Detail_Clay_House_2023_03

Worm compost and homemade tortillas: My environmental education project in a Mexican village school

29.03.2023 - Sandy Jotzer
A few months have now passed and I have been able to gain an insight into the various projects at my place of work and also start implementing my own small environmental education project at school. Since there is always a lot going on at work, I definitely don't get bored.

Since January, new students have been coming to help us at work every day, completing the social service required by their studies. Together with them, I look after the beds and plants, produce fertilizers, work in bio-construction, or dig and prepare holes for planting a "bosque comestible", i.e. for planting fruit trees.
In Casita de Barro we regularly receive visits from other (school) groups, who we give a tour of the site or small workshops on topics such as the medicinal use of various herbs or the preservation of nutrient-rich soil with local natural resources (cow manure, ash, microorganisms, ground stone, etc.). The aim is to show the children and their parents that nature gives us a lot of things that we can use without having to exploit and contaminate the earth. If we use the cycle of nature, we can keep both the earth and ourselves healthy.
In addition to my daily work, since the beginning of February I have also been implementing my own small project together with three of the students who come to work with us.

Once a week we have the opportunity to work with the children from the two fourth-grade classes on the topic of environmental education. Here I can pass on the knowledge that I have acquired in the last few months at my placement in Casita de Barro to the children. And above all, with lots of practical exercises and activities.

The project consists of 10 teaching units at the village's primary school and is, so to speak, an extension of the program that the teacher training students implemented at the end of last year.

In our first lesson on February 1st, the children brought us objects, plants, fruits or grains from their home village. We had previously given them the task of bringing us something that came from Tecuanipan or represented the village. We wanted to use this to engage with their homeland together with the children and discover what resources Tecuanipan has to offer. Unfortunately, living in the countryside and working as a farmer is still seen as poor here.
Photo: Sandy Jotzer
One goal of the project is to make the children aware that having so much nature around them and being able to cultivate so many different types of food means wealth, not poverty. And that there are many different sustainable ways of farming without using harmful chemicals and destroying nature. We also work with the children to explore their roots in order to reconnect them with their land and their origins.
Photo: Sandy Jotzer
In our second session with the children, we went on a day trip to a nearby hill. We had also invited the parents to this trip and we were very happy that nine mothers and one father accompanied us. A reforestation project initiated by the villagers has been implemented on the hill for two years. The group that is implementing the project calls itself "Sembrando Esperanza" ("sowing hope"). The father who accompanied us was one of the founders of the group, which is why it was all the more valuable that he was there and could tell the children and mothers up on the hill about the project. On the way to the hill we made various stops during which Susy, my (unfortunately) former work colleague, talked to the children about current environmental problems and the importance of trees, ecosystems and biodiversity. The children were also able to plant some agaves on the hill. Overall, it was a very nice and successful trip and the children and the two teachers of the classes were also happy after the day.

In the next lesson, we had two of the children's grandparents visit the school. They told us what Tecuanipan used to look like, what their childhood in the village was like, what has changed, but also how they used to farm without technical aids and chemicals. We also discussed the changes in agriculture and the consequences of monoculture farming.
In unserer vierten Stunde haben wir zu Beginn ein kleines Experiment gemacht: wir haben Lebensmittelfarbe in ein Glas mit Wasser gefüllt und in diese eine Blume mit weißen Blüten gestellt. Nach einiger Zeit konnten die Kinder beobachten, wie die Blütenblätter langsam die Farbe der Lebensmittelfarbe annahmen, die sie über das Wasser mit aufgenommen hatten. Mit diesem Experiment wollten wir den Kindern verdeutlichen, dass alles, was wir der Erde hinzufügen, von der Pflanze aufgenommen wird und damit beim Konsum letztlich auch von uns oder von den Tieren. Und dass die Pflanzen sowohl die Chemikalien so über den Boden aufnehmen, aber auch die Nährstoffe, die wir zum Boden hinzugeben und die sie zum Leben und wachsen brauchen. Außerdem ging es in der Stunde um die Bedeutung einer gesunden Ernährung auf der Basis von Getreide, Obst und Gemüse und auch um den Schaden, den Verpackungen von verarbeiteten Lebensmitteln in der Umwelt anrichten.
Photo: Sandy Jotzer
Um an dem in der letzten Stunde Gelernten anzuknüpfen, wollten wir den Kindern in der fünften Stunde eine Alternative zu den künstlichen und umweltschädigenden Düngemitteln vorstellen: In dieser Stunde haben wir einen kleinen Workshop zum Thema Wurmkompost gegeben und mit den Kindern und einigen Eltern auch gleich einen Wurmkompost in der Schule gebaut. Jetzt haben die Kinder ihren eigenen Kompost in der Schule, um den sie sich kümmern können. Und der hoffentlich auch dazu anregt, mehr Obst und Gemüse zu konsumieren, damit der Kompost gefüllt werden kann und die Würmer reichlich zu essen bekommen. In der Zukunft wollen wir in der Schule auch noch kleine Beete bauen, damit sie die Erde des Kompostes für den Anbau von eigenem Gemüse oder Kräutern verwenden können.

Vor einer Woche haben wir auch mit den Kindern der vierten Klasse wieder die Kooperation SanJe besucht. Rosalba hat den Kindern ihren Biodigestor erklärt und Armando und Ina haben darüber informiert, was eine Kooperation ist, was sie ausmacht, und warum es wichtig ist, lokal zu konsumieren.
Photo: Sandy Jotzer
This week, in the seventh hour we had with the children, the focus was also on local consumption, preserving traditions and a healthy and nutritious diet.

We asked the mothers whether there were any who would like to introduce the children to traditional recipes and cook something small for a little tasting. Six mothers actually came forward and proudly presented their recipes to us that day. They brought homemade tortillas and frijoles (beans), atole made from corn and amaranth, tlacoyos and, for dessert, “alegrías de amaranto”. Beans are grown in San Jerónimo Tecuanipan and are a small source of pride for the village.Tlakoyos are a pre-Hispanic Mexican dish. They are oval, slightly thicker tortillas made from corn flour, optionally filled with beans, and topped with toppings such as nopal, onions, cheese, meat and salsa. Atole is a pre-Hispanic, warm and energy-rich drink that was originally made with water, corn flour, milk and spices as desired. However, it can also be made from other grains, such as amaranth. "Alegrías de Amaranto" (alegría = joy) are Mexican bars made from amaranth, honey, nuts and raisins. The mothers and one of the girls told us about the process of making the dishes, from growing the plants to processing them.Based on this lesson, we want to create a small recipe book with the children with nutritious, traditional and local recipes.
The next session will finally see the visit to my work site, which the children have been looking forward to for a long time. Among other things, we have planned to take the children on a tour of the Casita de Barro grounds, discuss the medicinal benefits of herbs and make a tincture from the herbs in the garden, and also give them a little insight into the production of natural fertilizers.

Overall, I am very satisfied with how the project is going so far and how well it has been received by the children and especially by the teachers of the two fourth grade classes. The two teachers support us in the organization and show initiative and enthusiasm, which is an important part of the success of the project.

I now have just over four months left here in Mexico and next week two friends from Germany are coming to visit me, with whom I will explore Mexico a little further. I am very grateful to be here and to be able to have these experiences in this beautiful country and also in my placement "Casita de Barro" and I am excited about the experiences that lie ahead in the remaining months.

Thank you for reading and see you in the next report!

Best regards,Sandy
Teile diesen Beitrag:
Share by: