in San Miguel de Allende where people come to from all over the world to study Spanish. For over 10 years she helped the director Gary de Mirjyn keep the place running smoothly and was a vivacious presence in the school’s office.

It was there at the Academia, in 1988, that she met incoming student David McCrillis and her life took a new direction. Ann was very much a city girl but she could learn just about anything. David shared his passion for the outdoors with her. So over the next 20 years David taught his girlfriend “Annie” to hike, cross-country ski, paddle a kayak, and travel and cook in a little camper.

In the early 1990s Annie and David moved to Colorado to enjoy its mountains, its fishing, the pleasures and tasks of country living and the friendly and helpful people. For the next 14 years they lived in a log house near the Pine River outside of Bayfield. For the first few years they divided their time between summers in the log house and winters in Annie’s house in Mexico. Later they lived in the log house year round. They took so many wonderful trips in their camper.

Annie always loved being with people. They were attracted to her for her spirit of adventure, her openness to new experiences and her boundless and positive energy. Her disarming openness and her disregard for social convention showed them that you could make many of your own rules and do just fine. Her San Miguel friends will miss her very much.

Memorial contributions may be made to Women’s Resource Center of Durango, P.O. Box 2132, Durango, CO 81302.

Drinking from Presa Allende in 2028
By Carol Wheeler

Audubon Lecture
The Green Fund
Don Patterson
Tue, July 15, 3pm
Teatro Santa Ana
Biblioteca Pública
Insurgentes 25
50 pesos, Audubon members free


The Audubon Society is hosting an informative presentation by Don Patterson, Director of Ecology & the Environment for San Miguel, who would like to share with us his long-term ecology and water strategies and the advances in his projects. He addresses the city’s water problems and what is being done to solve them, and presents an overview of the Green Fund: its history, legal aspects and how we apply the funds to projects in San Miguel’s environment.

The city has some funding for this work from the state and the federal government and Mayor Correa has also created a Green Fund, which includes contributions from real estate developers in the community. All fines and fees, including your automobile emissions fee, go into the Green Fund.

Some of the complex issues he deals with “require immediate action,” he says. Others are more long-range but are equally crucial and must be dealt with soon. For example, Patterson says, our aquifer is predicted to have trouble supplying water to the community within 20 years. When the aquifer (a limited supply of 25,000-year-old water) is no longer viable, then San Miguel will have to rely on surface water and “if we’re going to be drinking lake water, we need to clean it up.”

Patterson told us that the city government has a diagnostic analysis of the watershed in Los Picachos (an important part of San Miguel’s watershed). They have been working on analyses and plans for other areas. “We have to rehabilitate the watershed so that we will have the purest water possible,” he says.

One way of thinking about Patterson’s focus is what he terms

“bio-hydraulic corridors,” a phrase that he uses to include surface and groundwater systems as well as their flora and fauna. He also is working on “rainwater harvesting” with Ecosystem Science Foundation in the communities with the worst contamination. These manmade systems collect, filter, store and distribute rainwater. “For every liter we harvest from rain,” he says, “one less liter is taken from the aquifer.” Rainwater also has no arsenic or fluoride to contaminate children’s diets and rot their teeth. The city has been looking into filters that can remove contaminants from water.

Two years ago, San Miguel signed an agreement with the United Nations to become one of 100 green cities. “We’re starting from scratch here,” Patterson said. “San Miguel is only one percent green—the international norm is nine percent.” But they’re working on it; a master plan for a green corridor including Parque Landeta is coming up soon.

Audubon plans to help Patterson and San Miguel to achieve the environmental and water goals that are so essential for the town’s future. Obviously our goals of improved education and habitat restoration coincide with those of the municipality.

Audubon members enjoy free admission. Membership is available at the door for 300 pesos.

Carol Wheeler is a board member of Audubon México.

The importance of rainwater harvesting
By Terresa Beck

Meeting
Rainwater harvesting
Thu, July 17, 2:30pm
Café Etc.
Reloj 38

Water is a precious natural resource that most of us take for granted, but we are now becoming aware of its importance as the supply depletes. As we watch our water meters spin away our pesos, we become more conscious of the need to conserve. Conservation of this natural commodity is especially precious here in the high, arid town of San Miguel.

This region used to be an oak forest before the Spaniards cut the trees down. It’s evident that trees create micro-climates that call rain clouds and capture condensation. If you visit the hills of Tres Cruces, you can see the foliage that once was all over our hillsides, green and lush.

You can make a difference daily. As Margaret Mead said, “Do not believe a small group of committed people can make no difference, for it is the only thing that ever has.”

Rainwater harvesting collects water from surfaces such as building roofs and stores it for later use in rainwater tanks. The water you collect and direct is a start in your action to walk lighter on our Earth.

My beekeeper Granny had a rain barrel that collected the water to wash our hair and water her house plants. Both our hair and her plants shined.

Those of us living in the permaculture neighborhood outside of town use rainwater harvesting exclusively for our household water supply. Our freshwater comes from the rains so we are happy and excited to see the heavy, dark clouds roll in.

Water collection is as important to us as it is to those who dwell in the city. Our water table has fallen 50 meters in the last few years alone. No matter if you are living in a studio apartment or a hacienda, you can do your part to conserve water. Put a small bucket under the showerhead as you wait for the correct temperature and you have water for your plants or to wash the floor.

Join other concerned citizens July 17, and find out ways to collect, save and store rainwater wherever you live.

Terresa Beck is a graduate of the Rocky Mountain Institute in Colorado's Environmental Ecology and holds a bachelors in Human Resources, Body Ecology from the New School University in northern California. She's a 25-year resident of San Miguel now living off the grid in a permaculture neighborhood outside of the city limits.


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