There is a Canadian expat community here in San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas. This past Saturday I travelled with Paul Poirier of Belleville, Ontario to San Juan de Chamula. Paul has been coming to Chiapas for 20 plus years. Now that his wife Diane, who worked at the Canadian Mental Health Society in Belleville for many years, has retired, they settle in San Cristobal together for four months of the year. In what they do here, they are much more than the typical snow-bird.
They are practical people and get things done. Among other projects, over the years Paul and Diane, with the support of Canadian volunteers and donors, have financed and built 30 classrooms either totally or with another NGO partner in 18 different communities. Through the Arthur Frederick Community Builders (AFCB), the NGO they founded in 1993, they continue to promote projects that respond to the needs of the poor.
The attraction to Chiapas goes deep for Paul and Diane. Roll back some 43 years to when they were both in their 20's. See the handsome young couple hitchhiking (!) through Mexico. Paul is tall and strong, destined for a career in construction. Diane is especially attentive to the diverse cultures. As a mature student in the 1980's she studies archeology at Trent University. She shares her knowledge and love of the ancient cultures with Paul. Their love blossoms in service to others and over the years benefits the Maya peoples of Chiapas.
There is also an American expat community in San Cristobal de las Casas. Paul's purpose on Saturday was to join the 72 year old American expat president of Amigos de San Cristobal, Diane Livingston. The Amigos are a group of Mexicans and expat residents who gather funds to support community projects. Diane Livingston has a special project that is coming to a point of completion. She has relied on Paul's advice in past and she wants him present in San Juan de Chamula. This was the day that she would supervise the completion of her dreamed about, improved version of an appropriate technology stove. As her assistant, she has brought along her Mexican Tzotzil godson, the highly competent 20 year old, Rodulfo (Rod).
Finally, there is another Mexican partner in the project, Francisco Guttierrez. Francisco is on the board of AlSol, a non-profit civil association that does micro-credit financing. He is a tall, strongly-built man with a loud voice and a surplus of warm energy. He is in the construction supply business and has organized the materials and brick-layers for the stove project. It is AlSol that will help promote the construction of these stoves more widely in the indigenous community. Diane and Francisco go head to head as Diane insists on exact measurements and Francisco patiently guides the workers in getting the job done. Paul steps in on occasion to make a suggestion and to express approval of their decisions.
I am delighted at the opportunity to witness the building of this stove. Diane claims that the design will reduce wood consumption by 60%. The heat produced in a narrow combustion chamber moves first to the mouth above and then with the smoke to the flat expanse of the large iron surface of the stove and out of the house through a pipe chimney. It's a simple design that is perfect for the cooking of beans over the front mouth and tortillas on the flat iron plancha. It is appropriate technology that comes from Diane consulting with design experts and communicating with the women who do the cooking. The next step will be the matter of reducing costs. Led by Francisco, Diane and Paul and the family in attendance cheer the arquitectos -- the bricklayer and assistants. We take photos as a very pleased Tzotzil mother and cook sits with a smile by the side of her new stove.
No comments:
Post a Comment