Border Partners, Author at Border Partners

Border Partners’ original Palomas promoter: Key to our success

Posted onFebruary 13, 2013

by Billie Greenwood

Marisol Guillen and Peter Edmunds rely on each other as they work to improve Palomas.

An original Palomas promoter of Border Partners operations, Marisol Guillen’s ongoing contribution plays a critical role in the agency’s success. The quintessential border citizen, Marisol was born in Mexico and educated in the United States.

Marisol’s bilingual skills, bridging communications across the US-Mexico border, are vital. Beyond language skills, her energy, enthusiasm and leadership can’t be overstated when accounting for Border Partners’ successful launch in Palomas.

Even before Border Partners existed, Marisol was volunteering and working with unflagging commitment to advance her town. Always enterprising, she served meals from a little restaurant she started and offered aerobics classes for her friends. She was one of the first woodworkers Border Partners trained to build solar cookers.

Always smiling, always positive, Marisol triumphed over the challenges of drug-related violence in her town and has found her niche.

As one of our original promoters, Marisol became involved in everything we did.

Now you’ll see Marisol arranging Border Partners events and activities with town officials and local schools. And she’s a trained, participating Promotora (health promoter). She teaches aerobics to the public for Border Partners, five times each week. Besides translating for Peter (and sometimes for visitors), Marisol works with Palomas students who volunteer to complete projects–like making blocks or painting park equipment, and she delivers donated equipment to schools.

Marisol Gullien assists a Ford School student as they construct a new raised-bed garden plot.

Marisol is great at connecting local people with Border Partners’ projects. Neighbors come to her for help, and she responds to the needs she encounters. During her “Christmas vacation,” we found her installing a door at the humble home of a single mom whose home was dangerously insecure and uncomfortably cold.

When Marisol learned that an elderly woman with advanced diabetes had no indoor bathroom, she advocated for her assistance and then personally helped build fiber cement blocks to add an indoor bathroom.

Leadership can be tricky in a small town, where it’s easy to “step on toes.” Perhaps leadership is even more difficult for a woman in Mexico, a culture characterized by machismo—male-orientation. But, if you ask Marisol about challenges she faces as a leader in Palomas, she doesn’t avert to anything like that.

Her main challenge is the same as many women face. As a single working mother, she struggles to balance responsibilities at work and at home raising her two children, Darlene, 11, and Nathan, 9. It’s not always easy to keep all her bases covered. But now, with experience as a working mom under her belt, Marisol feels more comfortable juggling the multiple roles she handles.

While helping with construction at the Palomas library, Marisol enjoyed an unplanned meet-up with her daughter Darlene who was there to use the library’s services.

Peter Edmunds, Border Partners co-founder, relies directly and largely on Marisol as he interacts in Palomas. That’s a responsibility she takes very seriously.

“I’m always honest with Peter. That’s really important to me. I let him know what’s happening right away. I want him to be able to trust me.”

For his part, Peter speaks glowingly of Marisol: “A few weeks ago, some Palomas citizens approached Marisol, asking her to run for government office this fall. They recognize her talent for community organizing. If she ran, it would change everything for Border Partners, because I cannot visualize my work in Palomas without her. But, nevertheless, I have to say that she’d be a great city leader.”

In fact, it is difficult to imagine Border Partners accomplishments without Marisol’s original participation and now leadership in our operations. Her personal presence and her work advance the transformation of Palomas.

Expanding modern sanitation in Palomas

Posted onJanuary 25, 2013January 25, 2013

By Billie Greenwood

Puerto Palomas is a well positioned town. As a port-of-entry community, it hugs the US. To the casual visitor, some of its poverty is apparent. But some poverty is hidden. Modern sanitation, for instance, is taken for granted across the border line in the US. But modern sanitation is not a given in Palomas. I realized the depth of the issue in a new way on a recent visit to Border Partners’ operations.

Marisol Guillen displays fibercement blocks, hand-constructed by Border Partners to improve local sanitation.

Border Partners’ Palomas promoter Marisol Guillen led me to an impressively tall pile of carefully positioned, handmade papercrete blocks. Constructing them was, she told me, a Border Partners project in which she’d recently participated. The blocks were destined to add a room on a home—a bathroom.

But this was not your ordinary fixer-upper project, I quickly learned. Border Partners was helping an elderly woman, suffering with acute diabetes, who had only an outhouse for sanitation facilities.

For women with diabetes, bladder problems and urinary tract infections can become a frequent problem. Diabetes can damage nerves that control urinary system functions. That makes women more likely to experience urinary incontinence, or leakage.

So, in this instance, in December—gateway month to the coldest temperatures of the year–an elderly woman was forced to leave her home, hastening her way across the stone-strewn property, to use an outhouse. This could happen several times during the night—and in urgency.

I wish this story had a happy ending. But, in the few weeks that passed since my December visit, that elderly woman died.

A humble Palomas home (background) has only an outhouse (foreground) for sanitation.

Nevertheless, the blocks are ready to help someone else. And there are workers eager for a job who can install an indoor bathroom for another poor, elderly person in Palomas. Your contributions to Border Partners empower works of mercy that assist forgotten and vulnerable people.

Border Partners appreciates you–the supporter–as a force for good, helping the weak, the widowed, the destitute, in the most practical possible ways.

It has been a big year. Thanks for making it all happen!

Posted onDecember 31, 2012January 4, 2013

Thanks for all the good that happened in Palomas through Border Partners.

We’re proud of the many accomplishments we have been a part of in Palomas during 2012. You, our supporters make it all possible. It is a good idea to look back now and then, and the end of the year is a fine time to do that. This video reviews some of the highlights you’ve enabled.

We won’t rest.

Tomorrow we’ll look ahead to more.

But tonight, we say “thanks.”

Mural by Dagoberto Rodriguez–a source of pride

Posted onDecember 7, 2012

New mural on Community Learning Center at the Palomas Public Library will galvanize public attention on the new opportunities that the room will facilitate.

Local artist Dagoberto Ridriguez is transforming our new Community Learning Center on the Palomas Public Library into a real work of art.

He is using cement to create a bas relief, or three diminsional, effect.

The mural makes the Learning Center a real focal point of the community. This, in turn, will grab the attention of the townspeople and invite them to utilize the Center to develop their skills, increase their knowledge, and unleash greater personal potential.

We will follow this progress as it continues. But so are the people of Palomas. On the town’s official Facebook page, there are currently 37 “Likes” for the album of 8 photos of the construction and its adornment. You will need a Facebook account to see this entry and the comments it has accrued, and you will also need to “friend” the page “Puerto Palomas de Villa.”

Unveiled: Puerto Palomas’ new Community Education Center

Posted onNovember 28, 2012November 29, 2012

The new community learning center stands tall and strong, firmly attached to the Puerto Palomas public library.

We proudly unveil the exterior of the new Community Education Center which is attached to the public library in Palomas. This building is a model in alternative building, as its blocks were created in town this summer using papercrete, a building material with greatly enhanced insulation factors. The three barrel arches made of ferro cement and insulated with papercrete panels now stand tall and firmly attached to the Palomas public library.

The room awaits the equipment that will outfit it to educate. For now, we plan to begin to offer face to face traditional classes beginning in January. We’re also working on proposals to equip the room with electronic equipment for other kinds of learning and activities.

Now the exterior of the building is being transformed into a showpiece of public art. With the greatest of luck, we connected with a Mexican muralist who is lending his significant talent to this project. It is a fresco, of sorts, in cement! Note the inclusive character of the subjects: Indigenous and differently-abled are all welcome to come and learn here. The mural is a real celebration of learning and the world it breaks open to the learner.

Mexican muralist is transforming the exterior of the new learning center into a statement on the power of learning.

Alternative Black Friday sale promotes fair trade products

Posted onNovember 20, 2012November 21, 2012

Shoppers dove into the fair trade gift items offered for sale at the Alternative Black Friday sale last year in El Paso. Border Partners will sell Palomas Oilcloth Designs products at the sale again this year.

[El Paso, TX] Come shop! But not in a mindless way–support cooperatives and grass-roots organizations this Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, at the annual Alternative Black Friday event at the Columban Mission Center, 10 a.m. through to 3 p.m.! This is the fourth year that we have hosted this event, which counts on the participation of organizations like Pax Christi, Fair Trade, Centro Mujeres de la Esperanza, and Catholic Relief Services. The Columban Mission Center is located at 816 Magoffin.

It’s “an alternative to shopping at a large chain stores and an opportunity for consumers to support local nonprofits,” in the words of journalist Patrick Manning, who reported on the event last year on the local Fox News station in El Paso.

“Your gift gives twice here,” said Polly Edmunds who works with Border Partners, a nonprofit organization empowering people in the impoverished community of Palomas, Mexico. Last year, Edmunds was selling waterproof bags, tablecloths, and aprons made from Mexican oilcloth sold by Palomas Oilcloth Designs. The items were designed and manufactured by Mexican women.

“They don’t have many options for selling their products in Mexico, so it’s really necessary that we sell them here in the United States,” said Edmunds.

Families in Palomas live off of less than $75 a week, reported Edmunds.

“We promote this as an opportunity to not buy into the excessive consumerism of the holidays, but to really make a difference in someone’s life,” said organizer Sister Janet Gildea, director of young adult ministry for the Catholic Diocese of El Paso. “There’s no middle man,” she added. Gildea reported the programs benefiting from the program help projects promoting education, healthcare, and economic development in local communities.

“I think people come to buy (at) this sale because they’ve become more conscious of consumerism and if they are going to give gifts at Christmas, they really want to make them very conscious choices of who benefits,” said Gildea.

In 2011’s edition of the event, Andrea Tirres sold framed photos of statues from St. Pius X Catholic Church in El Paso, captured by local artist Martín Benecomo. The sales benefited people of Lomas del Poleo, Mexico, a small community outside of Juárez. “It’s easy to purchase goods and to not have any reflection on how that purchase impacts people and so I think this really draws attention to how your money can make a difference,” said Tirres.

Shoppers said Alternative Black Friday isn’t their only community-shopping stop this holiday season, but many said they would avoid the big box stores in favor a smaller shops. “I’m going to try and stay as local as I can,” said El Paso native Rosalva Rodríguez.

A big hat tip to Fox News Latino’s Patrick Manning for the report on the 2011 sale that formed the basis of this blog post: http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/community/2011/11/26/el-paso-has-alternative-to-black-friday/#ixzz2CmX9VaSp

Border Partners Gift-giving Packages: Easy gifting decisions for you!

Posted onNovember 4, 2012

present Gift-giving was never easier! To honor someone who values community empowerment, select a Border Partners Gift-giving Package.

Does your honoree value technology, education, fresh & local food, or sustainability? You’ll find a gift that will match those interests–and more– among our selections. And you both will have the satisfaction of knowing that the gift you share will bless not only your recipient but also the community of Palomas in Chihuahua, Mexico.

Gift giving is easy, fast, and flexible. You can order via email, U.S.P.S., or phone. You can pay via check or credit card.

Make quick work of your holiday gift-giving and share the joy of generosity with this new gifting opportunity here at Border Partners. Visit our Gift Package Page here on our website for complete details.

Your choice will make the season bright for so many people!

New community learning center construction underway, expands Palomas public library

Posted onOctober 17, 2012October 19, 2012

Going UP…new learning center in Palomas will encourage educational opportunities.

A crew of five young people and their supervisor have worked for almost three weeks on a new community learning center addition for the Palomas public library. The progress is remarkable. The new handicap accessibility ramp is finished, and the papercrete walls of the classroom are almost complete. Builders will start the roof this week: three barrel arches made of ferro cement and insulated with papercrete panels.

BEFORE Photo: Construction began September 25. Progress is easy to see, as compared to the photo at the top of the post

In addition to providing a new learning center for the community, this project will serve as an ongoing demonstration of several sustainable technologies that could improve building methods in Palomas. Papercrete costs about the same per square foot as cement blocks and yet has an R value (insulation capability) that is far superior. That means the new building addition will stay warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer – thereby reducing heating and cooling costs. It also has better soundproofing qualities and is lighter.

Building the roof of a house is often one of the biggest expenses. As you drive around Palomas, you’ll see many unfinished houses lacking roofs. Using ferro cement is a more economical method of building a roof than the most common method: using metal panels.

The crew has already completed new accessibility ramp on Palomas public library.

One challenge with ferro cement, however, is that it’s a little tricky to learn the process of working with it. But after this project, six people from Palomas will know how to do it. We might hope that one day ferro cement roofing could eventually become a business.

Contributions to get the Learning Center up-and-running are still important, according to Border Partners’ Polly Edmunds.

“We need money to complete the addition and hire a staff person,” stated Edmunds. “We are applying for a grant from Rotary International for equipment but if anyone has ideas for other sources of equipment we could use more ideas.”

The Learning Center also needs late-model computers with at least 2G RAM. Used computers fitting that profile are welcome contributions for the learning center, the library and the schools in Palomas..

Our blog post next week will feature photos of the new roof going up! Stay posted!

Promotora group trained to combat disease, promote wellness in Palomas

Posted onSeptember 16, 2012December 2, 2012

promotoras focus on Mexico's health crisis

Health promoters, called Promotoras, focus on addressing Mexico’s health crisis during recent training in Palomas

Hypertension and diabetes are epidemic in Mexico. Seventeen million people ages 20-69 are diagnosed with hypertension. Fourteen million adults have high cholesterol or triglycerides and six million more have diabetes 2. All of these diseases are related to being overweight! All of them can be prevented by making different personal choices.

These stunning facts opened the second training sponsored by Border Partners of a group of Promotoras (Health Educators) on August 27-29 in Palomas. Mexico’s health status underlines the importance of equipping citizens to meet epidemic needs. Three days of training last month launched these new trainees with:

a basic understanding of hypertension and diabetes,
skills empowering the new promotoras to assess disease risk factors, and
updated recommendations from professionals on disease prevention and control.

The trainees were active learners, using a “hands-on” approach and valuing their opportunity to learn the use of genuine medical instruments to measure blood pressure and blood sugar.

Mayela takes Josefina’s glucose during the promotora training, using an authentic medical glucometer.

The promotoras also learned the Five Steps Program, an effort in Mexico to raise public awareness of the steps individuals can take to improve their own health and avoid hypertension and diabetes. The Five Steps/Cinco Pasos are:

Move! Get more exercise: 30 minutes per day for adults, 60 minutes per day for children.
Drink water! 5-10 glasses each day. Dehydration plays a big part in the development of chronic disease.
Eat vegetables and fruits!
Maintain good emotional health!
Share information with others!

The promotoras are now equipped with several strategies for lowering the numbers of people with chronic health problems in their community. The training emphasized utilizing education campaigns, screening events, exercise classes, and support groups as grassroots efforts that will address these health needs.

The promotora group received their initial training in June. Border Partners is pleased to be part of the process of advancing health through community action.

Promotora training group and trainers, August 2012

New computer center gives Palomas students access to modern technology

Posted onAugust 23, 2012

This new computer center Border Partners facilitated will give Palomas elementary students access to modern computers for the first time.

Border Partners is providing and installing twelve computers at the Ramon Espinoza (morning) and Ignacio Zaragoza (afternoon) school building in Palomas. With this new technology equipment, the schools will create a computer center that both institutions will share. This brand new computer center complements our work of donating and installing computers for education at the third primary school in Palomas, Ford School.

This will be the first time students at any of the elementary schools in Palomas have had access to up-to-date computers.

The computers for the new computer center were donated by UNICOR, a U.S. Government corporation established by Congress in 1934. UNICOR employs and provides job skills training to inmates confined within the Federal Bureau of Prisons. One of their operations is to refurbish used computers.

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