The Solar Cooker

Newsletter of the Central American Solar Energy Project (CASEP)

Proyecto Centroamericano de Energia Solar (PROCESO)

Number X

Winter 2005

 

Confronting Changes

Bill Lankford, CASEP president.

 

This fall the Central American Solar Energy Project faced a number of unexpected challenges. Our Nicaraguan coordinator abruptly resigned, and torrential rains hit Honduras and Guatemala. However, everyone rallied and I think the project has emerged stronger and better prepared to face the future.

In Honduras and Guatemala the devastating floods from Hurricane Stan in October temporally diverted our efforts to disaster relief. Under the very capable leadership of national coordinators Laura Koch and Martha Corina and with special funding from local and international organizations we work with, an immediate response was possible. Through the efforts of Laura and the office here in Charlottesville, CASEP received $11,000 of special donations for the relief effort in Guatemala. Thank you to all who so generously responded to our appeals.

We are using the disaster as an opportunity to integrate the emergency relief with existing projects to address long-standing problems and to try to reduce the impact of future natural disasters. Having respected and dedicated teams in place has been key to this effort. Laura has prepared a newsletter in English that describes in more detail the story from Guatemala. We will post it on our web site: www.solaroven.org when it is available.

In an effort to improve and unify our accounting system, our three national program accountants met with me in our Choluteca, Honduras office for a week in September. We made great progress that I hope will both make our financial picture clearer and contribute to overall regional unity. These three remarkable young women are doing a great job of adapting to the very complex requirements of both CASEP and our various funding partners.

A very happy Christmas season to all from the CASEP team. We are grateful for your support.

 

 

Newest CASEP Volunteer

by Katherine Bittner, volunteer Honduras/Nicaragua

 

My situation as a new CASEP volunteer is unique in that I have no loyalty to any one country where CASEP operates. In fact I feel a strong connection to the women I am working with in both Honduras and Nicaragua. The original plan was to serve as a volunteer in Nicaragua, helping the national coordinator with the satellite project in the northern town of Condega. Unfortunately, the Nicaraguan CASEP program, based in La Reforma, not far from the capital city of Managua, had dissolved by the time I finished a refresher Spanish course in Nicaragua. Bill and I then made the decision to have me start my volunteer service in Honduras in order to get oriented to the way CASEP works in a successful Central American project. Therefore, I have spent most of the past two months in the rural southern town of Orocuina, Honduras, just a few hours across the border from Condega. I have been living in the new volunteer house with Kristen, the other volunteer with the Honduran program.

We both have kept busy helping the women with the program for under-nourished children, and helping write grant proposals to get funding for the leadership and micro-credit programs, as well as an emergency food program for families affected by the recent hurricanes and tropical storms.

We also helped lead a two-day workshop for the women in the leadership program. We talked about the theme of ³power² and the various characteristics, actions, and institutions associated with power, which the women categorized into two groups: the power of violence and the power of dignity and justice. The second day we discussed the international trade system and explained how international financial institutions like the World Bank and IMF and the WTO, the transnational corporations, and international trade agreements like NAFTA and CAFTA are all related and how they affect the lives of the poor in Honduras and other developing countries. We also talked about economic injustice in general and especially how it pertains to women.

I have also been active in helping the women with an emergency food project for families affected by the recent hurricanes and tropical storms. Many lost half of their harvest of corn and beans to the heavy rains, and some houses and roads were damaged. After getting the grant proposal approved by the Irish donor agency TROCAIRE, we spent two weeks putting together 35-lb. bags of rice, beans, corn, sugar, salt, and cooking oil for each of 500 families, and we delivered them to the 35 communities where there are groups of women affiliated with CASEPıs partner association in Honduras, the Association of Women Defenders of Life. Some of the communities we visited are isolated on dirt roads, with no electricity or running water. Observing their poverty was disheartening, but all of the women I met were generous and welcoming. It was uplifting to help in a tangible way and to experience their grateful smiles and hugs.

           Despite the difficulties and challenges that the program in Nicaragua has undergone, the small group of women in Condega, who organized themselves around the solar oven construction project only 11 months ago, have maintained their commitment to the vision and mission of CASEP and are as active as ever in continuing this process of social change. They have already formed a leadership program and are in the process of establishing the legal status of their new association, Sol Naciente (Rising Sun). I believe this name is especially appropriate for these enthusiastic and motivated women who are just beginning the process of development work in their community. They have a wealth of wonderful ideas for future projects to improve their living conditions as well as those of the broader community. It is very inspiring to collaborate with women who arenıt discouraged by the difficulties of organizing and working together for social change.

They are a spark of hope for keeping the Nicaraguan program alive.

 

 

Closure of Our Center in Nicaragua

by Bill Lankford, President, CASEP

 

Those who work in the difficult and complex field of international development inevitably experience both successes and failures. This is certainly true for CASEP, and although we usually talk about our successes and our hopes for the future, I want to share news of a project that after many years of effort we finally needed to close down. In brief, we have fallen victim to the pervasive corruption that has taken over Nicaragua today. The central program in La Reforma, Masaya where we operated our Centro Girasoles, has been transferred to the new project in the town of Condega in Northern Nicaragua. The prevailing wisdom I hear in the urban corridor from Managua to Granada is ³ If you are not stealing, it is because you are dumb.² In that environment, a program like ours, which is based on trust and respect for local freedom, cannot survive. What a change this has been from the positive and hopeful spirit of the 80ıs. While the financial loses to CASEP were minimal, finally heeding much kind advice and giving up was not easy

For it was in Nicaragua, more than 20 years ago, that I conceived the idea of CASEP.

One silver lining is that assisting the new group of women in Condega reminds me of the exciting days of the first solar project. I think our work there is contributing to a revival of hope and possibility in the countryside. Volunteer Katherine Bittner has relocated from Masaya to our center in Honduras, and I hope to we can communicate closely with the group in Condega from our center in Orocuina which is actually closer to Condega than was our center in Nicaragua.

Another bright spot is that the project center, land, and car at Masaya have been donated to a new organization, the Central American Womenıs Fund. The Fund is a new concept for Central America that collects funds from donors and grants and makes awards to small groups of young women working for their human rights. The Fund also provides extensive organizational support to these groups. I am very impressed by the director and staff of the fund and their direct involvement with their projects. They will try to put the resources they have received to good use in supporting the inspiring work of many young women in Central America. Their web site is www.fcmujeres.org .

 

 

Guatemala Update: New Chicken Promoters have Huge Success

By Magali Garcia (Chicken Promoter) and Magdalena Ajcot (Leadership Coordinator)

 

The Free-Range Chicken Project, which began in May of 2005, has been a huge success in the areas of Sur Occidente, Costa Sur y Boca Costa. This project has been made possible thanks to the unconditional support of TROCAIRE, an Irish Catholic organization. In May, with technical support from Veterinarians Without Borders, Spain, we trained a group of eleven women who had been selected by their groups to become chicken promoters. They learned how to make chicken feed, construct chicken coups from materials found in the home, prepare medicine using natural plants, and organize vaccination campaigns. They have subsequently taught these skills to groups of women in their home communities. They chose a hands-on methodology and taught everything from chicken anatomy, by dissecting a chicken during the course, to how to make a cough syrup, a de-worming tincture, a salve for chickenpox, and a flea shampoo for all animals (and family members).

When Hurricane Stan hit the coast the first week of October, many of the communities where CASEP and Amigas del Sol have a presence were left stranded and without communication. Major rivers overflowed their banks, wiping out bridges and leaving the inhabitants without access to food and basic necessities. Store shelves were bare and the health center had no remaining medicine. Illness began to spread, most notably, cough, diarrhea, malaria, foot fungus and several cases of cholera due to contaminated well water.

In these first days when there was no medicine, the chicken promoters did not hesitate in giving the cough syrup they had made to their children and neighbors. The medicine served incredibly well to treat the respiratory infections that were spreading throughout the community. Children with rashes and fungus on their feet were cured using the salve made for chickens. These positive results prove that natural medicines are very effective.

 

Continuing on the Path of Leadership

 

Antonieta Cuc, a young woman from the community of Xojolá, Sololá, is one of 19 women who will be finishing the first level of the leadership program this December. When she began participating in the solar oven program four years ago, she could barely raise her voice to be heard among the group. This year in addition to her involvement in CASEPıs leadership program, she has attended a year-long school of leadership formation sponsored by the National Union of Guatemalan Women (UNAMG) in Quetzaltenango. Despite having been left without parents from an early age, being a young mother herself and only having been able to study until the third grade, Antonieta has become a chicken promoter for Amigas del Sol. As a promoter, she has taken on new responsibilities within her group and has become a strong leader in her area. Antonieta has expressed a great appreciation for the opportunity to participate in the leadership program, which has given her the confidence to continue in her path as a young leader.

                                                                           

 

Con Patas Arriba

by Kristen Melby, Honduras volunteer

 

The road from Orocuina to Choluteca is pockmarked with the force of the rains, and traveling takes quite a bit more time now. In another life I would have been frustrated by the waste of time, impatient to arrive wherever I was going. In many parts of the United States, we like to forget that the mundane aspects of life (like food, water, and weather) have an impact on how we live and what we do. We have foolishly forgotten that we are all a part of one giant ecosystem. But here there is no forgetting.

In a small pulperia in Orocuina, the owner has set out a small cardboard box with a sign collecting money for the victims of Hurricane Katrina. Patas arriba. Who would have thought that one of the poorer countries of the world would be collecting money to help those suffering in one of the richest countries? Honduras knows all too well the devastating effects of a Hurricane and continues to live with the vivid memories and lingering repercussions of Hurricane Mitch.

               I have in many ways just arrived here. I am becoming accustomed to the rhythm of life that begins before the sun rises and sleeps with the stars. I am no longer completely shocked by the amount of hard work people do for little or no pay. Contrarily, I am perpetually overwhelmed by the kindness and generosity of the people I am working with and their spirit of solidarity.

I have seen women who listen to one another, generously offer what little they have to strangers, and sacrifice for the good of their communities. To me, this is leadership and strength. It not only empowers other women to act but inspires everyone to work for change. Women who are collectively organized and who respect the opinions of the other women in their groups are models for all of us.

Often times when I think about creating a more just world, I get trapped in old, worn-out, hierarchical ways of thinking. It is in these times that it is most important to open my eyes and ears fully and look and listen to the world and the people around me.