Hi Everybody! I just wanted to post an article here really quickly for you to read. As you know from my previous post I'm working on a project that is primarily sponsored by the founder of Cirque de Soleil. Yesterday they officially went public and announced their organization to the world which is called "One Drop". Although it was probably much bigger news in Quebec, I did find an English article too. On December 6th Guy (the founder) will be visiting the project here. Wow, I'll be hanging out with a celebrity! What fun!

Read the short article below for more info:

(yah yah, pictures are coming soon!)

"More than a drop in the bucket"

$100-million pledge. Cirque du Soleil founder starts organization to promote access to clean drinking water.

ANNE SUTHERLAND, The GazettePublished: 9 hours ago

Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberté yesterday pledged $100 million to a foundation he's begun to combat poverty by increasing access to clean drinking water.
The worldwide initiative is called One Drop. Laliberté's contribution will cover operating costs for One Drop; field activities will be paid for through donations from Cirque employees and Canadian and international partners.
The foundation will work with the humanitarian organization Oxfam and Prince Albert of Monaco's environmental foundation. The Royal Bank of Canada also pledged $10 million toward the project.

Prince Albert joined Laliberté yesterday for the announcement at the Cirque's soaring Montreal North complex, as did RBC president and CEO Gordon Nixon, and Jeremy Hobbs, executive director of Oxfam International.
Laliberté has pledged to give $4 million a year for 25 years to the One Drop Foundation, which will be based in Montreal.
"I have had a dream for 25 years of offering an oasis to the world," Laliberté said. "I still dream of changing the world, of inspiring and touching people.
"Every eight seconds a child dies from a disease caused by drinking contaminated water. "
Hobbs said: "One Drop is a vital initiative. Our climate and how we live have an effect on how people in developing countries live."
The money is to be spent to promote education, community involvement and public awareness of water and water issues, Laliberté said.
One Drop will fund projects like well construction and improved access to potable water through water filtration, and will foster food safety by establishing family gardens where people from developing nations will be taught to better use water.
"Access to water will be key in in years to come," Nixon said. "The One Drop initiative is timely with our own RBC Blue Water program, dedicated to improving water access, conservation, education and protection."
The $10 million RBC has pledged over 10 years is Blue Water's first announced grant.
"Water issues are a major challenge for this century," Prince Albert said. "We must preserve and better manage this fundamental and irreplaceable resource."
Hobbs cited the phenomenal success of Laliberté and the Cirque in the past 23 years.
"If anyone can turn a drop of water into a river or an ocean, it's Guy Laliberté."

The Gazette (Montreal) 2007

Random stuff.

I couldn't resist a good hammock picture!!!

More pictures of my house to come soon but this is a very small corner of it.

Check the heels....... gotta have em for salsa dancing!!!!!!

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ABOVE: Yanik making juice for our brunch.

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A regular occurrence on Sunday mornings is a group brunch with all (or at least most) of our OXFAM team. Of course, I'm still feeling like I'm in a different world since everyone is speaking French to each other but it's always lots of fun. Isabelle always makes her famous muffins which are to die for!!! This particular Sunday Yanik made fresh juice from Papaya and Pineapple (my personal obsession) and Roberto whipped up some yummy French style crepes. Good times!

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ABOVE & BELOW: Roberto is making crepes... and below: Juice is served... and Isabelle's muffins! ABOVE: Isabelle and Idzit's cat! So cute!
ABOVE: Katherine and Isabelle cooking up some eggs!

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Finally I have taken my dirtbike on a bit of a drive. A few days ago I went to "Miraflor" which is a nature reserve close by Esteli. It was a beautiful drive through the mountains with incredible views that I seem to have forgotten to take pictures of. It's not far away though, so I'm sure there will be more sooner than later.

Below is a picture of my friend Rommell from the Spanish school with Karine on behind him. Since my driving skills have greatly improved I carried "el flaco" (the skinny guy) also known as Karine's new Nicaragua boyfriend behind me.

ABOVE: Gasing up before our adventure!

ABOVE: Rest time... My hands were stuck in grip position.... lots and lots and LOTS of bumps on this road!

ABOVE: Karine and "el flaco". I am not sure how I also fit on my bike by the looks of "el flaco" taking a rest here... he pretty much needed all of the space to himself!

ABOVE: MIRAFLOR trail map! Next time I visit I plan to do some serious hiking!

OK that's all for now!!!!!!!!

OUT IN THE WILDERNESS WITH PECAN

PROJECT PECAN

Well, I've officially been in Nicaragua for over 6 weeks so it is about time I talked about the project I'm working on. Until the past week I hadn't really felt like I was contribution much because I was focusing so much on learning Spanish. But, things are getting into gear now and I see a bright future for me in Nicaragua over the next few months. Now, if only I could freeze time in order to accomplish all that I would like to.

PECAN: It stands for Proyecto Agua, Cultura y Agricultura en Nicaragua. Of course, EVERYTHING here is done in Spanish so I will translate where necessary. It means "a project on water, culture, and agriculture in Nicaragua". The project was initiated by the Guy Laliberte Foundation two years ago and is will end in December of 2008. Guy is the same person who founded Cirque de Soleil which I think is a pretty cool bit of information. While he's not here hanging out with all of us or anything I still think there must be some way to score some free tickets...??? No???? So, we are working in partnership: Guy Laliberte con (with) OXFAM QUEBEC. Right now we have about 1000 families in the Esteli and surrounding area who are benefiting from the great things we are doing here. There are also about 30 schools that have garden programs in order to produce food for the kids while they learn. While water is really the BIG BIG BIG focus of this project, I really don't know much about it so according to my blog, it's going to sound like this is a nutrition program when really nutrition is very new here - since I arrived.

The OXFAM office works with a total of six local organizations. Four of these offices have technicians who are responsible for visiting the beneficiaries. I had the pleasure of accompanying them one day in the first two weeks that I arrived. I could hardly speak any Spanish at that point so it was a very interesting day. The pictures below are mostly all from that long hike through the mountains.

About my work: As of now I have managed to form a nutrition committee. I am running the committee (obviously, being the nutricionist) but I have 6 other individuals working with me which is so so so wonderful. I have Lorena who also works here at OXFAM, Martha who runs a project down the street, plus four technicians (1 for each of 4 different partner organizations) named Noe, Isaura, Marisela, and Ethelvina. They are all local Nicaraguans (excuse the lack of accents on the proper letters as my laptop is incapable) and very intelligent, hard workers. It is such a nice change to be working in an organization that is organized. I don't have to come to work each day with a million different things going on in my head and not having a clue how to fit them all in. I'm the nutritionist, so nutrition is what I do! We have already decided on what will happen over the next month. As of next Wednesday I will have finished creating a survey (la encuesta) in order to assess the nutritional knowledge of our beneficiaries. We will go over it as a group and edit it where needed (especially my poor Spanish translation) and then print 100 copies. Next the four technicians will each be responsible for completing 25 in each of four regions where we work. The next big job is for me, and I will create a report about our findings and come up with the best plan possible to combat some of the problems I'm sure we will find. It's my first time really doing anything like this so I'm very nervous but with lots of hard work and effort, I will get it done. After all of this which will be completed by November 7th, I will meet the promoters (aka chiefs) of each community. Together with our nutrition committee and the promotors we will educate the people. Since I really only have four months left of this contract, our main goal is education. I can't expect to see results like the malnourished becoming nourished in such a short time. But, leaving simple material in the hands of 'the people who workk with the people' is something and I'm really looking forward to all of it. I hope by the end of this job I will be certain of what I want to specialize in... if and when I do my Masters' Degreee: Nutrition for developing countries, or International Public Health. Decisions, decisions. Either way, it is going to place me in 'travelling-to-work' limbo for a good amount of time and I love every bit about it!

ENJOY THE PICTURES!

ABOVE: Arrival in our little OXFAM car. I can't remember how high up we are but it was high. Within minutes we were sweating buckets after only a short drive downnnhill.
ABOVE: Better view. This is just how Esteli is. Mountains, mountains, mountains.
ABOVE: I'm not sure why I find it necessary to take pictures of these birds. Like I said, everyone seems to have them. I think I should get one. What do you say?
ABOVE: You can't imagine how happy it made me to find a mud house with a tin roof. It reminded me of Africa and all of a sudden I felt at home. Who knew such an otherwise terrible though could bring me such joy? I swear, it's the best kind. This is one of the technicians checking out the fruit and vegetable project at one womans home.ABOVE: Hey, a seriously cute puppy lives in this mud house!
ABOVE: MOPAF-MA is one of our partner organizations. Since their technicians are working in this area, they get to have their name on the big water tank. And of course Guy's name is on there as well. ABOVE: A well. Each person who we are working with got a new well dug at their home to provide a better source (or in some cases, a source!!) of water for their family.
ABOVE: On the right is Christian. He's a Quebecer but speaks perfect Spanish after living in Spain for many years (yes, I'm jealous). He is in charge of production here at PECAN. On the left are two technians who work for MOPAF-MA.

ABOVE: On our way to the next house. Something told me to stop and take a picture of this. ABOVE: Hiking through the mountains. I thought this trail would never end. You don't want to know how much mud I THOUGHT I was walking through... when it wasn't mud at all. ABOVE: A really terrible picture that doesn't do this view justice at all... but trust me, it's amazing. ABOVE: After a good hour, I finally saw proof that someone lived out here. I was really starting to wonder where these guys were taking me!

ABOVE: Her house!

ABOVE: The compost system of the project beneficiaries! Hey, they are really doing what is suggested! And SO proud of it too. It's really quite amazing.

ABOVE: Her giant turkey! Maybe I'll get one of those for my house too??? ABOVE: On tour. She shows us what she's been growing. There was SO much! The first goal is to feed the family but because she was having such great luck she was also selling extra produce for a bit of money a the local market. GOOD JOB!

ABOVE: A fruit that I can't recall the name of. ABOVE: And another one. But she made us fresh juice with it and it was incredible! ABOVE: This is Africa.... Luckily the Nicaraguans don't feel the need to GIVE me their chickens. Let's hope it stays that way!

ABOVE: This picture is for Idzit. Inside joke. But I really think this is the pig from Charlotte's Web. It wouldn't be the first time I mysteriously came upon celebrity animals in far away places!

THAT'S ALL FOR NOW. CHECK LATER FOR MORE PICTURES ON THIS ENTRY.