Final Days and Goodbyes! April

Hello fellow blog followers!

We just wanted to wrap up the UVM 2015 Oaxaca Semester Abroad blog with an update about the last week's activities and despedidas (goodbyes).

After an incredible experience at all of the village stays in Teotitlán del Valle, Arrazola, and San Jeronimo Taviche (See Village Stay posts http://oaxaca2015.blogspot.mx/2015_04_01_archive.html), the Global Health and Food Systems team started their class with Dr. Jean Harvey, Food, Health, and Culture. In this course, they looked at the way the Oaxacan food system affected the health and nutrition of the population of Oaxaca. It was a fascinating course that included lectures with Dr. Harvey through Skype, readings about the public health issues of obesity, diabetes, and other chronic diseases in Mexico, and food assistance programs within the state of Oaxaca and throughout the country. The students had the opportunity to visit a variety of different Mexican programs and NGOs that focus on food assistance. They visited Prospera, a federal government social assistance program that helps mothers and children receive proper nutrition, and Banco de Alimentos de Oaxaca (BAO), a community run food bank that collects food to provide for low income families who may be at risk nutritionally. Along with visiting these organizations, they went to a community kitchen run by members of the community and an organization that works with nutrition through the production and education of amaranth. A very informative, fun, and engaging class!

The Music students also had their last week with Prof. Navarette, firing their instruments, making some new musical tunes with the knowledge they had acquired, and working on their final video projects for the class! Keep your eyes peeled for the videos!

For the final day of the program (so fast!) students did their presentations for their Independent Study Projects, and then we had a big smorgasbord with delicious tlayudas, tostadas, agua de sabor, and salad. The project presentations were extremely captivating, featuring topics such as transgenic corn and resistance in Mexico, chocolate and coffee production,  apiaries in Oaxaca, food trajectories, religion, migration, etc.. There was also an amazing Son Jarocho group called Raices that played for the last portion of the dinner. Thank you so much for the entertainment! Here's a video of them playing in 2011:

Thank you to all of the students for participating on this year's trip, and thank you to the great professors and faculty that taught and helped throughout the entire program! Hasta el próximo año!