humanitarian shit

Hello friends y familia, comrades, aquaintances, strangers, and all allies and enemies in between!

I am proud to announce that I have been accepted into a four-month long natural building apprenticeship. I applied based on my vision of bringing an affordable and sustainable solution to a big problem for poor working class folks here in the RGV- by building community and sharing skills, we can literally design and construct our own ecologically responsible dwellings, courtyards, community spaces, gardens,… ahem, well, whatever we want! - in a way that uses our abundancy when reducing/reusing ‘waste’, respects the Earth, and by sharing skills is truly sustainable.

This intensive training will be taking place near Asheville, North Carolina from June 3 to September 28, 2012. 

“WHAT IS A WASI APPRENTICESHIP? Kleiwerks International and the Women of the Americas Sustainability Initiative (WASI) are offering WASI Apprenticeships in 15 countries across the Americas. The Apprenticeships are hands-on leadership trainings in ecological design-build practices for women. 8-12 apprentices + two assistants will be selected per country, each of whom will also do a follow-up project of their choosing after the four months is over…  WASI is an alliance of women leaders who construct, educate, organize, and advocate for strong and empowered communities through ecological design-build practices with the aim of creating a socially and ecologically resilient world!”

The privilege of being able to attend has much to do with this conscious vision as much as is does my being able bodied, and in this case, a woman, as this particular program is run by 2-3 women and for a group of 8-12 women. There also happens to be a special scholarship for low-income mujeres from the 956 and northern Tampaulipas to attend. It was especially hard to decide to accept it because I will have to be away from Paulo Esme for all but two weeks (if all goes as planned) of those four months. I do believe this path has been set before me to improve my skills and our community, because the only thing that seems to be lacking here is that I am not economically privileged. As always, I refuse to let that be a hinderance to achieving one of the many so-called idealistic goals when the path is right before my wings. I painfully made the decision to do something I think will benefit my family and community.

The cost of the apprenticeship itself is $5,000. To some, unimaginable. To others, a fraction of monthly salary. To me, it’s 5,000 people pitching in a dollar. It’s each of my facebook friends giving me a $10 sponsorship- less than $3 a month to help empower RGV communities! It’s every single person that’s reading this to pass it along and sincerely ask someone they know to contribute a humble donation of whatever they can. Bring out your corona bottles and ms. piggy banks everyone! I am determined to match the scholarship with community support!

I want to offer everyone that offers any kind of support to me my services in any way we imagine together upon my return. Need repairs, want to experiment, an idea for improving the community? I can also work out any personal loans if you would rather loan money. My last resort is credit cards or winning the lottery! Please share this note with everyone you know!

I can be reached at 956-563-0974. My paypal account email is ikkyvicky@gmail.com. My personal email account is mamavixxx@gmail.com. Please feel free to share any comments, ideas, support, and other inquiries via these avenues or facebook!

Thanks for reading and supporting a vision of a new tomorrow!

~~hasta la victoria siempre~~

Victoria Garza

got an ok job, awesome kid, loving fiance, the best of friends, the messiest of messes, the most bitchin bike this side of edinburg. i eat meat and i grow veggies. i smoke only the finest flowers. overall, things are ok.