Category: Tracing Green Spaces

Trazando Espacios > Tracing Green Spaces

The Tank

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San Miguel La Vega, Capital District, Venezuela. June-August 2017

Team: Ana Vargas, Raquel Portillo, Leysbel Osorio, Héctor Chang, Daniela Hernández, Diana Ruíz Hueck and Ana Rodríguez.

Tracing Spaces, in partnership with two other organizations, Alimenta La Solidaridad and Caracas Mi Convive, transformed a meeting place in San Miguel de La Vega. El Tanque, a space that was being used as a parking lot, was intervened and transformed with the addition of planters and a chalk board, and now functions as a learning and play area for the little ones of the community.

A team of 54 people, made up of 23 children between the ages of 3 and 14 who live in La Vega; 8 community volunteers, and 7 members of Alimenta Solidaridad and Caracas Mi Convive among other, participated in this intensive workshop.

Through this workshop. Caracas Mi Convive was able to institutionalize the work they have been doing in this neighbourhood for the past 10 years. Their objective has been to reduce delinquency rates in the area and transform El Tanque into a nonviolent space.

This workshop was carried out in three phases during the months of June, July, and August 2017 and their activities included the germination of seeds, the measuring of the spaces to be intervened, preparing the wood to be cut and sanded, assembling the pieces of wood into planters, varnishing and painting, and attaching the planters to the wall.

Following the designs, the students built 28 planters, one chalk board, and an alphabet made from recycled bottle caps set  in the pavement, an idea that was proposed by a group of girls from a nearby neighbourhood.  This resulted in  the intervention of 80m2 on the ground surface, and 48m2 wall surface, recuperating a space that was used as a  garbage dump but now is a  multipurpose public space.  Although this space is still being used as a parking lot, it will also be used as a meeting place and  a play and  educational area for the whole community.

Quebrada Seca

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Quebrada Seca, State of Sucre, Venezuela. May 18, 2017.

Team: Ana Vargas, María Daniela Ceballos, Hector Chang, Eliana Ramírez, Diana Ruíz, Ana Rodríguez and Raquel Portillo.

The educational program Tracing Spaces at the Quebrada Seca Rural School Nucleus, located in the remote town with the same name, aimed to teach participatory design tools to transform a meeting space within the institution, sowing the value of citizenship in the members of the educational community. The team traveled to the small town of Quebrada Seca to work with primary school students with the support of the San José Foundation team as a local ally.

This time emphasis was placed on the third step of our methodology: Transform. The proposal was to construct in one day a mural of planters that, besides transforming a wall of the school, would function like germination pots for the orchard that normally works in the school.

Through the realization of 16 planters made of recycled wood pallets, the group of 17 young people aged between 7 and 12 years learned about recycling, planting, teamwork and proportions. They also learned how to use construction tools such as tape measure, sandpaper, level, hammer and brush.

Working with the students and the educational community in the construction of the planters, skills such as leadership, teamwork, manual and logical skills flourished, a fact that surprised us pleasantly. We loved working in this community, and we look forward to the participants being able to replicate what they learned and continue filling the mural of planters!

 

Planting Dreams

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El Hatillo, State of Miranda, Venezuela. March 10, 2016

Team: Ana Vargas, Gabriela Puppio, Valeria Ramos, Raquel Portillo and Diana Ruiz.

On Thursday March 10 we were testing our micro program, "Planting Dreams" in the Maria May Municipal school, located in the  El Calvario neighborhood  in El Hatillo.  In collaboration with 30  6th grade students, 17 volunteers and the Global Shapers of Caracas, forming a team to perform the operation. Together we build a living wall  made from recyclable materials and 96 plants.

The main objective of the activity is to promote a process of transformation of public spaces and be a vehicle for the formation of values. "Planting dreams" teaches how to intervene and improve their environment through the circuit of six stations that we use in the "Mapping spaces" methodology. In addition, the process of construction of the wall was accompanied by a formative dynamic where  we teach  human values that are essential to grow and achieve any dream or goal: respect, discipline, perseverance, effort and team work. We also focus on raising awareness on the  preservation of the environment and encourage recycling in the communities.

The mayor of el Hatillo  backed our activity by coordinating logistics such as refreshments, transportion and contact with the school. Thanks to the experience of the Shapers in their various social projects and several visits to educational units to talk to directors, academic coordinators, social workers and representatives, we were able to identify improvement opportunities and points of connection with the students. Bullying, the value of  work, coexistence, the talent and abilities of each child, all served as inspiration to design this project. This type of activity can contribute to working on these values  in a creative and different way.

The activity began with a walk through the neighborhood of El Calvario to know the context of the school and understand where the children we work with. Everyone involved worked actively throughout the morning, putting into practice all the given values, and stressing the importance of mentoring  as a main vehicle for learning.