by Jon Bishop

On July 24, 2007, I was able to visit our facilitators, Marlon Palacio and Alma Susana Chávez in Santa Teresa. I had only one day to discuss our projects but it was a very productive meeting and gave a good view of our projects and the management challenges. We hired both Alma and Marlon for their different and complementary skill sets. They have grown into their positions nicely, and they work well together, which has made the projects initiated since their joining the SCP very successful.A woman brings her baby to be examined by Dr. Quintanilla.

In 2007, the SCP Board made the decision to start working with communities in the buffer zone around the Chacocente Wildlife Refuge. Alma did a study of the needs and resources of several communities in this area. She recommended that we start with pilot projects in two new communities, El Terrero and La Chota. We provided funding for both projects, and both have been completed. The level of organization of the residents of El Terrero was particularly encouraging. When Marlon and Alma delivered the materials for building latrines, a team of people awaited the truck to help unload it and carry the materials to the worksites. Two weeks later on the follow-up visit to see whether construction of the latrines had begun, all of the latrines were upright. We are looking forward to increasing our support of El Terrero in 2008 because it is perhaps the poorest community in the buffer zone. Given the enthusiasm of the folks there, we hope to change that.

The most vexing problem that Marlon and Alma faced when I visited them in 2006 was transportation to Chacocente. They live in Santa Teresa, which is 18 miles from the edge of the Chacocente Wildlife Refuge. The only public transportation to the area left at noon and returned at 8 am the next day. They could get rides with FFI, another non-governmental organization that worked in the Refuge, but that was quite unpredictable. They could borrow motorcycles from FFI, but if FFI needed them at the last minute, Marlon and Alma were left high and dry. Making firm commitments for meetings in the Refuge was next to impossible.

SCP’s solution was to provide the down payment on a motorcycle for Marlon and Alma. Each is responsible for the monthly payment. We increased their expense allowance to cover the cost of gas. The result is that Marlon and Alma now spend three days a week in the Refuge and this has been hugely helpful to our projects.

One project that has benefited greatly from the facilitators’ increased mobility in the Refuge is the health project. We have begun funding monthly visits by Dr. Wilford Quintanilla to our communities to train health promoters and see patients. Dr. Quintanilla works at a clinic in La Pita, which is in the buffer zone and some distance from our communities. During my visit to his clinic in July, 2006, he indicated a strong interest in increasing his presence in the communities we support, but lack of transportation made it essentially impossible. Now Dr. Quintanilla usually rides on the back of Marlon’s motorcycle, but during the height of the rainy season, even a motorcycle can be inadequate to get to certain communities, so then he goes on horseback. Still, Marlon can take him by motorcycle to a place where he can borrow a horse. We are very pleased to have been able to increase the access to medicine for the residents of our communities.

The most interesting improvement in our communities brought about by Marlon and Alma’s motorcycles is in the area of education. Most teachers in the communities of Chacocente live in Santa Teresa and spend the week in the community. In the past they often did not arrive in the community in time for class on Monday and often left after class on Thursday leaving the children with only three days of school each week. With their new mobility in the reserve, Marlon and Alma started checking on the teachers in our communities to see whether they were meeting their classes on Mondays and Fridays. The SCP Board did not direct them to do this; they simply did it out of a sense of duty. The teachers who were caught out by this initially resented having to be at school five days a week. Alma worked with the teachers to improve conditions at the school and provide materials when needed. The teachers now accept their five day commitment and greatly appreciate the increased support by Marlon and Alma. The quality of primary education in the communities was sorely lacking, so we are delighted that some vigilance by Marlon and Alma with the help of their new motorcycles appears to be making a tangible difference.

Alma, Marlon, and I met with Carlos Chávez, the new representative of the Ministry of Education in Santa Teresa. His predecessor had regularly disappointed us by lack of action to help Chacocente students. Carlos is very pleased with Alma's vigilance and support of the teachers. However, he is so new to the position that it is not yet possible to evaluate his performance, though he does seem very interested in improving the situation in the Refuge.

Much of our conversation focused on secondary education. Up to now, there has been no secondary education available to the residents of the Refuge or the buffer zone. The closest secondary school is in Santa Teresa, which is too far to travel on a daily basis. Over the last year, the SCP Board has identified secondary schooling as a priority. Carlos said that there is a new distance learning program for secondary education in place in La Chota, one of our new communities. There are 26 students enrolled. Most of them are adults who come from many different communities in the Refuge and buffer zone. Presently, all of them are in the first year (7th grade), and the modules only go through the third year (9th grade). Carlos would like to augment the modules with periodic visits by a teacher to work with the students. We are hopeful that we will be able to work with Carlos to improve access to secondary education over the next year. The excellent working relationship that Marlon and Alma have established with him in his brief tenure gives us reasons to be optimistic.

The SCP Board has begun the planning process for 2008. The four priorities are health, education, the environment and expansion of activities into the buffer zone. We feel that we got off to an excellent start on those areas in 2007 in large part due to the work of Marlon and Alma. We feel fortunate to have Marlon and Alma representing us in Santa Teresa and in the Refuge, and with your support, look forward to continuing our progress there.

Santa Teresa schoolboys

• We thank the Madison Returned Peace Corps Volunteers for their confidence and continuing support of our program. They donated $2,000 toward water and sanitation projects in the two new communities, La Chota and El Terrero.