La Salud Middle School
This school is located at “La Salud” community, one of the main neighbouring communities to Ejido el Rosario, but belonging to Ejido of Angangueo, at only a few kilometers from the core of the Colony of Sanctuary El Rosario. This is the final school visit of the 2016-2017 season, and the 34th school visited! The Ambassador butterflies have traveled to many this season!
This school has been visited by Journey North for a few seasons now, since children attending it, are coming from elementary schools where they received their Ambassador Monarchs as children!, and, nowadays, when the season is approaching, and they meet Estela on the road, they run to her and “make her promise” they will continue receiving their letter!
As you see from the first few photos, this school is located up top of a high hill in a very hilly, mountainous country. The school has up to now no internet signal, which they miss very much and no computers classroom or lessons, which is not allowing them to access themselves into at least an idea on what modern education, communication and technology is about.
Their common lessons are Maths, Spanish, Mexican and Universal History, Geography, Biology, Fisics and Chemistry (included the three latter under the concept of Science nowadays) and Basic English. All of the subjects tought by an only teacher. The school population has only got two teachers for about the 40 students in total at the school.
Some locals in this community, as in all others, make a living from forest benefits, obtaining 3,000 (three thousand) pesos for a three ton truck loaded with beautiful wide, healthy, and heavy timber from their forests from outside buyers.
Breeding cattle and sheep is a main part of the local living, but mostly for family and local consumption of the nearest towns; however, no wool processing into fabrics, or similar activities exist in the region.
Once in the classroom, the exchange with the students about Monarchs’ healthy population this year in spite of the affectations of the wind and sleet and snow storm last year, becomes lively and learning in many ways!. The age of these students allows for a deeper reflection and it is very compensating to see and hear how these new generations are concerned about the conservation of their natural surrounding, “Wishing this shall forever be the winter refuge for Monarchs!", --they vehemently express.
"Our grandpa’s tell about the time when they were children and went to cut woods to the forest for making fire at home for our grandmas cooking and heating the house, and they tell about how some areas of woods in there were practically dark at the dense quantity of Monarchs completely wrapping the trees from bottom to top all around, Estela; much more than it is seen nowadays; they also say the carpet on the soil made their feet sink-in as they walked." Mostly boys agreed.
“Our grandma’s tell about the days when Monarchs appeared and it was the signal of our Dead relatives’s souls coming to visit us!. The whole family should then start making big preparations on getting their best apparels for that day, men and women, lots of cooking different dishes to be served in our best clay pots at home, bedrooms should dress in the best way, the kitchen should shine clean for the Night of the Dead… Monarchs continue to be our signal for such a festivity, which is for us one of the most awaited moments over the whole year...”
Girls commented almost in choir to Estela, which shows how our rich traditions should prevail into the future with these generations so integrated to them in their daily lives.
With the excitement of opening their Ambassador butterflies one student jumps up to show Estela what she received from a Canadian school.
Women in Angangueo town, love decoration the inside and outside of their beautiful, colorful homes this natural plant pots whose care requires buying sacks of forest soil traditionally bought from locals bringing it from the forests around in their loaded donkeys or horses. A sack of soil is around 30 pesos.
That is how Journey North ends this season, building up sensibilities in these generations, who, since they were elementary school children, a few years ago, received their Ambassador Monarchs and letters, whose visit has little by little changed their minds totally about their the vital importance on the conservation of their treasure-natural surrounding ancestrally sheltering the Monarch butterfly species every single the winter in the Central Oyamel Forest Mountains in central México.
While the visits to schools are over now, the way the whole community in our region lives the peak days of the Season, which seems to promise to be a very good season in terms of Monarchs’ population and tourism flow from all over the country and different countries of the world visiting us over the weeks to come, you all should keep posted on the many aspects to show you about it, sharing our joyous living in this, which is indeed the best season of the year for the whole region!
Estela Romero
Angangueo, Michoacán, México.
Butterflies Received
This school received Ambassador Butterflies from the following U.S. and Canadian Schools:
Emily Carr Public School, London, ON
Pauline Public School, Burlington, ON
MacLeods Landing, Richmond Hill, ON
Adrienne Clarkson Public School, Richmond Hill, ON
Adrienne Clarkson Public School, Richmond Hill, ON
Caledon East Public School, Caledon East, ON
Kumeyaay Elementary, San Diego, CA
James Simons School, Charleston, SC
Adelante Charter, Santa Barbara, CA
Boulton Elementary, Bountiful, UT
Fairless Elementary, Navarre, OH
Fairless Elementary, Navarre, OH
Fairless Elementary, Navarre, OH
Montecito Union School, Santa Barbara, CA
Garderie Bonne Aventure Preschool, Montreal, QUE
Burnett & Riker Hill School1577, Livingston, NJ
LaSalle II Magnet School, Chicago, IL
James Simons School, Charleston, SC
Simpsonville Elementary, Simpsonville, KY
Finley Oates Elementary, Bonham, TX
Fernforest Public School, Brampton, ON
Fernforest Public School, Brampton, ON
Fernforest Public School, Brampton, ON
Kumeyaay Elementary, San Diego, CA
Garderie Bonne Aventure Preschool, Montreal, QUE
Garderie Bonne Aventure Preschool, Montreal, QUE
Garderie Bonne Aventure Preschool, Montreal, QUE
Garderie Bonne Aventure Preschool, Montreal, QUE
Garderie Bonne Aventure Preschool, Montreal, QUE
Garderie Bonne Aventure Preschool, Montreal, QUE
Spring Forest Middle School, Houston, TX
Spring Forest Middle School, Houston, TX
Ardena Elementary, Farmingdale, NJ
Merriam School, Acton, MA
|
