Poverty Fighter – Central or Latin America

Poverty Fighter – Central or Latin America


1. USA - Central America - Belize courses
The USA – Central America courses have this structure:

Period 1: 2 months at the school – USA and its backyard: Rich and poor in USA and in Latin America
Period 2: 1 month bus travel from the school to Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador - The people of USA and Latin America their culture, living conditions, hopes and fears
Period 3: 4 months work in Belize / Nicaragua / Guatemala - Fighting shoulder to shoulder with the Poor
Period 4: 2 months at the school - Alerting Americans to yield support for the poor

During these periods the course offers you, the participant, to learn and develop in multiple ways


Period 1 : 2 months at the school – USA and its backyard: Rich and poor in USA and in Latin America


For two months your focus is on learning about rich and poor in the USA and in Latin America and on preparing for traveling to Belize / Nicaragua / Guatemala and working at the projects. You read, investigate, discuss within the team and with many others. You build friendship in the team and a team spirit as a foundation for your travel and for the tasks ahead.
The Americas is a diverse continent that has been peopled by immigrants from all corners of the world, since the earliest Native American settlers made their way through the arctic to settle all over North and South America to the European conquest and numerous waves of immigrants including those forced into slavery.
Driven by poverty in their home nations, millions of Hispanic migrants continue to head north of the Rio Grande in search of jobs in the far wealthier USA, willing to take the lowest paid jobs often without the legal papers that secure social rights.
You explore the issue from the northern side of the border. You meet people from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, talk to business owners, to opponents of immigration, to human rights organizations, to journalists on Spanish radio stations, to farm workers and street vendors in San Francisco. You learn about poverty in the USA among migrants and minorities. You look for reasons in the history, geography, culture and economics of the USA and the world for the current state of affairs. You consider what the future might hold.
You train Spanish, how to make investigations, how to repair and drive a bus and facts about the countries you are going to visit on your travel.
You train the skills needed to work as a volunteer:
How to mobilize; how to teach about and implement improvements in health, nutrition and hygiene; how to organize small scale income generation, child care and preschools; how to raise funds; how to organize a community, run a youth club, a women's or a farmer's club.

Period 2 : 1 month bus travel through Mexico and Central America - The people of the USA and of Latin America their
culture, living conditions, hopes and fears
lture, living conditions, hopes and fears

You wave good-bye to the school in Etna, California as your bus leaves for the open road. Beforehand, you have planned a route and where you intend to stop for investigations. You visit factories, schools, slums, Californian farmers and fancy neighborhoods. Some stops are brief. You disperse for a snooping tour taking in impressions of different parts of a city or town and join again in the bus for a discussion of your impressions and what they may tell you.
You make a stop at the border to see the southern outpost of the US, you cross, you see and consider. This time the stop is not so brief, as you intend to make a more thorough investigation. You read about life at the border, legal and illegal trade and its consequences. You ask questions, you see for yourself.
You continue through Meso-America the land of once mighty indigenous cultures that was so devastated by Spanish conquistadors that only 5% of the highly populated region survived when epidemics and hunger had run their course. You visit historic sites of the ancient civilizations and take your bus to visit impoverished villages in the mountains inhabited by their descendants.
Crossing the border to Guatemala you enter another Hispanic nation where the Indian population dominates large parts of the country but not its economy and politics. You learn about the gruesome civil wars of Central America, about life in the slums of Guatemala City and at the large ranches. You continue into Honduras as your Spanish skills continue to improve and learn about this quintessential banana republic. At this point, you may choose to take a right turn and visit El Salvador, the most densely populated country in Latin America with a turbulent history from its occupation by the Spaniards right up until the end of its long-running civil war in 1992. Otherwise, the Pan-American Highway takes you across to Nicaragua. A country that was occupied by US forces early in the 20th century, where Sandinista Rebels deposed the Somoza dictator only to have to fight a protracted war with rebels sponsored by the Reagan administration through shady Iran-Contra deals. After many years out of government, the Sandinistas are back in government, and you explore what this might mean.
By now, 1 month has passed, and you are ready to turn the bus around and head towards the projects: The first teams will go to Belize and later teams will also go to projects in Nicaragua and Guatemala.

Period 3 : 4 months work - Fighting shoulder to shoulder with the Poor in Central America

The bus heads for the areas in Central America where Humana to People to People has established its projects in Belize, Guatemala or Nicaragua. This might mean that your team goes to different countries in groups of four to work at different projects, the bus dropping you off as it passes by.

Say the bus drops you off in the Southern part of Belize, where you join up with Humana People to People who are running Farmer’s Clubs for 3000 small farmers. Every day, you visit the farmers, standing shoulder to shoulder with them, assisting them in improving their agricultural output and their life and welfare. You learn about, teach and put into practice simple, efficient and sustainable methods of cultivation. You figure out and help to organize how cash crops can be grown and gotten to markets, national or international.
You find partners for micro financing to start new farming ventures such as rearing animals or planting new types of crops. You assist farmers with building rope pumps for water availability. You help to establish vegetable gardens for growing nutritious food for the families.
You take part in Farmer’s Club meetings. You also work with the farmers and their families to ensure that their children can go to school and preschool and to improve their health, nutrition and sanitary conditions.

After four months, time has flown and the Farmer’s Clubs have accomplished a lot. It is time for you to say good-bye to everyone. A farewell party is arranged, hugs are generously distributed and the bus is ready to leave to go back to California, again picking up everyone along the way (During the four months you have been at the project, it has taken the new team traveling). You head north. This time you do not make many stops for investigations but the bus serves nevertheless as familiar home and center of wide ranging discussion and studies of all that you have achieved and learned.

Period 4 : 2 months at the school - Alerting Americans to yield support for the poor


Once back at the school in California, your team undertakes a major effort to mobilize understanding of and support for the projects in Central America that you have been part of building up.
You put together a road show with films, pictures, stories, presentations, exhibitions, street theater and more about the people in the projects with their families and children, about the situation of the poor in the Americas as you have seen it in one country after the other, and not least the concrete and pertinent and overwhelming need for North Americans and well to do world citizens to help out in this dire situation.
The action combines many ways of acting as messengers: Passing on knowledge to the Americans about the Latin part of the Americas. Spreading the idea that people in North America have an obligation to both know about the situation in their hemisphere such as in countries like Belize, Guatemala and Nicaragua and to do something about it.
You suggest many concrete ways in which North Americans may help and what can be done and how to set up these ways and make them work in the USA so that funds and help is gathered for projects in Central America and other nations in need.
The action takes place initially producing the road show at the school for the whole team to then fan out - or bring along the bus as a center of action on wheels - so as to visit and mobilize American homes, streets, board rooms, meetings, churches, assemblies, government bodies, neighbors, children in schools, inner city community centers and not least the well off middle and upper classes of America with means to spare. The team has to be selective and efficient and quick on the money as two months quickly pass by but will anyway not be selective but inclusive in how they plan their Big Action.

Period 1 : 2 months at the school – USA-Ecuador- two vastly different countries
2. USA - Ecuador courses

The team will use the first 2 months of this period to gain knowledge on and ponder the two vast and neighboring countries of the USA and Mexico - both one by one in each their own right and also the two countries together and here included the trend that they have become more and more intertwined. You will study the histories of the countries, their interchange, on the drug interaction and border issues and much more. Furthermore you will use the two countries as examples on how Globalization as a term and a practice has influenced and will influence - if continuing on the present trend - the two countries. The period will take place in USA and your team will occasionally undertake investigations of a number of study themes in this US environment.
You will visit many different rich and poor people, among these people from Mexico, who are by now living in the US. You will interview and investigate US government institutions, companies, schools and other entities to get closer to the US reality.
You learn about the history of Mexico from its early settlements, the Spanish colonialism, the war for liberation and the French occupation. You also learn about the Mexican revolution during which 1 mill people lost their lives due to violence, hunger and illnesses.
You get to know about economical crisis during the 70-ties and 80-ties and about the growing dependence of USA and the IMF.
You learn about the history from books and from stories told by Mexican immigrants in the USA.
You prepare for working alongside the poor of Mexico. This means training a broad range of skills: economic planning, production and marketing for small scale farmers, how to clean water, avert disease and stay healthy, how to improve the nutrition quality for a poor family, how to mobilize, how to implement simple technologies that can change lives, how to run a preschool, fundraising and more.
Period 2 : 1 month travel by bus- meeting the Mexicans, learning about their lives and their dreams for the future
Finally you learn and practice Spanish, which will be your working language in Mexico.


Heading off from Etna in the schools bus- your home for the next 4 weeks- you travel through California to Mexico.
On before hand you have planned a route and where you intend to stop for investigations. You visit factories, schools, slums, Mexican communities in San Francisco or LA. Some stops are brief. You disperse for a snooping tour taking in impressions of different parts of the American society. In the group you discuss your impressions and what they may tell you. You continue south, cross the border and stop over to visit some of the American companies, which have been established along the border on the Mexican side to take advantage of the cheap Mexican labor.
You continue further south, visit villages in the Sierra and metro poles, schools, companies, government offices, oil people, prisons and churches. You get into many aspects of both the poor, the middle and the very rich part of the American hemisphere and you get a detailed and varied grip on the country, its strength and weaknesses and the road of its people.
You take a deep breath before entering the smog of Mexico City, one of if not the most populated metropolitan area in the world - to learn about life for rich and poor in this vast city. You learn about the Mexican revolution and about the ongoing struggle of the Zapatistas in Yucatan as you head further south.
You make friends with people from all walks of lives, you ask questions, you consider the answers, you discuss with your team mates and you make up your own mind. You get ready to fight alongside the poor Mexicans for the next 4 months.
Period 3 : 4 months work - Fighting shoulder to shoulder with the Poor in Ecuador


In this 4 months period the you and your team will fight alongside the poor at the Humana People to People Child Aid projects, improving the life of the children, who are going to carry the future of Mexico.
You head for the areas where Humana People to People has established its projects. The projects are new and in groups of four you will get the task to implement the activities at the project, to make seminars for the staff and for volunteers, to start income generating programs and to form family groups or other organizational entities within which to work to improve the situation of the families and their children.
This might mean that you start by making a baseline survey in the geographical area of the Child Aid Project. You investigate the situation of the families and their children on a number of parameters such as their material standard, their income, access to primary schooling, the status of health and sanitation and access to available services, literacy, the nutritional situation and the status of other areas of welfare or lack thereof. From this study you make a concrete action plan together with the Humana People to People project leader for further activities to start following the “10 lines” within the general Child Aid program. You might be involved in starting preschools and train the preschool teachers and will mobilize children and youth in a number of community and knowledge based activities with the aim of making the children and the youth an active part of supporting a better future for 5000 families and their community. You might be involved in teaching about health and hygiene or you might be involved in improving the sanitation and make sure that people in the villages get access to clean drinking water.
In the end of the 4 months period you conclude on the results achieved and you make sure that the experiences gained can be handed over to your successor.
Period 4 : 2 months presentations on Mexico in the US

During this final 2 month period your team will travel back to the school in Etna, and will elaborate on your experience and at the same time prepare a number of BIG PRESENTATIONS to be marketed all over the US with details on all you have done within the framework of your study and work, thus comprising why this is of extreme interest to both people, and telling about their experiences and conclusions from people and life in the USA and in Mexico, what they expect from the future, what are the strengths and the weaknesses - and how can the two countries and their people help each other into this - in one way or the other - ultimately shared future.

Projects (Central America and Latin America)

Central & Latin America


Belize

Under the shadow of its forests blooms Belize. Although better known for its diving paradises and the second longest coral barrier in the world, Belize has extensive forests, mountain chains and wet lands. Occupied and robbed for years mainly by British settlers, Belize was a source of wood for Europe; and Maya farmers, native to the land, were forced out of the country, few remaining on the very countryside. Also colonized by refugees from Civil War in the United States and later African slaves, the country shows its diversity in race and culture, and the many social divisions, results of the divide and rule principle of colonialist.
Today, the society still tries to overcome the underdevelopment patterns introduced by colonialism and exploitation. Agriculture became the main economy. Education receives investments, but the population still faces poverty, unsustainable foreign debts, and increasing urban problems, and HIV/AIDS rates.
Humana People to People runs a Child Aid project in the North and another one in the South, also it has a Clothes Sale with 3 shops generating funds for the Child Aid projects.

Costa Rica

Although explored by the Spanish early in the 16th century, initial attempts at colonizing Costa Rica proved unsuccessful. In 1563 a permanent settlement of Cartago was established in the cooler, fertile central highlands. In 1821, Costa Rica became one of several Central American provinces that jointly declared their independence from Spain. Costa Rica’s stable economy depends on tourism, agriculture, and electronics exports. Poverty has remained at roughly 20% for nearly 20 years, and the strong social safety net that had been put into place by the government has eroded due to increased financial constraints. Immigration from Nicaragua has increasingly become a concern for the government. The 300,000-500,000 Nicaraguans estimated to be in Costa Rica legally and illegally are an important source of (mostly unskilled) labor.
Our last stop before flying to Ecuador is Costa Rica.

Ecuador

Ecuador has a history of turbulence and political instability. Since 1979, it has been under civilian rule. Ecuador has substantial petroleum resources, which have accounted for 40% of the country’s export earnings. Since 1968, the country received huge loans for engineering, construction, and infrastructure projects that basically benefited the richest families. Over the following three decades Ecuador’s debt increased from 240 mill $ to 16 billion $ and poverty level rose from 50% to 70%, bringing the country on the brink of collapse in 1999. Since then some improvements have taken place, but Ecuador still has huge poverty problems.
Humana People to People runs a Child Aid project in Ecuador with the Village Action Groups.

El Salvador

El Salvador is a tiny and densely populated country struggling to find its way in a post-guerrilla war era. It is a fertile and beautiful land with lush valleys and low lying mountains covered with plantations growing coffee, corn, and sugar cane. The possession and power over this valuable land has sprung countless insurrections and a twelve-year civil war. The war ended in 1992 with peace accords signed and promises made. Though the country is at peace, the struggle continues to create a strong economy and to improve living conditions for all the people of El Salvador.
We travel through El Salvador during our investigation period.

Guatemala

Guatemala has been called the “Land of Fire” for the blazing reds, blues and yellows of its hand-woven clothing, the searing heat of its lowlands, and the fiery blood of over 200,000 people killed during its 36 year civil war. The year 1996 marked the end of the war as a newly elected government took power and a peace agreement was signed. The struggle for justice and an equal share in the country’s wealth, however, continue. Most effected by poverty and prejudice is the indigenous population, the largest in all of the Central American countries.
Humana People to People is planning to start a Child Aid project in Guatemala in 2009.

Honduras

Honduras is known as the “Banana Republic” because of the major role foreign industry has played in the both economic and political affairs of the country. While its neighbors were mired in civil war, Honduras has seen relative peace in recent decades. Peace did not mean prosperity, however, as outside influences and a succession of military rulers have kept power, money, and access to resources in the hands of a few. Estimates indicate that the devastation to infrastructure, homes, and agricultural lands brought by Hurricane Mitch in 1998 will set the country’s development efforts back several years. It is the poorest populations who will feel the greatest impact of these setbacks.
Our investigation period takes us through Honduras.

Mexico

The site of advanced Amerindian civilizations, Mexico came under Spanish rule for three centuries before achieving independence early in the 19th century. A devaluation of the peso in late 1994 threw Mexico into economic turmoil, triggering the worst recession in over half a century. The nation continues to make an impressive recovery. Ongoing economic and social concerns include low real wages, underemployment, inequitable income distribution, and few advancement opportunities for the largely Amerindian population in the impoverished southern states. Mexico has a free market economy that recently entered the trillion dollar class. It contains a mixture of modern and outmoded industry and agriculture. Per capita income is one-fourth that of the US; income distribution remains highly unequal.
Humana People to People is planning to start a Child Aid project in South of Mexico in 2009.

Nicaragua

Nicaragua is the Land of Lakes and Volcanoes, characterized by beauty that stands in sharp contrast to the poverty and struggles of its people. It is a country still recovering from a decade of civil war in the 1980’s and the repercussions of economic “shock therapy” during the 1990’s. Nicaragua is among the poorest countries in the Americas. Most rural areas and many urban neighborhoods are deeply impoverished making illiteracy, malnutrition, illness and unemployment widespread.
Humana People to People is planning to start a Child Aid project in Nicaragua in 2010.