language and bilingual books for older children in the villages. This collaboration has provided libraries and parenttraining programmes for participating families in five villages to date, and there are plans to add new villages each year. The partnership with Bring Me A Book has enhanced the strong relationships developed through Proyecto Itzaes’ close collaboration with committed community members. Leamos Juntos Yucatán addresses the extreme poverty of the Maya village children and emphasizes a multilingual, multicultural approach to reach those most in need. These children often enter primary education without having held a book and without basic prereading skills. Our programmes have successfully reached the most vulnerable population in the region – low-income families in small villages where adults – including, of course, parents – have little or no literacy skills.
Taking on diabetes in the community In 2006, Proyecto Itzaes initiated a type 2 diabetes prevention project in collaboration with a number of Rotary groups based in Mexico and the USA – the Club Rotario Nuevas Generaciones (Mérida, Yucatán), Palo Alto Rotary (USA) – and the Rotary Foundation.. Its focus in several Yucatán villages was to be on preventing type 2 diabetes.
The process of researching and compiling this information had clear and positive psychosocial impact. Through the diabetes project, villagers were able to access hi-tech resources, including computers, printers, scanners, digital cameras and recorders and a range of teaching materials. This enabled middle-school students in the community to complete a series of village-wide health education projects. The students interviewed village elders in Maya and Spanish about the foods that they ate during their childhood. The interviews were recorded and photographed digitally. Students compiled detailed data on the foods that were most commonly consumed, and how these were cultivated and cooked. Working collaboratively, and using the Internet to access nutritional information, the project participants assessed the healthfulness of that traditional diet and compared it to their own – which was dominated by processed foods and sugar-sweetened beverages. The process of researching and compiling this information had clear and positive psychosocial impact on the students. However, the majority found it difficult to change their behaviour to embrace a healthy
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traditional diet – seemingly a common problem worldwide. Action on behaviour change Projecto Itzaes is ongoing. Students and mentors are working to develop programmes with the capacity to inform and support behaviour change. These include sports and dance programmes that encourage physical activity; classes in sustainable agriculture for women in the community – enabling them to regain the ability to produce their own food; and in 2010, a special diabetes prevention project led by science educator, Tom McFadden, that staged a health fair in one of the villages, Ixil, with free glucose screening and advice. That event led to the production of a rap song, Soy Yucateco, with a strong health-protection message. The video has been viewed by nearly 30,000 people on Youtube (www.youtube.com/ watch?v=5TMFN0wCimA). In parallel with child-focussed educational projects, Proyecto Itzaes has run workshops for local farmers in bio-intensive farming and created a Farmers’ Market in which to sell the produce. In Maya culture, 21 December 2012 is a date that signifies renewal and hope for the future. One of the best investments that an individual, family, community (or country) can make for the future is in education. Proyecto Itzaes involves bidirectional learner-instructor interaction and a community of active and dynamic learning. In these testing times of social, financial and environmental crises, Projecto Itzaes offers hope beyond 2012.
Cynthia J Wilber Cynthia J Wilber is founder and executive director of Proyecto Itzaes. She is education coordinator at Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve, Stanford University, USA.
October 2012 • Volume 57 • Special Issue 1