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Cross-Cultural Communication
Through the development of this project we spoke to two individuals familiar with San Pablo and the Guateca program. We spoke to Wendy, a Guatemalan Gueteca student working with Las Mujeres to understand the desires and hesitations of the community. We also interviewed Rory Aaronson, a past Californian Guateca student about his cultural understandings and experiences.
From our communication experiences, we learned that community involvement is the best option. Creating relationships with the locals to share with them is the most culturally-sensitive way to implement these technologies.
Communication with Wendy
Email Correspondence through the quarter
Interview with Rory
Meeting with Kirsten and Victoria with Rory Aronson: 10/29/12
San Pablans didn’t quite inquire much about Guateca construction during the first Guateca Program in which he went to
There are only a few places with traffic, church, and the tienda/store to post any information
120 households, 1000 people roughly
The women are very busy with domestic duties and the men should be targeted for immersing them in Guateca endeavors.
A progressive family took him in and he stayed with them.
The education of adults is low; father works a lot
No street signs
Community meetings regularly happen with about 30 to 40 people
The church is a good place for the community to gather and could be a potential place to post information
The younger youth are the most excited and inquisitive about the projects of Guateca (ages 6 to 11); those around 15 to 16 graduate school to start work
If the youth don’t go to a university, they start working on the farm/land
Community leaders need to be the ones pitching ideas/leading meetings because they are trusted and respected by the people. Ex. Wendy, Yoni, Ulysses, Mace, and Christian
Local students in college at a neighboring city; they have Saturday classes
Apprenticeship programs for the younger students include woodshop, sewing, bread making, and appropriate tech could be led as well
The Guateca website provides graphs, analysis, etc. on app. techs. and it is too much physics and not impressive for people who need to understand it.
A booklet/manual could be profitable. Include diagram/pics, materials list, how you can assemble it, trouble-shooting –essentially, “dumbing it down”
How could the booklet be used? Simple form for what each app. tech. is doing, how you can incorporate them into your daily life; needs to be well done/simplified; booklet should be laminated and in Guateca house, laminated pages so that people could do a self-tour if need be
Hard to navigate Guateca website; important that it be trimmed down to be read easily
Full report should be online of who/what numbers can be contacted of people who worked on app. techs. specifically in Guatemala
The goal is trying to spread these technologies and right now they are not immediately accessible to anyone who is NOT involved in Guateca.
How can this booklet, or other thing, be applied here to disseminate information in a digestible way?