Tuesday, December 25, 2007

Kids day in Bambang

Another day of fun in the village of Bambang! This year, Isa Mundo became the main sponsor of the annual Maligayang Paslit children's day in Bambang Bulakan Philippines (Paul's childhood village). The 8th Annual Maligayang Paslit was a day filled with games, videoke, food, prizes and other activities for the children of Bambang! We made a difference in the lives of 350 children and have committed to sponsor this event on an annual basis.

Saturday, December 22, 2007

Sarah y José en el Salvador

Sarah Woods and Jose Reyes traveled to El Salvador and agreed to visit two project sites on behalf of Isa Mundo Foundation. The first visit was a project with Engineers Without Borders (EWB) Oregon State University Chapter regarding a water project in the village of Las Mercedes and El Naranjito. We hope to partner with EWB to complete their sustainable water filtration and delivery system in the future. Sarah and Jose visited the project site on December 21st and were greeted and guided by Aaron Poreski and Alfonso Jimenez-Pedro of EWB. They were able to see first hand the Potters for Peace pots that were distributed by EWB in the community, and which filtered the water for both the families and the visitors. It was pretty incredible to see that the engineers from Oregon were drinking the same water as the locals, from the Potters for Peace pots, and to hear that none of the visitors had gotten sick. They also visited a school, met local community members, spoke with other EWB team and learned that having access to clean drinking water improves the community’s health by diminishing exposure to water-related disease, and significantly decreases the amount of time necessary for families to gather water during the dry season. The next phase of this EWB project is planned for implementation mid-summer 2008 and Isa Mundo is currently exploring how best to help EWB make these plans a reality! To learn more about the EWB projects in El Salvador, visit their website at: http://groups.engr.orst.edu/ewb/projects/el_salvador_project

The second visit was at an SOS Children’s village in Santa Ana. Through Isa Mundo, Sarah and José collected a hockey-bag full of school supplies for the kids and delivered it to the village. One of the village coordinators showed the two around and gave them a chance to meet the Mom’s and talk to the kids. This organization is doing amazing work for the children of El Salvador, and it was clear to both Sarah and Jose that this place was a sanctuary for the children who live there. Through a unique program format, these kids are given a second chance at having a family, including a home of their own, a mom and several siblings.

Friday, December 21, 2007

A tour of Quimixto and R.I.S.E.

Isa Mundo was given a tour of Quimixto, a small village near Puerto Vallarta, Mexico accessible only by boat. We were greeted by Dr. Jaime Boland who took us around the village and showed us two schools (kindergarten and elementary) – Jaime is definitely well known and loved by the community. The two schools house about 250 students from Quimixto and surrounding villages and are in need of school supplies to improve their education. Isa Mundo will be working with Jaime in the future to collect books, educational games and hopefully, a new playground for the children.

Jaime was gracious enough to show Isa Mundo the Refugio Infantil Santa Esperanza (RISE) – a shelter for babies, children and youth under the age of 15, in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. The trip to RISE was fantastic and having the chance to meet and play with the children really showed the benefits of the tremendous support from the community, tourists and other non for profit organizations to make this shelter a safe home for the children. More importantly, RISE has many wonderful volunteers helping on a regular basis by playing with and teaching the children, feeding, cleaning, fundraising, etc.. and their contributions are vital to the daily operation of RISE. We are currently exploring different options with RISE board members as to how we can best help the children in the future.
To learn more about RISE, visit their website at http://www.refugio-infantil.org/

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Isa Mundo visits Lake Chapala, Mexico

Isa Mundo traveled to Mexico to visit potential future projects. The first project was in Lake Chapala about an hour from Guadalajara where we visited an organization called Asociacion Comunitaria de Autosuficiencia (ACA) which is founded by two Canadian women, Wendee Hill and Marie Pruden. ACA is an agricultural education association that fosters development of self-sufficient farming methods in Mexican communities. ACA's farming facility is a great example of sustainable and environmental techniques being utilized in the area. We learned that farming and the misuse of dangerous chemicals, has been blamed for almost half of the contamination in Lake Chapala. ACA's programs are developed to prepare youths, families and farmers from many Mexican communities with training in organic farming, food production, and water and environmental conservation. Isa Mundo will be looking for potential partners and funding that could help sustain the ACA programs.

Check out their website for more info at www.greatgreens.org

We were also fortunate to meet Lynda & Pancho who are involved in a great program called Mi bébé y yo, which focuses on providing basic needs, such as blankets, diaper pins, cloth diapers to mothers and new born babies living in Guadalajara’s poorest community. The supplies are delivered directly to the Guadalajara Hospital Civil where medical services are free for those who cannot afford it and where medical and basic supplies such as baby blankets often run out. Isa Mundo donated diaper pins and intends to donate more supplies to Mi bébé y yo in the near future.

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Rock stars!

We are officially famous : ) Check out Isa Mundo’s first ever feature in the University of Waterloo Alumni Magazine!
http://alumni.uwaterloo.ca/alumni/e-newsletter/2007/december/paullorilla.html

Thursday, December 6, 2007

Isa Mundo and Smartbag

We are happy to announce our new partnership with Smartbag who has offered to sponsor our initial order of Isa Mundo shopping bags. Smartbag is an earth and human inspired company that aims to reduce the use of and dependency on, environmentally damaging plastic bags. Smartbag has kindly donated 500 custom made Isa Mundo bags for promotional and fundraising purposes.

Check out the smart bag website for other cool products and designs www.smartbags.ca

Saturday, December 1, 2007

Welcome to the Isa Mundo Blog

Hello Isa Mundo Supporters!!

The Isa Mundo Blog was created to update and announce past, present and future projects and activities of Isa Mundo Foundation.

We will update the fans of Isa Mundo regarding project site visits, fundraising campaigns, new partnerships with various organizations and status of our worthwhile community driven projects.

Please continue to visit our website and let us know of potential projects, fundraising ideas or just to say Hi!

We look forward to 2008 as we aim to re-connect the world, one project at a time.

Be the change you wish to see in the world ...