Symbolic Migration

The Adventures of the Symbolic Monarchs in Mexico!
Travel with Estela as she delivers your Ambassador Butterflies

Gallery 2
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Elaborating your own piñata is lots of fun for the whole family. Before Christmastime, moms come with their kindergarten children to collaborate in making their children's own piñatas. Take a look and try on your own!

How to Make a Piñata

1. Start with a clay pot, or wrap layers of paper around a blown-up ballon. Let it dry to get a paper pot for a base.
2. Get some firm cardboard to make seven cones around the pot. These represent the seven capital sins in the Christian religion - greed, gluttony, sloth, pride, envy, wrath and lust.
3. Lots of color paper, glue and scissors and your own creativity will do the rest!!!

This is a school where groups are enormous. We all got together at the auditorium of the school. Children would leave soon after Journey North's presentation, because their community were in big festivity. I have presented the photos of this group in progressive segments, since, besides being it necessary, it started to rain and there was no way to take the group out for a general impression.

Arriving to the school.

Grades 5th and 6th grades

December 10, 2012
Dear Friends: I've had a splendid day today, since after distributing your ambassador butterflies at "Redención del Campesino" School, I was invited by children and teachers to attend the festivities already taking place at the main square of the little community. Today, they are honoring the image of their Patron Saint San Cristóbal. The way this community celebrate is a genuine and clear proof of the mixture of the indigenous customs and beliefs of our ancestors before the Spanish Conquest, and the adoption of Christianity, once the conquest took place in our land. I really wish you could have seen this live today!

 

Break time at school ranges from a small snack to a dining room where mothes prepare delicious Mexican dishes, such as is the case at this school.

 

5th grade

Moms assigned for the week to organize and assist at the daily kermess for their children.

A Soja-Tuna tostada, addressed with cream, mexican salsa and sparkled cheese.

Fried Tacos, Quesadillas, Chilaquiles and a Sope ready to go,dressed with lettuce, cream, sauce and shredded cheese. These dishes cost 5 pesos each.

Girl with "soft" tacos. Soft tacos mean the tortilla is filled, rolled and heated, but not fried in boiling oil.

Ice cream, the best dessert after lunch at breaktime. Children will pay 2, 3 and 5 pesos for a strawberry, vanilla or lemon ice cream.

6th grade

5th grade

 

In many schools in our communities, children under 4th grade are hardly able to read and write, which reflects a big problem of academic progress.

 

The school.

Children recognize me and run to meet me to help carry the box containing their ambassador butterflies.

Last children hurry to reach school on time

Group photo.
5th. and 6th. grades

 

Today, 12th. December, I was lucky to find this school open. Most schools today are in Holiday because it is the day of Virgin of Guadalupe, and small communities in our region render big honor.

 

The school.

In most elementary schools children line up, grade by grade, before going into their classrooms in the morning and after breaktime.

Estela speaking to children about Monarch's life, the uniqueness of the Oyamel tree and the importance of preserving our forests.

Maybe this is the only school Journey North visits which counts on a library for its own students.

 

Up to now Journey Norh has been around the nearest schools to El Rosario sanctuary, Ejido Ocampo. Now I turn northwards, to the other side of the Sanctuary itself and a little bit farther from it, to continue visiting schools belonging to Ejido Angangueo.

 

This is the only school visited by Journey North over the region which has not electric service. They hope the mining company starting to work in the region will provide it. While visiting Telesecundaria "La Salud", I was invited to stay and share with students and teachers the Posada they organized for Christmas in their last class day right before their vacation started. I lived such a nice experience at photographing their moments together. I hope you can enjoy the so many photos I took for you!!!

While sharing together at the classroom, children behaved mostly very shy, specially at the moment of exchanging their gifts and hugs wishing happy Christmas and New Year to each other. However, once it was time to go into the forest to break the Piñatas, their faces changed to a more confident expression and lots of fun came then!!!

As soon as everyone realizes that a Piñata is about to break, everybody gets ready to jump up and land on over the bunches of candies and snacks contained at the Piñata. Once, landing on, the the quicker you are to open your arms wide at the ground and closing them in, the more candies and fruits you will trap!. It was necessary to alternate a Piñata for boys and another one for girls, since, at the moment the Piñata breaks and children jump up over the ground to catch the candies and fruits, it can be even dangerous because they all are fierce to get as much as they can!. While the Piñata is being broken, everyone around should be singing typical Mexican songs for Christmas and clapping their hands at the one who finallhy manages to breaks the Piñata.

Teachers organize the cleaning up of the place so that the forest.

Aporo is a neighboring Ejido to Angangueo and Ocampo Ejidos, which takes perhaps better care of the exploitation of its forests. On the other hand, Aporo and its communities have the gratest number of native men migrating to work in the United States in the region, so many families here make their living from the money sent by relatives living and working in the USA.

There are two private schools in the region, both Catholic Schools. This is a San Franciscan school, and, regardless their religious profile,--which, could be said, is driven in a very gentle way in all aspects--, they represent a much too far better option of education for our children regarding academical teaching, which includes English and Computers --which public schools do not teach--, values, discipline, athmosphere, facilities, etc. The fee for each child at this school is $480 pesos per month!. They pay for their nutritious lunch only $5 pesos!. However, a considerable percentage of parents in the region are not able to afford this kind of education for their children.

Children love to receive stamps and postal cards with the letters from US and Canadian children.

4th Grade

6th Grade