In the month of June I did several different activities with a girls group in Xesacmalja (an aldea in Totonicapán) that I teamed up with through the NGO Population Council. Early in the month I did a cooking activity with the girls teaching them to make adobo, a Filipino chicken dish, and in the following weeks we began a tire garden. The leader of this group is a 16-year-old girl named Juana, and typically about 15 girls between the ages of 8 and 12 attend their bi-weekly meetings. The idea of a tire garden is to make use of discarded tires and teach students about recycling, as well as give people a mobile space to create their own gardens. The girls brought five tires and we began the first phase of the tire garden by cutting out the tops of the tires. The girls brought machetes and set to work sawing and slicing away the rubber. Afterwards they enjoyed jumping through the tires, playing an inspired version of hopscotch. 
Juana
The next week the volunteers visiting for IDA (Independently Directed Activities – recall last year I went to Pachalum, Quiche, and got to see the president) accompanied me. I had two girls currently in training to be Youth Development volunteers stay with me for three nights and another stayed with Christina. I had a great time hosting them and I know from experience how nice it is to get out of training for a few fun days. With the girls in Xesacmalja we laid the wooden planks, costales, and dirt inside three of the tires and planted seeds for carrots and radishes. After this, we taught the girls how to play baseball in preparation for our sports tournament with the girls group from Vasquez.
IDA Visitors & Girls Group in Xesacmalja
The last Sunday in June, Keisha Herbert and I, in collaboration with the liderezas from Vasquez and Xesacmalja, hosted a fun and successful sports day. Keisha, a fellow YD volunteer, and I held weekly morning meetings for the past two months with the liderezas (teen leaders from each community) to plan a sports day with the girls from their respective communities. Keisha applied for and received a huge variety of sports equipment from International Alliance for Youth Sports so we were able to play baseball, volleyball, tennis, and soccer. We started off the day with a great game of baseball. Baseball was my favorite part of the day because it was a sport that was new to almost every girl, but they caught on so quickly and had such a good time. My other site mate, Laura Farnsworth, who is a Healthy Schools volunteer, taught the girls basic tennis skills. Keisha taught the girls volleyball and we ended the day with a big soccer game.
Pop. Council Sports Tournament: June 26, 2011
Keisha & Me
