Sholock, which means “lightning” in Kumeyay, is 12 years old and is the first grade of junior/middle school (comparable to our seventh grade).  He’s a very fun-loving and disciplined boy that love music, plays soccer and regularly attends church.  His father is a teacher in the San Antonio Necua Tribe and his mother works in the community museum while giving time to the tribe’s ecotourism project.  He has two sisters, one 14 and one nine.

Every morning, Sholock wakes up at 5:00 a.m. so his parents can take him to the nearest small town to catch a bus at 5:45 that takes him to Ensenada by 6:45 to make school at 7:00.  At the end of the day he takes another long bus to the Valley of Guadalupe where his parents pick him.  Talk about dedication!

We love to see our BECA students flourish and need your help to add to the long list of success stories.  Sponsor a child here.

Below is a translation of an article in EL MEXICANO that describes the students’ visit and scholarship:

Bicentenary Scholarship Given to 30 Children of the State

Honored by the president of Mexico Felipe Calderon

El MEXICANO

By Ismael Dávila

September 6, 2011

MEXICALI. – A group of 30 Baja California students were awarded the Bicentenary Scholarship that guarantees them economic support until they graduate from college. The group was received by the president of the Republic, Felipe Cauldron Hinojosa, during their visit to Mexico City.

Back in Baja California, filled with enthusiasm and happiness, the students shared this enriching experience with their parents, teachers and classmates, but they also had the opportunity to share it with students from student winners of the scholarship.

On August 30, the young students attended the Contest Awards Ceremony, also attended by the president of the Workers National Union, Elba Esther Gordillo Morales; the secretary of Public Education, Alfonso Lujambio Irazabal; the president of the council ‘Consejo del Fideicomiso Becas Generación Bicentenario-Nacional Monte de Piedad’, Antonio Navalón and the president of Monte de Piedad Teacher’s Union, Gerardo Limón Espíndola.

These scholarships recognize the efforts of kids and young people in their classrooms. The scholarship will provide monthly income support during all their academic years until they finish college.

The amount given will vary according to the education level they are currently enrolled. For example, elementary will receive $2,600 pesos, high school $3,600 pesos, preparatory $4,500 and superior education $6,000 pesos.

It is important to mention that the economic support will also depend on the student’s performance. In order to keep receiving this scholarship, the student will have to maintain good grades.

The entity was represented by 17 high school students and 13 elementary and middle school students. Adding this number to the total of representatives per municipality, here is how it looks: 17 belong to Ensenada, eight to Mexicali, four were from Tijuana and one from Tecate.

The winners were part of the “Generation Bicentenary” initiative, organized by the Secretary of Public Education and the Educational Workers National Union as part of the 200^th anniversary of the Mexican Independence and the Centenary of the Mexican Revolution.

The scholarships vary from the $2,600 to the $6,000 pesos.

October 2, 2011 – Comunidad’s Ensenda-based board member, Mike Wilken, was recently featured in an article on the front page of the LA Times.  It profiles his work with the Kumeyaay tribe and features Teodora, the matriarch of all the tribes.

You can check it out here:

“Ancient ways and modern times”

There is also a really great video on the LA Times photography site here:

“Kumeyaay living in Baja offer glimpse into the past”

Thanks Mike for all your hard work!

By nine o’clock in the morning, the line of students stretched out the gates of the Museo Histórico Regional and down the street. Inside the courtyard of the old fort Vicky Santoyo, Comunidad’s Ensenada-based Executive Director, and Teresa Moreno, Director of Comunidad’s Beca (scholarship) program, were directing the final setup of the health fair that has become part of Comunidad’s annual Beca awards ceremony. Over 50 volunteer representatives (medical students, translators, nurses and general volunteers) staffed the following stations:

Vaccines:

•Tetanus
•Hepatitis B

Education and prevention:

•Pregnancy prevention
•Drug and alcohol addiction
•Diabetes testing
•Testing for hypertension
•Nutrition
•Self-esteem and life planning (Susanna Martinez Rios: Universidad Autonoma de Baja California, head of Languages)
•A government booth to help with university scholarships

Once the gates opened, the students poured in to attend each presentation, receive their vaccinations, write letters to their sponsors and visit with their friends from other tribes, who they may see only once or twice a year. Vicky circulated among the stations while Teresa, aided by new volunteer Joe Cook, awarded scholarships to over 250 students. Meanwhile, in one of the old prison cells of the converted fort, Comunidad President Tom Hogan and Bill Rush, Director of Operations, met with tribal leaders, government officials and members of the press to promote the organization and plan for the coming year.

The Beca program, in which Comunidad promises to sponsor any tribal child’s post-6th grade education, as long as they achieve certain grades and maintain strong attendance, is in its fifth year and is generating impressive results. The Cucapah students have won one of Mexico’s highest academic awards for two years straight, despite attending most of their classes via the Internet. One of the students missed the Beca ceremony because he was meeting with President Calderon to receive a prestigious academic award, one of only 25 awarded in all of Mexico. And we recently graduated our two first Beca recipients, one now an attorney, the other a newly-licensed Registered Nurse.

More importantly, the tribal leaders tell us that the Beca program is even more important to their communities than the health care we provide and the water and sanitation projects that we have conducted. They tell us that their children no longer have a ceiling on their dreams; that they know now that if they stay in school and work hard, they can go anywhere and do anything.

For information on the Beca program and how you can sponsor a child, please contact Teresa Moreno @ 408-234-1080 or teresa@teifeld.com. To learn more about Comunidad’s other programs, please contact Tom Hogan @ 408-355-0108 or thogan@bajacomunidad.org.

For more information please contact Teresa Todd.
Teresa@teifeld.com

Dental hygienists Nancy Downend and Amy Scholtz plus Linda Tabor on sterilzation put in 10 hour days both Friday and Saturday at Casa Hogar Orphanage to treat as many kids as possible.

When we planed the dental clinic at Canyon Buena Vista, we did not realize that the kids were scheduled for a day trip to the beach so the team went into “overdrive” to get all the treatments complete prior to the departure to the beach.  In all there were over 30 full cleanings plus the normal fillings and extractions.  The only child that did not make it to the beach needed a root canal which Dr. Larry Tabor performed.

Once all the kids were taken care of we opened the clinic the entire town of Canyon Buena Vista and with the help of translator Lee Johnson who canvased the streets we kept busy until 6 pm on Saturday.

Casa Hogar orphanage is located about 20 miles south of Ensenada Mexico and is a village of over 10,000 people mostly migrant and seasonal workers in agriculture.

The dental clinic itself is an ongoing project and we continued upgrading the equipment and fine tuning the layout for ease of operation.

The next scheduled trip is October where we expect to have 3 dentists and 2 hygenists, plus the usual complement of translators, general volunteers and of course Linda Tabor operating the autoclave and keeping the instruments in order.

Hillbrook School in Los Gatos, Ca is a founding school in Comunidad Para Baja California’s Escuela Program.  For many years Hillbrook has worked with Cucapah’s teacher Sonia to create cultural exchanges.  Eden has traveled to Mexico to see the village first hand and put together a trip where six families from Los Gatos spent 4 days visiting the community and helped paint the school and plant a garden.  There were many soccer games played on the dirt field and the Hillbrook kids learned some new sports games from the local children.

Sonia spent a week in Los Gatos, with her two sons, bringing some of the history and culture of this small fishing village to the Hillbrook students.

Cucapah is 53 kilometers South East of Mexicali, MX.  but it might as well the 5300 miles away.  It has very primitive water and electrical infrastructure and no land based internet service.  The school had at one time a satellite internet connection for tele-education but that has fallen into disrepair.  A small medical clinic and one tiny store.  This is a village of 65 families whose livelihood is primarily fishing and bead crafts.

Cucapah Mayor is primarily a fishing community and  is located 55 kilometers south-east of Mexicali Mexico.  Cucapah was the epicenter of a 7.4 magnitude earthquake on April 4, 2010 that rocked the village and was felt all the way to Los Angeles and parts of Arizona.  We were told that it has been just over two weeks since they felt the last aftershock which have been coming nearly every four days since April.

“Bold Echo is proud to support Comunidad Para Baja California’s efforts to provide education to Nativo children through our participation in their Beca program,” said Bold Echo co-founder Kristin Tedford.  “We applaud their efforts to improve the lives of the Nativo communities while respecting and preserving their native heritage.”

The Beca program is Comunidad Para Baja California’s promise to fund middle and high school education for the Nativo children (the government only funds education up to the sixth grade).  The cost to fund a child’s education (tuition, books, transportation and materials) is $200/year.

To sponsor a child, please contact Teresa Moreno:

Teresa Moreno, c/o Teifeld & Co. Insurance
255 W Julian St #403
San Jose, CA  95110

The isolation of the Kumeyaay’s land, combined with many years of social and governmental neglect, has created a unique situation in which the Kumeyaay lack many of the basic necessities such as health care, education and infrastructure. Comunidad Para Baja California, a Los Gatos based non-profit, works with volunteers to provide much needed assistance to these indigenous people.

The tribes of the Kumeyaay in Mexico include: Juntas de Neji, San Jose de la Zorra, San Antonio Necua, La Huerta, and Santa Catarina (Pai-Pai Kumiai).  Comunidad Para Baja California works with all these tribes and helps provide them with basic necessities such as health (Salud), education(BECA) and infrastructure (Infrastructura).

The Rotary Club of San Jose North was so impressed with Comunidad Para Baja California’s projects that they are in the process of supporting the construction of a medical clinic and community center in San Jose de la Zorra. The recent visit was to survey the proposed site for the building, and get to know the Kumeyaay people.

The Kumeyaay arrived in the Baja California region about 2,500 years ago. Their native lands stretched from Escondido, California just north of San Diego, all way south to Santo Tomas-50 kilometers south of Ensenada, Mexico. The Kumeyaay were a nomadic people who moved about in bands or clans in search of resources, typically in time with the seasons.

Spending the summer and fall months in the mountains, the Kumeyaay depended upon wild game and harvesting fruits and nuts.  The winter months were spent in the coastal valleys much like their current home, San Jose de la Zorra.

By the time the Spanish missions began to arrive, the Kumeyaay lands were being taken away and they were being rapidly reduced in population. By the 1900s their numbers had be systematically lowered from over 150,000 in 1845 to about 16,000 (Source: http://www.campo-nsn.gov/).

The persecution faced by these Native Americans during the early part of the century forced the Kumeyaay further back into the valleys and mountains, away from their native lands. When Mexico lost its northern territories in 1848, the border was created and forever split the tribes in half. Eight reservations managed to survive in the San Diego area and four in Baja California.

In the coming months, Rotary and Comunidad Para Baja California will be meeting to discuss how best to work together to meet the needs of not only the people of San Jose de la Zorra but the larger indigenous population of northern Mexico.  To get involved, please visit www.bajacomunidad.org or call Comunidad Para Baja California President, Tom Hogan, at 408-355-0108.

The Premio Nacional “Amanda Rimoch” a la Educación Ambiental is a major public recognition from the Mexican Secretary of Enviroment and Natural Resources, Secretary of Public Education, the Mexico City Junior League and the Liomont Foundation.  Students from schools all over Mexico submit environmentally focused projects for consideration.

The Cucapah students—all fellows of Comunidad’s Beca (Scholarship) program—won the recognition for their project “Recycling Domestic Waste” and its impact on the Cucapah tribe.  The project was an outgrowth of their science class, giving the students a real-world application of their lessons.

“We couldn’t be prouder of these students,” said Teresa Moreno, Director of Comunidad’s Beca program.  “To compete—and win—against schools and students with so much more in the way of resources is a real tribute to their dedication.  The sponsors of these children should be proud of the opportunity they’ve given these kids to learn and grow.”

First grade of Telesecondaria (7th grade in US system) worked with plastic bags, second grade (8th grade) recycled plastic bottles, while the third grade (9th grade) experimented with recycling cooking oil.  The plastic was recycled into brooms, vases and chairs, while the cooking oil, when combined with native plants, yielded a rich soap for spa use.

The winners of this prestigious award are:
Ceceña Sainz Sergio Francisco, Laguna Beltrán Jesús Antonio, Saiz Carrillo Samuel, Carrillo Saiz Jesús Misael,  Rapp Avila Daniela, Jauregui Laguna Ramón, Galaviz Saiz Alfonso , Soto Torres Jaziel, Laguna Beltrán Reyna Gabriela, Galaviz Saenz Dayana.

The students have voted to take the prize money ($10,000 US dollars) and put it towards laptops and a WiFi system for the tribal community.

Photos of many of these students can be viewed here.

A video (in Spanish) about the project can be viewed here.