10 for 10:The San Miguel Challenge

Claire Ellis and Lexie Liquez

To bring nutritional/health education and mentoring to a group of disadvantaged teenage girls in Central America

Original Goal, November 2012

On our list of potential locations were Costa Rica, with the convenience of the Soltis Center

Guatemala Mexico We eventually settled on San Miguel de

Allende, Mexico, after becoming acquainted with Mr. Pablo Marvin and learning about an NGO there called Feed the Hungry.

Finding a Location

Our goal was extremely broad We couldn’t maintain steady contact with

directors from Feed the Hungry We didn’t have a specific beneficiary group

in mind Our attitude: we knew what we wanted to

offer, and were looking for a group to “give” it to.

Initial Setbacks

Purpose: ◦ to meet the directors of Feed the Hungry (FTH)◦ To present them with our idea and see if they

were interested in adopting a mentoring program like the one we had in mind

◦ To see the city of San Miguel

San Miguel de Allende: Lexie’s Trip

Outcomes:◦ FTH was not interested in being affiliated with a

project such as ours because it deviated from the organization’s very specific vision

◦ Lexie became personally acquainted with several of FTH’s directors

◦ Our idea needed to be reworked

San Miguel de Allende: Lexie’s Trip

To hold an nutrition/health/hygiene workshop for the teenage girls in the Casa Hogar Don Bosco orphanage in early summer 2013

To form a group of Texas A&M students from various relevant colleges (education, nutrition, Spanish, sociology, kinesiology) to accompany us and help us carry out our goal

New Goal, January 2013

Rewrote proposal a second time

Established contact with Susan Sargent, the listed English-speaking contact for Casa Hogar Don Bosco, who confirmed to us that yes! The people of San Miguel needed help in learning how to live healthier lives!

Began to plan a curriculum and an application process for A&M students

Details…

Susan Sargent’s responses were inconsistent, answered questions we did not ask, did not answer the questions we did ask, and were very difficult to follow

We realized we knew almost nothing about San Miguel and that we weren’t going to get the information we needed secondhand

The orphanage was not located near Hacienda Santa Clara, where we hoped to run our workshops

In speaking with Mr. Marvin and Janice Zimolzak, director of development for FTH, we learned that the girls in the orphanage may not be receptive to our efforts and would probably not benefit long-term from our project.

Our attitude: we knew what we wanted to offer, and were looking for a group to “give” it to.

New Setbacks

Our discovery that Susan Sargent was in fact not associated with the orphanage at all and hadn’t been for ten years

Our conclusion that the orphanage was not an appropriate group of beneficiaries

Contacting and meeting with Dr. Jenna Anding, Associate Department Head for Extension, Nutrition Department

Discouragement, then most importantly… A change in attitude: we needed to spend time in this

community, talk to its members, and find out what its greatest need actually was- nutritionally or otherwise. Then we could find a way to help and form a vision.

Which led to…

Travel together to San Miguel to assess the needs of the community, in particular those of:◦ Women◦ Young children◦ Adolescents◦ Families

Newer Goal, February 2013

Our week-long agenda included:◦ 1) Interviewing/spending time with the female

employees and team members at Hacienda Santa Clara

◦ 2) Becoming better acquainted with Janice of FTH◦ 3) Meeting FTH’s nutritionist and director of

programs◦ 4) Visiting two elementary schools sponsored by

FTH and spending time interviewing the older students

San Miguel de Allende: Trip 2

Margarita, Sandy, Yolanda, Elízabeth, Sofía, Rosario What we learned:

◦ “Machismo”- an attitude of male dominance- is responsible for many families’ decision not to send their young girls to school (approx. 70% of families –Sandy)

◦ The children in SMA aren’t any more nutritionally unaware than most places- like all children, they like to eat junk food

◦ Communities around SMA have benefitted greatly from FTH’s presence, particularly children

◦ Once a child has enough to eat and can find the energy to focus on things like homework, his/her next greatest need is educational resources/school supplies, and most importantly a reason to continue going to school.

Hacienda Santa Clara

What we learned:◦ FTH only intervenes in a community when the community

requests help◦ The school kitchens employ local people to cook, providing a

few much-needed jobs◦ FTH is the most successful NGO in San Miguel and much of

Mexico Why? Its founders identified a need, created a vision that

centered around meeting this need, and do not deviate from the vision. They have created positions in finance, programs, development, and family nutrition within the organization, and run it like a business.

◦ When possible, FTH is interested in helping the children in the schools it sponsors in ways beyond meeting their nutritional needs

Feed the Hungry

What we learned:◦ FTH’s meals have made a noticeable difference in students’

ability to concentrate on their studies◦ Many of the students’ families (boys and girls) always

encourage them to do their homework and study hard◦ The majority of students know where they will be attending

secondary school◦ Many of the students would like to attend a university

someday, but are not sure how to achieve this goal◦ There is a group of ten students in Primaria San Luis

Rey that FTH is sponsoring to study English in a language academy in SMA. These students are devoted to English lessons and practice

in their classes, but there are few fluent speakers for them to practice with outside of lessons.

Primarias San Luis Rey and Leona Vicario

Since education is the primary need of many of the disadvantaged children of SMA once they have enough to eat, we want to be a part of helping meet this need.

10 for 10: we are creating a group of ten A&M students who will be educational, English-speaking mentors for the group of ten students from San Luis Rey.◦ The group will communicate with the students via

mail and Facebook, if possible◦ We will raise funds for the group to make a trip to

SMA during spring break of 2014 to spend time with their mentees and put on after-school group and individual activities of their choosing

Final Goal

Continue contact with directors of FTH, who have told us they are willing to help in providing any information they can about the students and working with San Luis Rey

Create profiles of the ten SMA students and remain in contact with their current teacher

Finalize an application for A&M students who are interested in becoming mentors

Finalize application release date and interview dates Raise funds to cover airfare for ten students at

approximately $700 each, round trip Plan workshops and cultural education sessions

To Do

Incorporate a new group of students each year and continuously raise funds for an annual trip

Possibilities:◦ 1) Find a pair of students in next year’s AFIL class

who have an interest in continuing our vision◦ 2) Merge with AGE (Aggies for Global Education)◦ 3) Run the project through an official student

organization on campus ◦ Ideally a combination of 1 and either 2 or 3

Sustainability

10 for 10: Enriching and inspiring the need to further education for young students by

students.