Kristen Ford
Planet Drum Volunteer
Chris and I have been working on the apartment like crazy. Now the entire main commons room’s walls are painted except for right as you come up the steps. We have been continuing to collect tiles and advice to begin work on the mosaic that I was talking about.
I have been concentrating a lot of energy on generating support from the schools. Chris and I led a tour of the park at Maria Auxiliadora with Vladir’s kids from Genesis School. I then proposed to him that he could bring this group out to Fanca to see the compost project and then to plant some seeds of the native trees that they saw in the park. He is interested and we will do that soon. This led me to think about doing this with all of the schools. Planet Drum volunteers could lead tours of the park to broaden awareness of the park then give a tour of the patio to describe the recycling and composting process and then plant some seeds for the revegetation project. It is also something that could bring more public awareness to our projects. There is a volunteer here for 6 months working on an eco-schools theme for the schools. She is looking for opportunities likethis to share with the teachers. I went around with her last week to each primary school in Bahia. She talked about her programming and I talked about ours with each school director. I also have been working to cultivate support from the Escuela Rotaria in Fanca. The director is very interested in playing a continued role in the development of Fanca.
In the last two weeks I planted another several hundred bags of seeds. Because I won’t be in Bahia for too much longer, I am putting together a program that any Planet Drum volunteer could follow for continuing this work. It describes how to run each tour and how to get the kids to plant the maximum amount of seeds while they are there. It will also give us a space to log what schools we have worked with, what they already know and to describe which teachers and schools are more interested than others.
Rita arrived at the end of the week and then Sara and Matt right after that. I took them to Fanca right away to show them how to do the seed planting. We planted several hundred bags together. I would like to get more clear on exactly what each different type of seed needs because we have not had the greatest success with some of them, particularly the pichiche that Judy and I planted. I have been looking for a book about tropical dry forests to try to learn more about some of these species.
Many kids in Fanca are learning about the compost process, but I am still brainstorming on what is going to get the adults involved.
Reader Interactions