IDEX Program Officer, Katherine Zavala, is currently in Mexico on field visits to our grantees there.

I awoke early this morning swaying in a hammock in the open air. We'd stayed overnight in the municipality of Roberto Barrios. All the visitors, including the students, slept in hammocks. This had initially posed a problem for the 2 DESMI staff members I was with- Estela and Pedro- as there were so many people here last night we couldn't figure out where to hang our own hammocks. Someone had suggested that we sleep under the "palapa" (hut - pictured) where DESMI held its workshop.

I was a bit dubious about this, as were Estela and Pedro. Estela looked concerned, saying, "I'm not sure that hut will hold the three of us with hammocks." But there was nowhere else and, fortunately, the hut was stronger than it looked!

This morning, DESMI continued their chicken raising workshop series. The students learned how to vaccinate the chickens. Before heading over to the chicken coup, DESMI gave an overview of how vaccinations are done, demonstrating the different syringes and the right direction to poke the needle. The students then went to the chicken coup to practice.

As part of the training, DESMI reviewed how to store the vaccines, and to identify potential side effects that chicken may get after getting vaccinated. The students learned that in order for the vaccine to be effective it had to be kept cold at 4 degrees Celsius at all times. This means that once it’s bought, it has to be kept in a cooler with ice.

This training was a good learning process for the students to be aware of the various complexities in using vaccines. They went on to review the differences between a parasite, virus and bacteria and what preventative care can be given for each.

After the workshop, the DESMI staff got together with community members and teachers to review the work plan they had put together for DESMI to support their initiative to build their own sustainable development center in the municipality. The students also expressed their interest in providing meals for other community members who will come here for training on sustainable livestock-rearing and agricultural practices.

Another long and educational day for the students and for myself, too. Soon after, we were ready to go back to San Cristóbal de las Casas, a 6-hour drive passing through the beautiful valleys of green mountains.

Labels: Chiapas, DESMI, Mexico, Sustainable Agriculture

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