HTMA college students from the AIB College of Business in Des Moines, Iowa supported education for Cozumel kids in 2011 and 2012 by buying school supplies on sale in July-August. This has been a tremendous help in filling 180+ backpacks for children from families with very limited resources.
HTMA’s mission is to develop a better understanding of the travel and hospitality industry through networking, guest speakers and having fun. This year 10 AIB college students and two chaperones put HTMA’s mission into action by visiting Cozumel May 17-22, 2013 during the college’s Spring Break. Their volunteer efforts included a pre-trip service project, transporting donations to the island, meeting the director of tourism for Cozumel as well as conducting a project on-site to benefit tourism.
Friends of Cozumel volunteers met HTMA members at the Allegro Resort where they stayed and connected them with Pedro Hermosillo, Cozumel’s Director of Tourism. Pedro shared information with the group about the role of the Tourism Department and methods they use to promote the island. Pedro issued a challenge to HTMA for their on-site service learning project . . . “Help us capture the essence of the island to encourage visitors your age to come here by preparing a short, informal video that can be shared via YouTube and other social media.”
We gathered the evening before the group left to view some of the video clips in their original format. The students have since returned to Des Moines and are back attending college classes. Some of the students are editing the footage to share with the Cozumel Tourism Department to use in promoting the island via social media. At Pedro’s request, HTMA members are documenting their personal experiences, discoveries and reactions as first-time visitors to help develop a profile of tourists’ concerns/issues as well as a profile of what they value most about coming to Cozumel.
HTMA Donation Initiates Friends of Cozumel Scholarship Fund
HTMA surprised Friends of Cozumel by presenting a $350 check during their recent visit to the island. The donation is a result of a pre-trip fundraising effort and is being matched by two donors to initiate a scholarship fund. College students reaching out to help others realize their dreams . . . Thank you HTMA group!
The Friends of Cozumel scholarship fund is beginning with a modest amount of $1,050 US we hope to grow with other donations. You may be wondering if or how ~ $1,000 US can be of much benefit. It is a matter of perspective . . . Here in Cozumel, a high school age student can enroll in a technical training program at a public institution for $80-$130 US per semester. Undergraduate tuition at a public university is ~ $150-$250 per year depending on the program of study. Individual classes at a technical school are significantly less but still out of reach for many families struggling to feed their children.
The scholarships will benefit local Cozumel residents with limited resources who have demonstrated a commitment to learning, who seek special technical training beyond secundaria or prepa (middle or high school) or a university education. Scholarships will also be available to non-traditional students such as single mothers who want to pursue specific skills or English classes to increase their employment opportunities to support their families as well as for adults who desire to learn to read and write. We plan to include a service expectation as part of the scholarship effort so recipients can “pay it forward” as a volunteer helping others in the community.
Friends of Cozumel volunteer Larry Pedersen is an alumnus of AIB College of Business and proud to collaborate with HTMA, a great group of college students committed to service, learning and having fun.
We visited Margarita (mother at left), her husband and their four children just before they went to a school Mother’s Day program. Margarita’s family lives in one room apartment with a patio. The children receive backpacks with school supplies and a pair of athletic shoes as part of our School Project. Shirley Larsen, a Friends of Cozumel mission volunteer from California, helped them start container gardening in February. Margarita was excited to receive a couple of additional plants for Mother’s Day as well as a baked pastry to share with the family.
Friends of Cozumel volunteers grew cherry tomato plants, Spanish oregano and various ornamental potted plants to give as Mother’s Day gifts to six families. April’s labor of love each year is to put together personal gifts of hygiene, beauty products, make-up samples and other goodies in decorative bags to give to a dozen mothers and grandmothers of families FOC supports. Many of them are mothers caring for children with disabilities and/or single mothers supporting their family. It is a special treat for these moms because most of them don’t have the funds to be able to buy nice soap, shampoo, toothpaste, body lotion, etc. 
It was so fun to see the pride that the younger children in Jose’s family had when they arrived home from school and raced to give their mother a gift they made in class. Lili is mother of four children (back center holding photo); Francesca is mother of four (at right) and Antonia (seated in center) is their grandmother.
Happy Mother’s Day to all of you! In Mexico, they celebrate Mother’s Day on May 10th regardless of which day of the week it lands. I’ve been playing keyboard with the Vida Abundante Church and we had a group that was practicing some songs to sing in honor of Mother’s Day. (I assumed they would be sung during this week’s church service) Last week, Pastor Salomon told us “We’ll practice one more time next Thursday evening and we will be ready”. I inquired as to what time we would meet to practice and he said “alas once” (11 p.m.). I asked him why we might be practicing so late in the evening and he explained that way the songs would be fresh when we went out to sing them beginning at midnight? WHAT???? I thought that he was simply joking with me and I asked if this was a joke….he then explained that it’s tradition to go out and serenade the mothers beginning at midnight and that our plan would be to go to every mother’s house from our church until all had been visited. I asked how long that would take and he thought perhaps 4-5 hours.
A key focus for Friends of Cozumel is to engage in projects that have “sustainability”. We’ve all heard the phrase “Buy a man a fish and feed him for a day – teach him to fish and feed him for a lifetime.” We’re all about teaching people to fish. The garden project we initiated with six families in February fits beautifully with this concept.
Antonia is pictured here checking her compost container. She and her husband are patriarchs of “Jose’s family”, a multi-generational extended family of 10 children and 6 adults living together in a modest settlement several miles from town. They are now in their late 50’s. Antonia’s husband worked for years as a laborer clearing trees from jungle land for development, hand stripping the branches and carrying logs on his shoulders. He’s been out of work for months because he isn’t physically able to continue carrying heavy loads and machinery now replaces some manual labor. 
Lack of resources is a consistent challenge for them. We assumed that if/when they were ready to expand their garden, assistance would be needed with materials for garden beds, purchasing soil, seeds, etc. Yesterday we visited them and were completely blown away to discover in the past four weeks they tripled the size of their garden entirely on their own by adding two more raised beds. 
You can see and feel Antonia’s excitement as she discusses their garden. Several months ago when she first started selling a couple of things for a few pesos, she made it clear this was not a business . . . she was just “growing things”. Now she’s thinking ahead, making decisions and “investments” for her small home based business. For example, she’s decided to plant more cilantro because that’s what people want and she can sell it for 5 pesos (about 40 cents) per handful. She “invested” in buying small plastic bags to fill with dirt to start flowering plants to sell. She’s changed her mind and now would like a sign or two listing items for sell. And she has ideas for future expansion. 
Visiting Casita Corazon (Heart House) yesterday reminded me of the African proverb Hillary Clinton popularized in the 90’s “It takes a village to raise a child.” The Casita was bustling with various activities (physical therapy for youth with disabilities, sensory stimulation activities, games/basketball, pumpkin decorating project) focused on the needs of special children ages 3-23. Carrie’s Heart staff, parents as well as visiting and resident volunteers work as a team. Pictured from left: Luis (Carrie’s Heart therapist), Jose (19 year old youth with multiple disabilities), Lee and Dianne Wilson (visiting volunteers) and Lupe (Casita Corazon caretaker). 
Luis provides therapy for Juan Diego, age 23, who loves looking at Christmas lights. Carrie Conn, Founder of Carrie’s Heart, is leading a new model for working with children with disabilities. Employees and families are being asked to stretch outside their comfort zone to transition from the traditional one on one (therapist and child) method typical in Mexico to a team approach using volunteers. 
Leticia (Juan Diego’s mother right) helps her granddaughter, Hanna, decorate a pumpkin. Leticia and the other parents are beginning to volunteer their time while at the Casita by cleaning, putting away supplies and doing educational, stimulation activities with kids. They are also being trained to assist with all the youth (not just their own child). Beginning in 2013, parent volunteers will participate in a rotation schedule to allow for respite for the moms. They will be able to drop off their children and pick them up some days and be scheduled to assist on other days. 
Luisito (brother of Jose) decorates a pumpkin with Lee. Luisito’s life has significantly changed this school year as he is no longer confined to stay at home all day, everyday. His mother takes him to the Casita on the Collectivo (public van transportation) daily before she goes to work and picks him up early evening after work. His mornings and lunch are spent at the Casita in activities with other children. Then he walks a few blocks with Lupe (caretaker) and two of her children to attend the CAM School for children with disabilities in the afternoon. 
Hanna and Luisito play with a learning computer. After two months participating at the Casita and attending CAM, we see a HUGE difference in Luisito. He’s learning to interact with other children, making friends, communicating more and is much calmer. At age 12 his world has opened up to include opportunities beyond his home and immediate family. 
The huge smiles of gratitude from Miriam and four of her five school age children pictured here says it all . . . THANK YOU to everyone who donated school supplies and to many volunteers who shopped, served as “sherpas” transporting donations to Cozumel, filled backpacks or distributed school supplies to 162 children. An additional 80 children with disabilities and their 8 classroom teachers benefitted from extra supplies donated to the CAM school plus 20 more children who received supplies given to the Vida Abundante Church youth group. 
During the past several weeks I’ve had a chance to talk with 33 (~20%) of the 162 children during home visits. Nearly all of them feel they are doing well in their classes. Some of these children have incredible odds to overcome that detract from learning like hunger, lack of home electricity for light to do homework, family situations that include abuse/alcohol/abandonement or parents who can not read or write to help them. They LOVE their backpacks with supplies and are so proud to receive them. 
Backpacks and messenger bags (all sizes). Watch for end-of-season sales at discount stores selling off their inventory.
Antonia shared exciting news . . . she recently sold three rose cuttings for 25 pesos (about $2 US) each. I commented about her raising prices 5 pesos from two weeks ago. She just smiled and said that people will pay it for healthy plants. She is so proud of being able to sell a few of the things she is growing.
Although Antonia has been growing flowers for years from cuttings given to her by friends and neighbors, her experience in growing food is new. Here’s her first small garden plot about 3′ x 5′ filled with the first crop of radishes. The seeds were given to her by Friends of Cozumel volunteers.
Now she wants to expand her efforts. She’s planning to clear the junk and trees off this area of land and put in a larger garden. Antonia’s is one of several families we plan to support in implementing home garden projects during the next year. 
Jose’s family has lots of needs. Frequently they do not have enough food for the 10 children and 6 adults that live together. This past year has been especially difficult because only one or two adults have had steady work. Medical bills for Jose’s mother’s operation and a new baby have taken their toll on the family’s resources. During our mission project week last February we asked Antonia why she didn’t grow food to help supplement the family’s basic needs. She responded that she would love to but she didn’t have seeds and couldn’t afford to buy them. We took her two tomato plants and “herba buena” (local herb used for cooking) from a local nursery. She was thrilled. See Antonia’s first tomatoes (green ones at lower center of photo) next to a beautiful tropical plant (at left). She kept some of the seeds of these tomatoes to start more plants. 
Antonia is proud of her latest “harvest”, squash grown by the side of the road. In the past couple of weeks she’s shared that she wants to clear junk out of a central area of their homestead plot and put in a large garden bed. Antonia’s husband is slowly digging a pit by hand to make the family an outdoor latrine since they don’t have plumbing. He is saving the soil in between the limestone rocks as he digs to add to Antonia’s first very small garden area. He is also carefully piling up limestone chunks of rock to use to outline a larger garden area. Friends of Cozumel volunteers may help Jose’s family install garden beds during our February 2013 mission project week.