Terry in Honduras Part 4
CIAL’s
Honduras, August 28, 2006
We learn a lot from nature if we observe and look for the lessons that apply to us. I watched a cluster of ants as they worked together. The Soldier ants successfully overcame an invading insect as it tried to take a larvae from their colony. While the soldiers expelled the body of their foe, the workers carefully maneuvered the larvae that was several times their own size back to the safety of their home in the log.
It takes various skill sets working together to achieve the success a community needs. Simple enough. Not far from where the ants were at their work, a group of people were meeting with the Rural Reconstruction Program (PRR) staff about their community needs and opportunities. They are the rural poor. Just five years ago, they owned no land. Their homes were made of mud and sticks with thatched roofs. Malnutrition and disease from lack of a balanced diet plagued their children. Their ability to learn in their new school was dramatically limited and attendance was poor. The women suffered from serious eye and respiratory problems caused by open cooking fires in their homes. Contaminated drinking water made the entire community ill on a regular basis. Their only cash income came from coffee picking -seasonal work only. Family income ran at less than $300 a year.
I have visited several “Pioneer Villages” across Canada depicting life in colonial and pioneer times from the 1500’s to the late 1800’s. The living conditions in this village of El Barro, Honduras were much like what the pioneers faced in the “new world” of the northern Americas in the 1600’s to1700’s. PRR is the long-term development partner of World Accord in this area of Honduras. With their system of helping individual community members to work together as a group, PRR helped the community form two groups based on their needs. Both are called a CIAL which is an acronym of the first letter of the four Spanish words that mean Community Agricultural Research Committee.
It is a model first developed in Columbia and brought to Honduras by the University of Guelph and Professor Sally Humphries. PRR staff have embraced the process and now use it almost exclusively to help the rural poor improve their lives. The first CIAL group in El Barro, consists of a group of men who are all farmers. After forming their group and electing their President and Treasurer, they actively began testing the dozens of varieties of corn seed available from PRR. The Agronomists of the PRR Program assisted them with the technical skills of how to manage the test plots in the fields they rent around their village. The land rental capital was provided by PRR with funding grants from World Accord. Their environmentally destructive practice of slash and burn in the mountains was replaced with the use of compost on land and fields worked in a technique the Agronomists have demonstrated for years called Soil and Water Conservation.
This system of trenches and barriers captures rainwater run-off and is proven to stop erosion. Crop yield increases run from 100% to over 300% in the first year. The second CIAL group in El Barro is very unique and is now a major focus for PRR. It consists solely of women. They have another cluster of needs they wished to address and a Construction Expedition lead by the volunteers Al Wigood and Jens Schoenrank met one of these needs when they helped construct a community 'Kinder' school. A Kinder provides schooling for younger children so moms can work in the fields and older siblings (usually girls) can continue their own education.
As already mentioned, the living conditions of the community were very poor. Only five years ago, El Barro was about on par with most villages in the area around the PRR office a decade earlier. The women used their increased family income as collateral to petition PRR for a home improvement program, but the homes were not worth trying to improve. New homes were needed. Two years ago, 22 of the 26 community members pledged to repay housing loans for cement and roofing materials and the community build themselves 22 homes with technical assistance from PRR. The women brought about incredible change, but they did not stop there. They continued to do other activities and currently are testing nine new varieties of beans for the best variety in their area. They selected an assortment from a pool of over 200 varieties available from the test plots at PRR. Some people criticize “development agencies” like World Accord for working too long in an area. They fear dependence upon World Accord and they believe it should not take decades of assistance to transform a community. They have a point.
But the critics are often confused about the difference between AID and DEVELOPMENT. AID creates dependence and there are strong arguments against most Food Aid provided by Canada. How can a local farmer sell their produce when foreign aid groups provide it for free? The difference with the approach of World Accord is simple. World Accord is just as dependent as PRR. We are dependent upon each other. World Accord cannot affect change without local partners like PRR. PRR cannot provide technical assistance and training without financial assistance which is currently not available in their country. Where we do not want to promote dependence is at the household and community levels.
Now to the example of El Barro. Their CIAL groups had increased family income, they had built a new Kinder School to complement the government elementary school. They had built new homes complete with potable water and latrines. They had moved from the life as it was in the 1600’s or 1700’s to maybe standards of 75 years ago in Canada. And they did it mostly themselves. It was an amazing transformation. A few months ago, an outside force exerted pressure on their community. A wealthy family from the city was buying up all the available land in the area of their village. Most of the land is hilly and some areas are quite steep. The land the CIAL’s were renting to finance their transformation was being sold to an exporter of beef for the North American fast food industry. The CIAL’s met and created their own plan of action then once again, they petitioned PRR, their only possible source for a loan to purchase the land for the community. Again, with funding grants from World Accord, the loan was made.
Yesterday, I walked that land. The men and women stopped their work as they showed us their crops growing on their own land. The pride was infectious and it showed in their eyes. With all their plans and all their hopes, they were living beyond their fondest dreams. Their lives are now at a stage of Development that eluded them and their ancestors for hundreds of years. The CIAL’s of the men and the women of El Barro are repaying their loans. They are managing their own affairs. They have had the regional mayor or Alcalde and several government ministers visit their community. They have placed El Barro on the map. This is development. It takes several years, not just a few months or a year or two. It requires local people who are known and trusted because they have earned their respect. That takes years too.
To our critics we say, “Give your heads a shake!” “Look at the facts!” “Look at the evidence!” “Compare simple AID to long lasting Development” “Humanitarian AID has a place at times of war, disaster or famine but it MUST be accompanied by a long term program to support local sustainable development.”
To our donors AND to our partners in the field we say “THANK YOU! MUCHAS GRACIAS!”
The World Accord Central American Program is funded in part by the Canadian Government through the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), the Community of Christ World Hunger Fund and by private donations of families and volunteers across Canada.
THANK YOU ALL! As with the ants, it takes the entire 'colony' working together to achieve sustainable success for their community. The human family is much the same. Canadians, Hondurans, Guatemalans, and Salvadorans working together with a Mexican and a Bangladeshi, are making a difference. Together we help build sustainable Community.
Terry Fielder, Honduras
Al Wigood goes Hollywood!
World Accord Volunteer, Al Wigood, is in the news again!
Wednesday, August 30, 2006, a crew from Global National filmed Al Wigood and two students (Heather and Lauren) from KCI Secondary School in Kitchener, for a segment called "Everyday Heroes". The focus was on Al and the Construction Expeditions he helps organize in Central America every year.
Though Al claims he's not really a hero (and we've never seen him in tights and a cape) we know better. There are students in Honduras who have real schools to attend rather than having to sit under a tree... families with concrete homes and concrete floors for babies to crawl on rather than mud floors... community centers to help bring communities together... dormitories and offices for organizations in Guatemala to offer business and language training to women... a school for children who can't afford an education or for their parents who want to learn to read so they can read their paychecks in El Salvador... To all the people whose lives he has helped improve, he is a hero.
Thank you Al! And thank you to all who have joined or supported him in this journey!!
--
Sandy Heathers, Program Resource Specialist
Not Just Another Summer Job!
This summer I had the opportunity to be a World Accord Representative. Thanks to this job I was able to spend my summer going to camps across Canada. I spent 3 weeks in Waterloo with the wonderful staff that makes up World Accord. During those 3 weeks I created power point presentations. I wrote letters and helped around the office. I also spent 6 weeks spreading awareness of the mission of World Accord and their need for support. I gave presentations at campgrounds in British Columbia, Alberta and Ontario.
Not only was I able to help broaden the minds of Canadians but my own as well. I have learned so much from this job… responsibility; awareness of the world; and what I and my peers can do now and in our future, for our global community. I have become a better global citizen and a better person. Thank you to all for your warmth and acceptance throughout the summer. Thank you for all your contributions this summer. You have made an amazing difference in the lives of many, including my own.
Serenity Morgan
World Accord Summer Intern
Report from Terry Fielder in Honduras - Part 3
FOOD SOVEREIGNTY
Rural Reconstruction Program (In Spanish Programa de Reconstruccion Rural – PRR),
La Buena Fe (the valley where PRR offices are located),
Zacapa (the Municipality or District or County),
Santa Barbara (the Department or province or state),
Honduras.
As World Accord and PRR work together to write a new 3-year Program that we will submit to CIDA, our facilitators Faruq Faisel and Gabriela Mayorquin have conducted a SWOT Analysis. SWOT means Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats.
A new Threat to the poor in rural Honduras are the activities of some large trans-national seed and chemical companies from outside Honduras. International trade agreements and global banking policies can and do set up favourable opportunities for such corporations.
Chemical inputs are expensive for farmers who only earn a few hundred dollars a year. Yes, the chemicals increase their crop but the cost can leave the farm family with a smaller income after they pay the debt for fertilizers, herbicides, fungicides and insecticides. Add to this the additional cost of purchasing seeds that are produced to never germinate or are dependent on specific chemical inputs and the farm family is trapped.
Because of this, PRR has been developing local traditional seed varieties of staples like corn and beans that are resistant to disease and insect damage. PRR has tested over 20 varieties of beans alone and those varieties have been crossed together to improve yield and quality without the burden of chemical input.
The added bonus to this new FOOD SOVEREIGNTY is that it's 100% organic. Chemical contamination of both the farm family and the final harvest is dramatically reduced. The family is left to profit from their labour and risk.
Food Sovereignty. A new term in the goal of Food Security in the sustainable future of the rural poor.
Terry Fielder August 17, 2006
Report from Terry Fielder in Honduras - Part 2
Rural Reconstruction Program, La Buena Fe, Zacapa, Santa Barbara, Honduras – August 16, 2006
Enrique Castillo and eight of his staff are now three days into meetings and training workshops facilitated by Faruq Faisel and Gabriela Mayorquin. Our goal is to produce a new Program Application to the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) that is the part of the Canadian Government that provides foreign AID. A small percentage of Canada’s Foreign AID budget each year is allotted to DEVELOPMENT and is made accessible to small agencies like World Accord.
Our government has established some criteria that must all be met to qualify. So, here we are in Honduras to yet again apply for support for World Accord’s community development program. World Accord has successfully met CIDA requirements consistently since 1984.
World Accord has been given a budget total to apply for each three-year cycle. It has not changed since 1997. Yet, our dollar purchasing power has declined, costs have risen, CIDA compliance requirements and costs have risen and expectations of results or impacts continue to increase. So every time we apply, we request an increase but for the past 9 years, budget totals have been frozen.
Again this year, we will present a Program plan that will justify an increase. Hence, Faruq and Gabriela are here to assist World Accord and our Partners to make this application. It requires some training both in Central America and Canada. Faruq is our trainer. We are all learning from each other. Such is life in this development work. Learning and sharing what we have learned. This new Program Application we are writing, no matter how good it is, will not solve all of the problems these people face. Rather, it is like helping a carpenter to acquire the tools for their trade. A doctor needs more than just education to diagnose. Illness. Diagnostic tools like a stethoscope, a tongue depressor, an x-ray, an ultrasound, etc. are necessary before treatment can begin.
For those born in rural areas in poor nations, education, training, access to land and new techniques are all needed to achieve a sustainable level of food security, health care, shelter and education for their children. And you, as a donor to World Accord, help us make these more possible.
From Honduras, MUCHAS GRACIAS! Thank YOU very much!
Terry Fielder
PS. World Accord will apply to more than double the current Program. CIDA will provide match funding. Whatever CIDA grants, WA will need to raise $1.00 and CIDA will grant $3.00. CIDA can make an amazing difference for thousands of families in Honduras and Guatemala.
Report from Terry Fielder in Honduras - Part 1
Rural Reconstruction Program (PRR), La Buena Fe, Zacapa, Santa Barbara,Honduras.
The rain has come early and exceptionally hard this year. Every afternoon the clouds begin to roll in. By dark, (about 6:15 PM) the rain begins. There is no gentle warning; it just starts to fall, and fall hard. The drops are big and they come in waves. Within minutes the puddles grow and flooding is quick. Some nights it only lasts a couple of hours; others it can go almost all night.It is early morning.
The insects and birds have been singing for ages, maybe trying to coax the sun up earlier to help dry things out a little. More than these sounds... more than the damp cool of the early morning... more than the growing light and the new long shadows, I am in awe of this place because of cheerful greetings of "Buenos Dias" - Good Morning - that people of every age send my way.
From the old man going to his fields in the mountains, to the woman already into the second hour of preparing the corn to make the tortillas for the day and the children and youth - some in uniform and some in their best clothing as they begin their daily trek to school - all are joyous. The diesel engines of the pickpup trucks and the gravel dump trucks rattle and rumble to life. And then the motor cycles start up and the agronomists head into the mountains for another day of helping the people transform their meager crops into something we call Food Security.
When I was young, I thought like a youth. I was told, and so I learned, that if I worked hard, I would be prosperous and happy. But people here have worked incredibly hard for generations and they have very little of what I might consider the Prosperity I expected in my youth. Now I am a man, and I choose NOT to put away my childish thinking. It is the farmer families here that help me remember to work hard, when I must work ... but also to remember greet the day and to greet others with the joy of life that comes from cultivating relationships with family and friends.
Everyone who is part of World Accord either as a donor or volunteer are neighbours to the project participants in developing countries, who now get a greater yeild of crops in their movement toward Food Security. There is even more Hard Work to do. More greeting and laughing to do. More living. More learning. These poor people with little education are part of our University of Life Long Learning. Young and Old. All our days.
So from Honduras.... Buenos Dias to you. Have a great day! To you I transfer the smile from the faces here that one might not expect. they are in part, the evidence of HOPE for their food security, education and better health.
The gravel trucks have been loaded by hand and off they go. One is loaded with gravel for road repairs in a local village. The other with sand to make cement for floors in homes. Cement floors are safer than damp mud for little babies to crawl around on. Small steps to make a better world.
Gracias... Thank YOU!
Terry Fielder
The Journey of a Lifetime
This past March Break, five of us from Kitchener-Waterloo Collegiate and Vocational School (three students and two teachers) traveled to rural
Honduras to assist in the construction of a kinder-school.
It was without a doubt, a life-altering experience.
The weather in Honduras was hot and sunny. With daily temperatures around 30 °C, the construction process was a challenge, but extremely rewarding. The villagers greeted us daily with smiles; they were the ones who dreamed of this school, we just helped them realize it sooner.
We ended up working at two separate construction sites. The site we spent most of our time on had the main building almost complete. It was here where we worked on building the bathrooms and “la cocina,” or kitchen. This school was in a community devastated by Hurricane Mitch back in 1998, and they are still trying to rebuild after eight years. That might seem like a long time, but since we mixed concrete by hand and there was no electricity in the village, it wasn’t difficult to understand. The construction process takes a lot longer without the aid of heavy machinery.
We spent half a day touring some other projects World Accord was helping out with. It was easy to see the positive changes World Accord and their partner in Honduras PRR have made in those communities. Houses made from cement blocks instead of mud, running water, and improved, sustainable methods of agriculture were just a few of the ways quality of life has been improved in these remote mountain villages.
This experience, without doubt, changed my students’ perspective on life. The smiles on the villagers’ faces were at first difficult to understand. Hondurans make on average under $7.00 a day and most of the homes had no electricity or running water. But they genuinely seemed happy with what limited resources they had. It certainly put life in perspective, especially considering the commercial, fast paced society we live with in Canada. We always seem to want more “stuff,” although we don’t seem to get any happier once we have it.
The trip was so successful for our school that we’re going back again next year. This coming March Break, we will have 11 members of the KCI community heading to Honduras. The word is out.
Some people balk when given the opportunity to make positive changes in the world. “What can I do? I’m only one person.” It is projects like a construction expedition to Honduras that create meaningful and lasting changes in our global community. It gives people even in the most remote places the opportunity of choice; a chance at an education and a chance at improving their lives and the lives of those around them.
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” -- Margaret Mead
World Accord Crosses Another Hurdle for Sri Lanka...
World Accord received funding from The World Hunger Foundation of Community of Christ for rebuilding/reconstruction on Sri Lanka. With permission from World Hunger, World Accord waited and combined those funds with funds from Hope International and South Asia Partnership Canada to apply to the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) for a $1.8 Million project. We have recently received a request for more information which is a very positive sign. Tentative approval has been given provided World Accord, Hope and SAP Canada comply with the requirements of CIDA. It is very exciting to be able to take $150,000 and multiply that to $1.8 Million! If all goes well, the contract should be signed in August.
World Accord
