November 24, 2009:

Kaxil Kiuic
In January 2009, MACHI initiated a pilot program intended to measure in what contexts the puppet-show DVD produced in 2008 would have the most impact in teaching children about the value of cultural heritage and conservation.  Distribution of the DVD, teacher’s guide, and coloring books took place in two ways: 1) through governmental institutions and non-governmental organizations, and 2) to specific communities through direct contacts. Among the institutions and organizations participating in the pilot program are the Palacio Cantón (Museum of Anthropology), Universidad Autonoma de Yucatán (UADY), Niñas y Crías, the Instituto de Cultura de Yucatán, the division of Educación Indígena in the Secretaria de Educación Pública, , the Comisión para el Desarrollo de Derechos Indígenas (CDI), and the Universidad del Oriente (UNO).  The organizations were given four months in which to implement the program and provide feedback on its reception via a series of surveys.

This summer, the surveys were collected from the participants and a number of evaluative interviews were conducted with facilitators and teachers.  Overall, the program was well received by participating students; most enjoyed the puppets, particularly the wily rabbit and the tricycle ridden by the siblings.  Teachers and facilitators also received the program favorably, but had a number of suggestions for improvement.  Many agreed that the complete DVD was too long to keep the attention of the children (one hour) and that even the 15-minute episodes contained too much information to easily fit in to a school day.  They recommended that the episodes be cut in to five-minute segments that could be easily addressed within a class period.  To accompany the DVD and provide the students with the opportunity to interact more directly with the material, the coloring book will be adapted in to an activity book that can accompany the five minute segments.  The activity book is also better suited for the recommended age group for the DVD, 3rd and 4th graders.

MACHI is currently evaluating the wide variety of data collected over the summer in order to produce a complete report that provides information on implementation, suitability of themes, and reception by the audiences.  This fall, MACHI will edit the materials so that they will be more effective in the future.  According to the collected data, the most appropriate and potentially sustainable places to seat the program are in the Secretaria de Educación Pública (of which the Institute of Archaeology and History – INAH – is a part) and the Comisión para el Desarrollo de Derechos Indígenas (CDI).  In early 2010, MACHI will attempt to interest these institutions in permanently adding these materials to their curricula, with a generous donation of materials and training workshops by MACHI.

Arte Acción
Despite the upheaval caused by political turmoil in Honduras this summer, Arte Acción has soldiered on with its ever successful Maya Program.  Regular workshops this year have taken place in 23 communities and other special one-time workshops have been provided in communities near the city of La Ceiba and elsewhere. 

In 2009, two new activities were initiated by Arte Acción: a drama program and an archaeology project.  Regular drama courses provided by Londin Velasquéz to students at the Amigos School in the town of Copán have taken place since spring 2009.  In recent months, the students have begun rehearsing for a final production – La Princesita – which they hope to perform at the final Arte Acción festival this December.

The archaeology project was introduced to the community of La Pintada in February 2009.  The project was devised to allow children in the village, most of which are also enrolled in the Maya Program workshops, to experience the thrill of archaeology and conservation.  The chosen site was christened by the children as Casa Los Sapos.  Though not a true historical site, the recently abandoned house foundation located on the property of the nearby Hacienda San Lucas, provided a location for which the children could conduct oral history interviews with parents and other community member and in which they could scientifically survey and excavate without the possibility of damaging important artifacts.  While the project did not arrived at the excavation phase in 2009, the students relished in participating in surveying, mapping, surface collecting, and drawing artifacts at the site under the instuction of Spanish archaeologist, Argi Diez.  At the project’s end in June 2009, the children presented their experiences and findings to a group of parents, children, local residents, and archaeologists.  Each participant was presented with a diploma and a book of their experiences (including maps and photos).  The incredible success of the archaeology program convinced MACHI to conduct a second “archaeological” season in 2010.  In the second phase, children will excavate and do some initial reconstructions of the original home.

Julian Cho Society

In August 2009, the Julian Cho Society workshop program resumed.  This year, facilitator Morvin Coc is receiving support from our new MACHI intern, Connie Cohn.  Together, Morvin and Connie have continued to refine the successful program presentations and activities developed last year.  This year, two new communities have been added to the program – Blue Creek and Aguacate – while one – Santa Elena – has been removed due to its small student body.  Lessons learned in 2008 are being addressed this season, in particular difficulties with school scheduling.  The grade of the participating students has also changed from 5th and 6th graders to 3rd and 4th graders, so as not to interfere with high school entrance exam preparations. The workshop is currently in session and will terminate at the end of the fall semester in December 2009.

Despite many delays in the airing of the Q’eqchi’ version of the radio program Entre Dos Caminos in southern Belize, the episodes will be broadcast this fall 2009 on Ak’ Kutan Radio, the radio station of the Tumul K’in Center of Learning.  Ak’ Kutan has expanded their broadcast coverage to include 15 communities.  A grant from UNESCO providing a larger radio antenna will expand coverage even further in spring 2010 to include all communities in the Toledo District.  A survey conducted by Tumul K’in in June 2009 indicates that 97% of community members in the villages in range of Ak’ Kutan Radio are listeners.  Of these, 100% agree that they prefer to listen to programs that address Maya culture.  Based on this statistic, we expect Entre Dos Caminos to be well received among the Maya population of Toledo.

Mayaón A.C.

Amédee Collí Collí and her team of vocal actors and producers have been hard at work on the radio series: Raíces, Identidad y Cosmovisión Maya (Roots, Identity, and Maya Cosmovision).   The writing, recording, and production of the 20 episodes developed for the series have taken place coincidentally and are almost complete.  The series will air this winter 2009.

Fundación ProPetén

Limited funding in 2009 incited MACHI and Fundación ProPetén to focus on the continued dissemination of the 40 radio episodes of Entre Dos Caminos produced in 2007 and 2008.  As radio broadcasts are relatively ephemeral (i.e. if a listener misses the program when it is aired, they do not have another opportunity to hear it), we felt it was important to rebroadcast the episodes previously produced.  The focus region was expanded and now includes ten radio stations reaching the departments of El Petén, Alta Verapaz, Izabal, and El Quiche. ProPetén estimates that at least 60% of the Q’eqchi’ population in Guatemala has access to Spanish and/or Q’eqchi’ versions of the program.

In 2010 MACHI will continue its collaboration with Fundación ProPetén.  The primary objective will be to find a context for the episodes already produced that will enhance their sustainability as educational materials.  A number of primary schools will participate in the pilot program along with a teacher’s guide, and activity books will be provided for students.  MACHI also hopes to continue working with Fundación ProPetén to produce more radio episodes focused on cultural heritage and conservation in 2010.

Added info on upcoming conference

Renovation and Spanish Translation! / ¡Renovación y traducción al español!

RSS Feed Change / Cambio RSS feed

Added Bibliography / Bibliografía adicionada

Major Overhaul / Notable revisión

During the past several days, we’ve gone through a major overhaul of the website. Many pages (mostly in the MACHI Projects section) have been added and/or updated with current information. Please check them out.

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Durante los últimos días, hemos hecho una notable actualización de nuestra página web. Muchas páginas (sobretodo en la sección de Proyectos de MACHI) han sido adicionadas y/o actualizadas. Favor revisarlas.

Some More Content / Más contenido

The MACHI Education section has been updated with specifics on the Rádionovela project in Guatemala and the Children’s Program in Honduras. Read more about them here and here.

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La sección de Educación MACHI ha sido actualizada con información específica sobre el proyecto Radionovela Guatemala y el Programa niños de Honduras. Lea más sobre ellos aquí y aquí.

New Content / Contenido nuevo

New Member 2 / ¡Nuevo miembro! 2

New Member / ¡Nuevo miembro!

MACHI Now has a domain!

MACHI Web will have its very own domain, machiproject.org! Yay!

MACHI Web Kicks Off

And so the MACHI website kicks off. The main page will be used to introduce the projects and to provide links to ongoing projects, etc. The blog page will be used by MACHI members to keep you up to date with the most current goings-on of the project.