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I’ve decided to fold the Ahecha pages I was maintaining into the main page content.

Not much to report in site. My banking coop continues to struggle, but is one of perhaps ten financial institutions on the face of the planet wholly unaffected by the present economic crisis.

We’re trying to put together a little workshop for the managers of Tacuatí’s recently resurrected library.

And I’m working with a gentleman in one of the outlying companías to try and bring in a new beekeeping volunteer sometime around December of this year.

The Guaraní word of the day is kava, meaning bee. The little local honeybees are pretty nifty - tiny, ink black, and stingless. But they live in itty bitty little nests, produce about a drop of honey per year, and don’t really lend themselves to development projects. But we’ve got no shortage of Africanized (so called “killer”) bees to make good the lack. Peace Corp’s intrepid beekeeping volunteers help local communities capture hives, manage their needs, harvest the honey, and sell the new product.

So here’s the summary of our 2008-2009 Ahecha group in Tacuatí - our six students and the best photos by each.

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Almita, at 10 years old, was one of our youngest students, but she traveled the furthest to get to class. Almi was one of my host sisters when I first got to Tacuatí. She’s a fast learner, and always willing to try new things.

Mama, Abuela e Isabella en el Río
Mi perro Mota
Mi prima Isabellita
Mis padres

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Evelyn is friendly and effervescent. Evelyn shaped up to be quite the prolific shutterbug, with a good eye for line and geometry.

El Oso Sombroso
Dos niños que estan jugando
Cosechando sésamo
Escuchando musica
Puertita en el cementario

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Liz Mariela, at 15, was our oldest student. Mariela took great pictures of other people, and knows how to get the most out of her models.

La lancha cerca del río
Haku i’terei
Cementario de Tacuatí
Camino a casa

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Lucy is quiet, serious, and hard-working. She didn’t speak up so much in class, but her creative and unconventional compositions say good things about her.

Arroyito
Hormiguero
Muñeca voladora
Niños jugando

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Valeria is as fearless as she is curious. She’s quick to speak her mind and wants to show the whole world what she sees.

Mi abuelo
Las cubiertas estan quemando
Larisa en la cuna
Hermana

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Vanessa asks great questions. Her quietness and focus really shine through in her close-ups and still lifes.

Rock and Roll
Ña Josefina
Mil pies con seriedad
Flores sonreintes

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And then of course you’ve got me and my partner in this project, Liam Winters. We supplied fresh batteries, encouragement, and laughs when we attempted to say “wrist strap” in Spanish.

The Ahecha photography project is drawing to a close. We’ve returned the cameras, developed the best photos from the more than 5,000 taken by our students, and held a little exposition in the lobby of the town court house. Now it just remains to do a photo swap with another project community. Then, if all goes well, some of our kids’ photos will be shown at the national exhibit in Asunción.

Want to see our favorites? I’ve put them up recently on Ahecha’s Flickr page. Click on over and take a gander.  The Flickr page is for a limited time only. Try the dedicated page on this website, instead.

The Guaraní word of the day is poteí, meaning six. These poteí mita’iguera really did us proud with their work. But they’d giggle if you said that to them. Your modern Guaraní speaker tends to prefer Spanish for numbers over 5 or below 1.