Students spend summer in Mexican oasis

My first article in the Lumberjack as a staff writer.
Issue Date 9/10/2008

This summer, Humboldt State University students participated in a cultural immersion program in the small community of Parras, Mexico. Although this program focuses on Spanish studies and appropriate technology, it was beneficial to students of all majors.

Dessie Woods, a political science and international studies senior, needed to travel abroad to fulfill her graduation requirements. The Parras program was less expensive and more community-based than some of the other abroad programs available to Humboldt State students, Woods said.

Woods learned that she could build bonds with people regardless of cultural or language barriers from working in an organic garden and teaching children about nutrition. "The world feels much more open now," she said.

Each student lived in a different household and participated in family events, birthday parties and reunions. Woods said she was nervous at first but her family ended up being the best part of her experience in Parras. "It was hard to adjust, but I would do it all over again in a heartbeat."

Students studied different appropriate technologies: things that can be sustained in some environments but not others. They worked in small groups on projects, such as a solar water pasteurizer and a rainwater catchment system. All of the students worked together on the continuous development of an adobe senior center. Those who come to Parras next summer will be completing the roof of the building.

"The opportunities to learn and pull examples from different cultures was probably the most important part of the trip for me," said Environmental Resources Engineering junior Joey Hiller.

Power is currently very expensive in Mexico, he said, and most people get electricity from coal and oil.

Hiller worked with other students on a prototype for a solar-operated refrigeration system. This technology is expensive now, but once it is produced on a larger scale, it can be used in warmer regions of the world.

The students also attended a one-week international conference with more than 100 scholars from around the world. People presented papers on social and scientific aspects of the desert including irrigation, anthropology and construction.

Spanish Literature instructor Francisco de la Cabada and Environmental Resources Engineering and Appropriate Technology lecturer Lonny Grafman created the Parras program five years ago. Grafman said the program has given students a heightened sense of culture and a greater understanding of the Spanish language.

"You go with preconceived notions and come back with new ideas," he said. He continued by saying that since Mexico is our neighbor, we should do our best to immerse ourselves in their culture and build ties with the communities there.

Grafman explained how adobe is an example of an appropriate technology in Mexico. "It is a fantastic material, but like most appropriate technologies, it is only right for certain situations," he said. For instance, Humboldt is too cold and wet for adobe houses to work, Grafman explained, so sustainably harvested wood or straw bale would be a better option.

De la Cabada said he now has the funding and resources to build CCCEED-H, the Spanish acronym for the Center for Scientific and Cultural Studies of the Desert-Humboldt. This educational center will be a replica of CCAT, and will be open to students, scholars and the entire Parras community, said de la Cabada. "Its main focus is developing technologies that can be applied and implemented by society at a low cost." He is welcoming new students and around 80 others who have gone to Parras in previous years to work at CCCEED-H.

The ten-week program is one of the most affordable opportunities for Humboldt State students to engage in a different culture. The experience gives one a new appreciation of sustainable living and the Spanish language. De la Cabada encourages students of all majors to take part in this continuous project.

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