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Melchor Ocampo Elementary, Grades 1-3 Children at these grades may seldom be able to write a letter and when visited, are simply asked to do a nice drawing to correspond to the gifts sent in their symbolic Monarchs by North-American and Canadian Children, and in this case to German children sending their symbolic Monarchs from Kaiserslautern in Germany! Teachers, older students, and Estela herself are marvelled at knowing that some symbolic Monarchs are sent from Gemany! Not to believe!. Thank you in everyone’s behalf! A few things teachers and Estela tell the children about Germany is that we know their country is beatiful in nature and that their language is as hard to learn as Spanish, our language! Children learn about Monarchs needing to escape from the terribly cold winters in the north to shelter themselve in our warm winters in the Oyamel forests in central México, in our region, unique in the world for being the Monarchs’ overwintering sites. As Estela explains how a Monarch is born, they get simply taken away at hearing about the many eggs laid by Monarch moms to the incredible hatching stages and the complex process of methamorphosis! They can only ask a few questions, since it all sounds as magic to them! Gifts to the classroom: “Abremente” game; “El Principito” book. In the community, pictures of some moms buying some fruits and vegetables at a truck passing by, a typical way to get some food at far away communities. Going down to the nearest towns may not be possible to do often for many families. They use wood and coal to heat their homes and to cook. Electricity is now at homes for a few years and most likely every family should have a radio or a t.v. at home with 2-3 channels to watch. About this school and area: Walking to the nearest community would take them more than one hour. High school would be practically out of possibility, since going down to Angangueo town is not possible. There is not public transportation available to do it. Parents having a car at home, would hardly be able to afford expenses for daily driving them back and forth to and from school. Parents mostly live from agricultural activities. The experience visiting this school today has been specially compensating. Both children and teachers have welcomed Journey North with great excitment, really happy to have been visited by the program, since their rather far location and innaccesibility make them feel sometimes excluded from certain local events and life in general. Butterflies Received Vogelweh Elementary, Kaiserslautern, GER
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