El Salto

A lot of our time here is spent learning and listening.  Sometimes I like to think of it as a study in social movements - they are so vibrant and resilient here, and there is much to learn.  Lately, we have been spending time with a community based, horizontal organization in El Salto called Un Salto de Vida (A Leap of Life).  From running a community recycling program to facilitating a medical study on the health of children in the community, their grassroots collective is inspiring and creative.  We visited the office the other day and were really moved by the expressive art on the walls inside and outside of the building. It left me thinking about what art's role is in social movements.  It is so important, yet manifests in so many ways that is difficult to pinpoint.  Click read more to check out all the good stuff they've come up with.

In search of

Interviewing is a challenging and rewarding process. Until recently, I didn't fully enjoy conducting interviews because it was exhaustingly demanding and somewhat daunting, particularly in Spanish. However, and this may seem obvious, so many people have so much to share if you simply ask the right questions. There are morsels that pop up in interviews that may never arise in a day to day conversation and those tidbits are beautiful, raw pieces of humanity to witness and learn from. While interviews may be nerve biting and awkward, interviews are also SO COOL. (Keep reading!  Click 'read more' below)

<== Check out our new logo!!! Infinite thanks to the very talented and hardworking Jon Doyle of Jon Doyle Design.

After feedback, constructive criticism and more time on the ground, we've decided to amend our mission statement. Without further ado:

We thought it would be a good idea to take a step back and share a brief overview of the communities around Guadalajara that we're working with.  At the moment, there are three:

• La Huizachera
• El Salto/Juanacátlan
• Temacapulín

While they are geographically disparate and are facing their own unique issues, they are all a part of the Río Santiago watershed.  To get a better sense of the area and the communities we're working with, be sure to check out the map at the end of the post!

On Wednesday our friend Pablo from IMDEC took us on a powerful tour of the municipio of El Salto where he lives.  We revisited La Huizachera and voyaged southeast away from the city, tracking the Canal Ahogado's path to where it feeds into the Rio Santiago.  Then we followed the Rio Santiago through the largest industrial corridor in Guadalajara, stopping to explore the El Salto/Juanacatlan waterfalls, and finished our trip along the Rio Santiago in rural Juanacatlan.  It was a difficult journey.

Last night I attended a screening of Liz Miller's documentary film The Water Front at the Food and Water Watch (FWW) office in San Francisco. FWW wrote the documentary "offers a sharp look at the possible risks ahead for communities looking to privatize their water supply."  The movie highlighted a community's struggle to maintain their right to affordable water amidst a privatization scheme pushed forward by outside consultants hired to balance the city's budget.   The citizens of Highland Park, Michigan, right outside of Detroit, successfully organized a grassroots campaign to maintain control of the public water supply, however lost a million dollars by employing the consultants.