RCE Borderlands Mexico-USA - 2018

CURRENT PROJECT 8. "Include me!"- "¡Ne si asimera!" Indigenous Education with the Rarámuri Community in Guazapares Municipality, Chihuahua México
Basic Information
Title of project : 
CURRENT PROJECT 8. "Include me!"- "¡Ne si asimera!" Indigenous Education with the Rarámuri Community in Guazapares Municipality, Chihuahua México
Submitting RCE: 
RCE Borderlands México-USA
Contributing organization(s) : 
1) Inspección Escolar de Educación Primaria- Zona 47
(Primary School Inspection- Guazapares Municipality, Zone 47)

2) Living Lab/Centro de Diálogo y Transformación
Focal point(s) and affiliation(s)
Name: 
Mtra. Dora Elisa Ramos Orduño
Organizational Affiliation: 
Primary School Inspection- Guazapares Municipality, Zone 116
E-mail: 
dorismil7@hotmail.com
Name: 
Lic. René Quezada Gallardo
Organizational Affiliation: 
Universidad Autónoma Intercultural de Mochicagüi, Sinaloa
E-mail: 
renequezada95@outlook.com
Name: 
Carolina López C.
Organizational Affiliation: 
Living Lab/Centro de Diálogo y Transformación Inc.
E-mail: 
living.lab.cdt.inc@gmail.com
Format of project: 
Activies for Sustainable Development in Indigenous Communities, Publications, PPTs, Workshops and Trainings, Policy Studies
Language of project: 
Rarámuri and Spanish
Date of submission:
Monday, October 22, 2018
Web link: 
http://www.mejoratuescuela.org/escuelas/index/08FIZ0216L
Additional resources: 
https://www.facebook.com/Living-LabCentro-de-Di%C3%A1logo-y-Transformaci%C3%B3n-Borderlands-M%C3%A9xico-USA-1080731175368081/
Does this project link to any education and/or sustainable development policy or policies?: 
Yes
Ley de la Comisión Nacional para el Desarrollo de los Pueblos Indígenas
At what level is the policy operating?: 
National
Ley General de Protección al Conocimiento Tradicional de los Pueblos Indígenas
At what level is the policy operating?: 
National
Geographical & Education Information
Region: 
Americas
Country: 
Mexico
Location(s): 
Guazapares Municipality. Sierra Madre Mountain Range. Chihuahua 33380 México
Address of focal point institution for project: 
Inspección Escolar de Educación Primaria- Zona 116
Abraham Gonzalez No.000
Témoris, Chihuahua
33380 México

Municipio: Guazapares
Ecosystem(s):
Agricultural, Forest, Mountain
Target Audience:
Community, Primary
Socioeconomic and environmental characteristics of the area : 
Guazapares is a municipality found in the high Rocky Mountain Range of the state of Chihuahua in northern Mexico. The municipal seat lies at Témoris. Guazapares municipality covers an area of 2,145.8 km². According to the 2010 Census, the total population was 8,998, up from 8,010 in 2005. The municipality had 492 localities, the largest of which is Témoris, with 2,053 inhabitants. The region is classified as rural (WP. Accessed 8-11-18).
The famous runners from Chihuahua state-- the Rarámuri people-- also known as the Tarahumara, are the original inhabitants of the Guazapares region. Living in remote mountainside communities, they are considered the poorest demographic segment of Guazapares Municipality and of Chihuahua state as well.
Access to the remote Rarámuri schools is generally by four wheel drive vehicle, or on horseback. Schools are often one or two-room schoolhouses, and children must travel long distances in order to gain a primary education. In addition to lack of access and remoteness, children are often compelled to miss school in order to help the family and the community with harvests and myriad other subsistence activities.
Description of sustainable development challenge(s) in the area the project addresses: 
° Hunger
° Lack of access to education
° Periodic water scarcity
° Insecurity in the region
° Monolingualism and bilingualism
° Cultural differences between the majority Chabochis and the Rarámuri people
° Balancing the wish to respect traditional ways with the desire to provide education and opportunities in these remote communities
° Infrastructure
Contents
Status: 
Ongoing
Period: 
July, 2018
Rationale: 
The Rarámuri people in the High Rocky Mountains generally depend on subsistence agriculture to meet there daily needs. As understood in the Western mindset, the poverty found in the most remote Guazapares Indigenous communities would likely be considered extreme.

In interacting with the Rarámuri communities, the assistance they would like from us includes a) primary education, b) school gardens, c) greenhouses, d) water capture systems, e) solar energy and f) some sort of heating systems to help people through the cold winters of the Rocky Mountains.
Objectives: 
° Construct a one-room school in La Sidra Guazapares to attend to 22 children in primary school age who currently have no access to basic education

° Request a full-time paid position from the Government of the State of Chihuahua for the person who would teach in the La Sidra School

° Plant and care for a school garden

° Educate about basic nutrition and use the produce from the garden a) for school meals and b) for families to take home to eat and to plant in their own plots

° Offer a nutritious hot meal for each child attending the school

° Utilize the school cafeteria for other community and cultural events and for basic community education in areas such as basic hygiene, nutrition, drip irrigation, greenhouse crop cycles, solar panel care and maintenance

° Procure funding in order to support the various Rarámuri communities throughout the Municipality wishing to establish school gardens, water capture and drip irrigation systems, greenhouses, solar energy and basic access to heat for people's homes in the coldest reaches of the municipality

° Establish a Rarámuri Cultural Center and store in Témoris-- the Municipal seat-- in order to a) instill a sense of pride in the Rarámuri culture, b) earn money for scholarships through Cultural Center admissions and sales at the store, c) to provide a place for Rarámuri artisans and farmers to sell their products.
Activities and/or practices employed: 
The Guazapares Primary School Office of the Inspector carries out visits to the Rarámuri villages using a four-wheel-drive vehicle. On these visits, the Inspector interacts with the children, their teacher, the cafeteria ladies and the school grounds man. She listens to the people; she tries to talk with the parents and to hear the needs and the concerns voiced by the community members.

The plans mentioned in the Objectives section above are derived from the common threads of the Inspector's talks with people from various communities. Living Lab/Centro de Diálogo y Transformación has agreed to support these efforts and to try to procure funding for the projects.

As always, in working with the Rarámuri community, it is important that we respect their worldview, their values and their perceptions while, at the same time trying to help the communities to procure, to install and to utilize the aforementioned goods and technologies.
Size of academic audience: 
Guazapares Inspection oversees primary education in 13 Rarámuri communities. If we are able to procure funding for a school in La Sidra, then the Inspector will oversee schools in 14 Indigenous communities, consisting of roughly 60 families each.
Results: 
The desired results are to:

° Construct a one-room school in La Sidra Guazapares to attend to 22 children in primary school age who currently have no access to basic education

° Procure a full-time paid position for the teacher who would attend to the La Sidra School

° Develop a thriving school garden

° Utilize produce from the garden in the school meals, for sending home so families can eat, and for families to re-plant in their own plots of land.

° To improve nutrition in the children, their families and the communities

° Organize cultural events and basic community education activities in the schools, offering information on basic hygiene, nutrition, drip irrigation, greenhouse crop cycles, solar panel care and maintenance

° Help the communities and the schools to install water capture and drip irrigation systems, greenhouses, solar energy and basic heat systems to help keep people warm during the cold winter months.

° Create a Rarámuri Cultural Center and store in Témoris which will help to a) instill a sense of pride in the Rarámuri culture, b) earn money for scholarships through Cultural Center admissions and sales at the store, c) provide a place for Rarámuri artisans and farmers to sell their products.

Lessons learned: 
The lessons learned are about:

° Hunger

° Dignity

° Respect for different ways of being and doing

° Learning to truly listen and to discern the needs, the dreams and the desires of a people who are not generally given to speaking about such things to others.

° Be willing to accept the ways and the decisions of a people who may prefer pathways that don't fit the Western notions of what constitutes 'wellbeing'

Key messages: 
By Western developmentalist standards, the people of the Guazapares Indigenous communities would be considered to live in extreme poverty. It is easy for Westerners to want to impose our views on a very proud people and to try to 'make it right' for them. This is not the way to journey with the Rarámuri community. Instead, we must first listen; we must also try to understand the silences in order to know what it is that the communities want and what they feel that they need. It is only then that we can support these communities in a meaningful and respectful manner.
Funding: 
° The Chihuahua State Government pays teachers’ salaries in existing Rarámuri schools

° The Government should pay the teacher’s salary if we are able to build a school in the La Sidra community

° The government provides “food scholarships” so that children may receive a nutritious hot meal each day at school

° The State Government provides furnishings for each of the existing schools

° The National Educational Reform Program might provide funding support in the long term

° The national Center for Indigenous Development is another possible source of funding

Pictures:

File Name Caption for picture Photo Credit
Image icon 1. Puerto Chiquito classroom. 8-11-18.jpg (101.95 KB) One-room schoolhouse in Puerto Chiquito Rarámuri community, Guazapares Municipality, Chihuahua. Nayeli Sujey Camargo Lugo
Image icon 2. PC School Library. 8-11-18.jpg (94.16 KB) Puerto Chiquito School Library Living Lab/Centro de Diálogo y Transformación
Image icon 3. PC School Cafeteria. 8-11-18.jpg (54.96 KB) Puerto Chiquito school cafeteria Dora Elisa Ramos Orduño
References and reference materials: 
File Ed. Indígena. Ramos. 15-10-18.pptx
PDF icon 8. Indigenous Ed Summary. Funding. 8-11-18.pdf
UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
(https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/sdgs) and other themes of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD)
SDG 1 - End poverty in all its forms everywhere 
Direct
SDG 2 - End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture 
Direct
SDG 3 - Ensure healthy lives and promote wellbeing for all at all ages 
Direct
SDG 4 - Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all 
Direct
SDG 5 - Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls 
Indirect
SDG 6 - Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all 
Direct
SDG 7 - Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all 
Direct
SDG 8 - Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment, and decent work for all 
Indirect
SDG 9 - Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialisation, and foster innovation 
Indirect
SDG 10 - Reduce inequality within and among countries 
Direct
SDG 11 - Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable 
Direct
SDG 12 - Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns 
Direct
SDG 13 - Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts 
Indirect
SDG 14 - Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development 
Indirect
SDG 15 - Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification and halt and reverse land degradation, and halt biodiversity loss 
Direct
SDG 17 - Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalise the global partnership for sustainable development 
Indirect
Theme
Disaster Risk Reduction 
Indirect
Traditional Knowledge  
Direct
Agriculture 
Direct
Arts 
Indirect
Curriculum Development 
Direct
Ecotourism 
Indirect
Plants & Animals 
Direct
Waste 
Indirect
Global Action Programme (GAP) on Education for Sustainable Development – Priority Action Areas
Priority Action Area 1 - Advancing policy 
Indirect
Priority Action Area 2 - Transforming learning and training environments 
Direct
Priority Action Area 3 - Building capacities of educators and trainers 
Direct
Priority Action Area 4 - Empowering and mobilizing youth 
Direct
Priority Action Area 5 - Accelerating sustainable solutions at local level 
Direct
Update: 
No