IREE needs help to remain open
By Gabriela Blanco June 6, 2008 San Miguel de Allende

The Instituto de Rehabilitación y Enseñanza Especial (IREE, Institute for Rehabilitation and Special Education), which serves children and young people with hearing problems, is in danger of closing its doors.

In addition to primary and secondary school classes taught in accordance with guidelines of the Ministry of Public Education, for which diplomas are granted, the school offers special instruction for the deaf. The students are also taught to become integral parts of their communities.

The only school of its kind in the area, IREE is facing a dire economic situation. The school’s monthly operating expenses are nearly 35,000 pesos, which includes rent, utilities, salaries, books and supplies.

Although IREE receives financial support of around US$5000 per year, that amount barely covers the annual building rent.

Located at Pila Seca 41, IREE was founded by Cecilia Escobar. It currently has 40 students ranging in age from 4 to 22 who come from a wide variety of rural and urban communities such as Guanajuatillo, Cerritos, Rancho San Rafael, Dolores Hidalgo and Querétaro. Many students lack the means to attend school every day or to pay tuition and as a result they attend an average of three days a week. Generally, parents pay a monthly fee of between 40 and 80 pesos, depending on their resources.

The IREE staff is composed of a speech therapist, three teachers and an assistant director. Miriam Guttierez, the special education teacher, has worked at IREE since 1998.

 About her work she said, “It is very satisfying to work with these students, all of whom have different abilities, and it would be very sad to close the school. We teachers could find jobs elsewhere, but what are the students going to do?” The mother of one student added, “My daughter has made great progress at IREE this past year, and without IREE there is simply nowhere else that she and others like her could go.”

Rotary Club Conference highlights
By Atención staff

From May 22 to 24 San Miguel de Allende’s XVII Rotary Club Conference was held at the Hotel Real de Minas. Around 750 Rotarians from Nayarit, Jalisco, Colima and Sinaloa also attended the event with the goal of increasing ties and highlighting activities of and possibilities for the Rotary Club in Mexico.

During the event Mayor Jesus Correa welcomed the Rotarians, recognizing the contributions of this service group to San Miguel and its cooperation with other civic organizations. Correa also reminded the audience of the support that the Midday Rotary Club gives to the General Hospital, schools, kindergartens and many other institutions in San Miguel. Correa said that San Miguel de Allende is grateful and that the Rotarians are good people with great heart.

The Rotary Club International, led by District 4150 director Jorge Patino Chavarin, applauded Mayor Correa’s support for this regional meeting. The president of the organizing committee, Luis Manuel Martin del Campo, thanked all the Rotarians as well as state and municipal authorities. In addition, the Rotary Club paid tribute to Fernando Silva, who has been active in Rotary for several decades. Featured speakers at the meeting included Senator Luis Alberto Villarreal and Ignacio Calderón, goalie for the former Guadalajara soccer team.

Casa Hogar seeks funds for life skills program
By Robin Loving Rowland

What if you had never learned how to form a friendship with a member of the opposite sex? What if you had never learned how to drive, apply to go to school, get an apartment, or get a bank account? What if you had never learned about reproductive health?

We all know that people who don’t learn these things formally often make youthful decisions that can dramatically and negatively lessen their potential for success in life. That’s why the nuns in charge of the girls at Casa Hogar Santa Julia Don Bosco, a home for girls from dire family circumstances, want to pilot a life skills transition program to teach the kids things that the nuns cannot teach them.

“The nature of our work means that we have limited experience in all of these areas,” said Madre Maria de Jesús Ortiz Balderas, director and mother superior at Santa Julia. “We want all of our children to succeed when they leave this home and begin an independent life, and we know that they will need these skills,” she continued.

Toward that end, she has worked with a Mexican psychologist to develop a life skills program, called Cre-SER! Crecer is a Spanish verb meaning “to grow.” Ser is one of the verbs meaning “to be.” Cre-SER!, then, implies growing up.

Cre-SER! has been designed to match each of the 15 adolescents at Santa Julia with a Spanish-speaking mentor who would meet with the girls and the psychologist once weekly to help impart a life skills lesson. Field trips, computer research and guest speakers are all in the plan. Now all the madres seek is funding.

To pilot this program from summer through the end of the fall school semester, US$5,000 or 50,000 pesos are needed. An anonymous donor has made a challenge grant of US$2,500, so all that is needed now is US$2,500 or 25,000 pesos more.

“One of our girls will turn 18 in September,” said Madre Chuy (to use her nickname). She will be in the ninth grade. By law, she can leave the hogar. We are hopeful that we will have the transition program in place and that she will choose to remain with us and finish school while learning how to live in the world at large,” she concluded.

US tax-deductible donations for the Cre-SER! pilot can be made to the San Miguel Community Foundation by noting Cre-SER! on the memo line of the check. If more funds are raised than are needed in the pilot, they will be applied to the ongoing program.

For more information, contact Robin Loving Rowland at 152-3709 in San Miguel, at 925-418-8003 (Vonage) or at robin@robinloving.com. 

A tribute to Claudia Ann James (July 17, 1936–May 24, 2008)
By Adela Windsor, Anya Grange and Anne Howells

Death is not extinguishing the light; it is putting out the lamp because dawn has come.

–Rabindranath Tagore

Claudia James was an easy person to underestimate, for the very traits that embodied her most exceptional gifts. She had absolutely no pretenses, no desire to impress, no need to preserve an identity. Consequently, she radiated a child-like innocence that could be mistaken for naiveté. Indeed, Anya recalls, “Claudia embodied the wonderful silliness of a child with the extraordinary wisdom of an ancient soul.

She was kind, generous and courageous with an amazing capacity for honest self-inspection beyond anyone I have ever met.”

Claudia’s innocence illustrates Clarissa Pinkola Estés’ point in Women Who Run with the Wolves, “Innocence is different than naiveté... Innocence is knowing everything, and still being attracted to the good.” Claudia had a deep spiritual commitment to seeing the good and to being accountable for one's own actions. However, her lack of pretense meant that she also owned her moods and feelings, without blaming them on another person. When she was hurt by someone’s actions, she had the courage to phone and reach for connection when other people might choose to play the wounded-righteous game.

Claudia’s storytelling group mirrored these traits of hers. She loved storytelling as a means of becoming more transparent to one’s self and to others, and aptly used her ability to gently guide participants away from constructing a protective story and instead toward revealing the shared humanity underneath. Her own words on her storytelling website say it best: “We tend to view personal stories as static memories, repositories of past pleasure, pain and everything in between. However, when shared with attentive listeners, our stories become vehicles for genuine connection and personal transformation—illuminating life experience and creating community.” Not only did she facilitate storytelling groups here in San Miguel, but also in Marin County, California and at San Quentin Prison. Anne remembers, “Claudia was a wonderful storyteller. She created a storytelling group that allowed each member to express himself or herself freely and deeply. Her integrity and respect for each of us will be remembered always.”

Adela’s fondest memory of Claudia is, well so Claudia: “We are walking down Aldama after a wonderful dinner of communing, a light breeze at dusk scattering shadows of plants across brightly painted Mexican walls, Claudia behind me in the way dictated by these narrow sidewalks, when she calls out ‘Hey, Adela!’ As I turn, there she is with arms spread out in Zorba-the-Greek fashion with a six-year-old Claudia grin, ‘Hey, Adela, this is it!’ Whenever I need to call myself back to appreciating the beautiful moment around me, I have this memory, this sheer essence of Claudianess.”


Claudia made large contributions to her new community. At her death she was actively involved with Hospice San Miguel. Her thorough research and ability to draw enthusiastic supporters helped this fledgling enterprise.

She was also a dedicated Hospice volunteer. She selflessly gave of her time with enthusiasm and energy, and will be missed by everyone associated with Hospice. Family and friends have requested that any donations in celebration of Claudia's life be made to Hospice San Miguel, calle Manuel Rocha 35, Colonia La Lejona, San Miguel de Allende, CP 37765.

Thoughts on Claudia

Claudia James was a friend. Her ready wit and off-beat humor were always a treat. Despite frequent bouts of illness, her love of life always shone through. You couldn’t help but smile when she appeared on the scene.

Yes, Claudia was a friend and she will be sorely missed by those of us who treasured her.

Jane McCarthy

Celestial Lights
By Phyllis Burton Pitluga

Why does Earth have seasons?

Why Earth has seasons—our planet is tipped from upright by 23.5 degrees and orbits the Sun once a year. On its yearly glide around the Sun, Earth’s North Pole always points to the North Star.

You may think that you know the answer, but in public surveys most people are wrong! The most common answer is that Earth is closer to the Sun in the summer. In fact, Earth is farthest from the Sun on July 4 and closest on January 4! Yet this difference in distance is mostly insignificant because it is only three million miles in an average of 91.5 million miles. Even in the Southern Hemisphere where it is summer in January, there is very little land and lots of ocean to absorb the “closer” heat.

By far the most important reason is because we live on a planet that is currently tilted 23.5 degrees toward Polaris, the North Star. As the Earth glides around the Sun over the year, the orientation of Earth remains the same in space. So, on one side of the Sun (on the left in the diagram—showing summer for the Northern Hemisphere), the North Pole is toward the Sun and the South Pole is away. A person in the middle north latitudes has the Sun nearly overhead. In the tropics here in San Miguel, the Sun is overhead for a couple of months. Six months later, Earth is still oriented the same way in space but on the other side of the Sun. In northern winters, the North Pole is away from the Sun and the South Pole is toward the Sun.

There are two experiments you can perform. A lamp can be your “sun” and an orange, or other fruit, can be your “earth.” The top stem can be the “north pole” and the bottom—you guessed it—your “south pole.” Hold the orange upright on one side of the lamp. Now tilt the “north pole” about an inch toward the “sun.” Notice a place near the ceiling that is in line beyond the “sun.” This is where your “north star” is located. Move the “earth” around toward you and over to the other side, always keeping the “north pole” in the direction of the “north star.” Do this repeatedly to see how the light falls on the “earth” in different positions.

The second experiment is with a flashlight. Shine the flashlight held at arms length above a white sheet of paper. Then move the flashlight to the side and see how the light spreads out on the paper. This is what happens with sunlight as the seasons change. When the Sun is higher the light is more concentrated and warmer.

Phyllis Burton Pitluga is Astronomer Emerita at Adler Planetarium & Astronomy Museum, Chicago. She is now a resident of San Miguel.


The Phoenix has landed!

As I submit this article for publication, the spacecraft headed far north on Mars has successfully parachuted to the ground (see Atención, May 2). Follow the news at http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/ 


Sky Calendar June 2008


By following the Moon as the biggest and brightest “pointer” in the sky, during the month you can identify different planets and bright stars. On following nights you can relocate them but without the Moon because the Moon moves about 25 times its own diameter from one night to the next. The Moon is much closer than the planets of our solar system and the stars are even farther. So, when the Moon appears close to a celestial light, they are truly separated by millions, billions or trillions of miles.

June 3, Tuesday: The New Moon is not visible because no sunlight is shining upon the side of the Moon that always faces the Earth.

June 7–9, Saturday–Monday: The Moon passes sequentially below the Beehive Star Cluster, red Mars, the white star Regulus and yellow-white Saturn—a pretty sight to scan with binoculars.

June 10, Tuesday: At sunset, the First Quarter Moon is half way across the sky from west to east and will continue orbiting eastward each evening.

June 16, Monday: The Waxing Gibbous Moon passes just below the red star Antares in the constellation of Scorpius.

June 18, Wednesday: The Full Moon rises opposite the Sun and is up all night, crossing the sky due to the rotation of the Earth.

June 20, Friday: The Summer Solstice is the time of year when the Sun shines high over the Northern Hemisphere and gives us our longest days and shortest nights. The exact moment of the solstice occurs at 5pm. The Waning Gibbous Moon passes below Jupiter.

June 26, Thursday: The Last Quarter Moon rises about 1am.