Weeks 40 – 42: Monday, May 27, 2024 – June 16, 2024

Good evening, everyone! And a very Happy Father's Day!

I hope you are all having a wonderful June. Apologies for leaving you all in the dark for so long about my whereabouts and what I've been up to the past few weeks. 

To be completely honest, I don't have too many exciting things to report on from the last few weeks. I've mostly spent my days here in Neblinas working on my various projects, spending time with my friends and community members, and organizing sustainability events. But nonetheless, I'm happy to give you all an update about how things are going and what projects I have on the horizon. 

As I believe I've mentioned in previous newsletters, I'm currently in the process of applying for funding to build cisterns for rainwater capture at the high school in the community of Neblinas. The high school has struggled with water insecurity for the last few years and with the changes in climate that the community is experiencing — namely, extreme heat and less rainfall — the high school is at risk of not having water to simply maintain its facilities, not to mention that the director of the school wants to implement and maintain a school vegetable garden which requires a significant amount of water. So the idea is to build cement cisterns for rainwater capture so that when there isn't sufficient water running through the pipes, the students and faculty can be assured that they will have stored water to use as a backup.

Now you may be wondering, "Where is this funding coming from?" and "Ilana, you're not an engineer or construction worker, what do you know about building cisterns?" Well, fortunately for me, I have access to funding via Peace Corps through its connection with USAID, which funds development projects such as the one I am working to implement. And, luckily, there are a significant number of construction workers and skilled individuals who live in the community who (hopefully) will be willing to help me execute this project. Or rather to say, I am not alone in the process. The project I am developing is for the community but it was also developed based on the priorities identified by members of the community and will heavily involve community members in the construction and maintenance process. The secondary goal of this project is that the community members will learn from the process of building these first cisterns and then have the knowledge and skills to build cisterns for rainwater capture at their own homes — which, may I add, is becoming increasingly more necessary.

I haven't written to you for a few weeks, but during these few weeks, Neblinas has dealt with water scarcity, with access from the storage tanks being shut off every few days to accommodate the lack of water that had been flowing into the town via pipes. People were visiting their neighbors and running around town trying to find people who still had water in their hoses and rooftop tanks to see if they might be so generous as to share. We went a couple days without running water as well, which, while inconvenient, was not a dire situation, due to the water that Margarita had so geniously stored before the water was shut off. 

The water situation in Neblinas since has gotten better, however, that doesn't mean that in the next few months we won't be confronted with the same problem. And that in the coming years, we might spend more days without water. In a place that has always been known for water and consistent rainfall, it is scary to see that, here too, the effects of extreme heat and drought are prevalent.

But on the optimistic side, it still rains significantly in the temporada de lluvia (period of rainfall) — or at least, it is said that in the past few years there has been consistent rainfall between July and September in the community. It is now of utmost importance that we capture that water so that when there are times of drought, the people are not left scrambling, looking for what little resources still exist within the community.

So water security is one of the big themes I am focusing on in my service. Another area of focus is reducing pollution and plastic contamination, which in the community looks like organizing community clean-ups, running campaigns to encourage people to throw their trash in trash bins, separate their waste into different materials, and composting. In the past week, we have organized 2 community cleanups: one last Saturday when 12 or so people came and one last night, which was slightly less successful number-wise, but we still collected a significant amount of trash. Trash cleanups are by no means glamorous affairs, but they are certainly necessary. 

The amount of plastic bags, bottles, cans, and especially small pieces of discarded plastic that we collected in those two events was somewhat alarming. And the garbage isn't always obvious — one has to look in the dirt and within crevices to find the trash which is all but embedded into the natural landscape. That's why we're organizing these cleanups: first, to ensure that less pollution makes its way into the water ways; second, to show people just how much trash has accumulated; and third, to hopefully motivate more people to take notice and make an effort to separate their trash and understand the consequences that mindlessly throwing trash has on their ecosystem and on their health.

But enough preaching for one newsletter.

Today was a good day. I went to the river with Rayanne and our friends Jair and Tito who are experts of the river of Neblinas, having made the trek down likely dozens if not hundreds of times since they were children. We started our hike down to the river around 8am and did some bird and insect-watching before settling in a beautiful spot along the river to eat lunch, swim, read, and just absorb the beauty of nature. The water levels are pretty low at this time of year, but there was still enough water to take a swim and it was a relief to see that there is still some water to support the incredibly diverse and lush ecosystem. 

We found lots of cool butterflies and birds and lizards — Jair and Tito are also biodiversity nerds like me — and we made it back up the hill without too much difficulty. I'm certainly in better physical condition compared to the last time I hiked down to the river, which, if you can believe it, was back in December! That means I've been living at site for 7 months now, which is honestly incredible to think about.

What else can I share with you all?

Oh yes. Well, a couple of weeks ago now, Henry Miller and Carmen Arroyo (whom I have given shoutouts to before in this newsletter) generously invited me to stay with them at their home in Tilaco, which I have now visited a few times now. But this time I was invited to have a relaxing getaway from the communtiy where I ate incredibly delicious fresh meals and had time to read and think — with the caveat of also having to work. Maybe I've mentioned it before, but a few months back, I started working with Henry on communications for his organization El Maíz Más Pequeño. It started off with me working on a project updating the English version of his website so it would be more intelligible than the version Google Translate produced. Next, I created a one pager to send to individuals interested in the work El Maíz Más Pequeño does. And now, I am working on executing a social media strategy to help the organization gain more notice and public exposure. 

I really enjoy this work because it allows me to utilize the skillset I gained while working as a communications assistant at MIT and it broadens my knowledge of the climate change landscape in Mexico, as the organization works to strengthen the climate adaptation abilities of communities across Mexico. 

Below, I have attached the one pager I created so you can get a bit more sense of what the organization is and does. The English version of the website, as of yet, is not updated with the translations I worked on. However, if you don't understand Spanish, you can certainly get an idea of the organization from the English version of its website.

If you or anyone you know is passionate about supporting local non-profit organizations with a track record of excellent work and big goals, perhaps you'll think about contacting Henry Miller to see if there is someway you can provide that support. 

And of course, I always appreciate your support as readers and as friends. I am so looking forward to seeing a good number of you during my trip to San Diego in early July!

If I don't write before then, have a great rest of the month and I hope to see you soon!

Love,
Ilana