June 18, 2014

We were off on adventure today.  We headed to the country to see a rural school.  The town is called La Preciocita.  It is a very interesting town.  It is considered an immigrant town.  At one time 85% of the men had left to go to America to find work.  The women were left to run things.  In a society were machismo (similar to male chauvinist) was very rampant, it was unusual to find women in charge of anything.  30 years ago, a lady named Benita started taking classes at the university to better herself.  She discovered ways that she make money to add to the household finances.  She began to recruit other women and then UPAEP (the university) reached out to partner with them.  The women at that time were very shy.  Over time though, they have become very self-assured and have been able to financially help their families.

With the men gone, the women stepped into leadership positions and began making decisions.  When the recession hit the US, many of the men came back home.  They couldn't find work in the US.  It was an extremely hard adjustment for both husband and wives.  The husbands weren't sure what to do with this new version of their wives.  Some worked things out, but in other families the women had to quit taking classes.

Today, the community still has about 50% of the men gone.  The new generation of families works very differently.  They work more like partners.  They both do what they can to help the family's finances.

One way that money is brought into the community is through UPAEP.  They bring students out to the community for service learning projects.  The students come out and stay in host homes.  They paint the schools, help in the schools, put on dental clinics, etc.  UPAEP pays the families that host the students.  They also give the community money whenever they bring people out to tour.

Our tour consisted of driving through the town--I use the term driving very loosely, it's more like bouncing.  We observed the Kindergarten, Elementary, and Junior High schools.  They do not have a High School.  It is very hard to get teachers out to the rural schools.  They are paid less than other teachers, the living conditions are not very good, and travel to and from the school takes quite awhile.

The road

Sheep and Goat Herding

Kindergarten

Elementary School

Junior High

After our observations, we ate lunch at one of the homes.  We found out that the bathrooms are outside the home and hot water has to be heated by fire.  Many things that we take for granted, these people live without.

They raise their own food--vegetables, fruit, chickens, pigs, etc.  Driving in town we saw raw chickens hanging up where they had just been butchered and cleaned.  At another house there was a pig hanging up that was being butchered.  When our hostess informed us that the chicken we were eating was fresh, I had to try really hard not to think about the chicken hanging up outside.  Other than that, the food was excellent.  Everything was made from scratch and organic.

We made it back home, took a siesta, ate dinner and then worked on homework for tomorrow's class.