Xochimilco

By Ian Toal, 2nd year MDP student

In order to be close to RITA, the Indigenous tourism group we are working with in Mexico City, Alejandro, Susan and I moved into the barrio of Xochimilco. Located in the south east of Mexico City, Xochimilco is built on land reclaimed from an old lake – all that is left of the water is a system of canals. The canals are in turn created by chinampas, islands built in the water. On these chinampas, people mainly grow flowers. It is also where RITA has its main office.

Canal in Xochimilco leading to the RITA office

 

Xochimilco may be an Arrival City, a concept described by Globe and Mail Journalist Doug Saunders. Arrival cities are areas within larger cities where rural people migrate to in order to get a step up into the city proper. Arrival Cities are often called slums, but for Saunders, they are places of activity, creativity and hope as people work to make what they see as a better life for themselves. Xochimilco fits the arrival city pattern. I’m not sure how long the people have lived here, but there are shops everywhere. The place is a hive of activity, with people walking, riding, taking car taxis, bike taxis. Things are being scavenged, refurbished, reused, modified, sold, used to fix houses, cars, bikes, whatever. There are bakeries, fruit and vegetable stands, tortillarias, clothing stores, internet cafes, gas trucks, water

It is not a rich place, and life seems pretty hard. There is an occasional refurbished house, but it looks like the kind of place that the older inhabitants left and the rural people moved in to. As a thought experiment, we pondered whether Xochimilco needs ‘development’, and if so, what kind.

As good development practitioners, we would have to ask the people of the neighbourhood whether they wanted development, and what kind. We can’t do that, not yet, perhaps never. But looking around and observing can be very informative. What we see are people who are busy. There are few people just hanging around. People look decently dressed, and well nourished. The shops are not bustling, but are generally quite busy. Stuff is getting done. Things necessary for life are available, and at reasonable rates. There are four or five schools in the area, and we’ve seen long lines of young people waiting to take University entrance exams. There are also several Alcoholics Anonymous places around, which implies problem drinking, but they also indicate hope – people don’t attend AA unless they want to make their lives better.

It’s possible that many of the young people will not stay in Xochimilco. They may move into other parts of the city when they get their jobs, buy houses, and move their parents closer to them. Apartments won’t stay empty long – other people will arrive, and set up shop where an old one may have closed. It will likely follow the cycle of a successful Arrival City, allowing people to make the transition from outside to the city proper.

We all sort of agreed that Xochimilco doesn’t really need development – it seems to be doing pretty good as it is. Perhaps some better sidewalks would make walking a bit more convenient, but that may happen someday.

A view of Xochimilco from the roof of our house

Alberta Adventures

By Lisa Dixon, 1^st year MDP student

It’s been an exciting and busy first half of my summer field placement at Blue Quills First Nation College in St. Paul, Alberta.  It began with many new faces and names to remember as everyone at Blue Quills has welcomed me fully.  The first few weeks were filled with meetings, research, grant writing, and meeting a lot of new people.  Everyone has been great and gone out of their way to include me in campus and community events. 

But without a doubt the highlight so far has been the Annual Blue Quills Cultural Camp that took place May 27-31.  The week was full of people, ceremony, art, music, dance, food, and teachings.  Most of the work we were doing was put on hold, so Margaret and I could fully participate in the events of the week.  The usually quiet campus swelled, with well over a 100 extra people either staying in the dorms or camping on the Cultural grounds.  The highlights of the week for me were the ceremonies and the people.  I was able to meet a lot of different people over the course of the week, people who came from very different backgrounds.  But I learned something from every person I met; I was even reunited with someone I worked with in Winnipeg 3 years ago! There were several big ceremonies over the course of the week along with smaller teachings and other activities.  The first ceremony that I got to participate in was a Horse Dance.  On Wednesday there was a Bear Lodge ceremony.  The Bear Lodge is a type of a Sweat with four lodges, and one of the lodges was solely for women.  It was a beautiful experience hearing the teachings from a respected Elder in the community and a Past President of Blue Quills surrounded by strong women.

 

On Thursday, there was a gathering, The 4th Annual New Sun Gathering: A Call to Arts.  There was a Pipe Ceremony to start and then addresses from the two honored guests, Blackstone Actress Michelle Thrush and Alberta artist/writer Aaron Paquette.  Both Michelle and Aaron were fantastic and gave emotional and inspirational speeches about art in their own lives and how that has inspired activism and action.  Both have been involved in Idle No More, with Michelle involved in protests and organization and Aaron providing quite a bit of art work for the movement.  In the afternoon, Michelle gave a performance of her one-woman show, which was moving, funny and beautiful.  In the evening I participated in a Chicken Dance ceremony. The Chicken Dance went well into the night and resumed Friday morning and went into the afternoon.  We had a bit of break to rest up for the final ceremony of the Cultural Camp, a Yuwipi Ceremony that took place starting at dusk.  The ceremony began with a Sweat Lodge and following this we entered an area that was covered completely in order for the room to be completely dark.  The ceremony lasted about three hours and was extremely powerful.  This ceremony was the highlight of the Cultural Camp for me.  

Some may wonder what this Cultural Camp has to do with development, but there are different principles of development that are displayed on one of the walls here at Blue Quills and one says, 

 “Authentic Development is Culturally Based: Healing and development must be rooted in the wisdom, knowledge, and living processes of the culture of the people.”

Participating in ceremony is the basis for development and I was lucky enough to have participated in multiple ceremonies and learned from dozens of people about the foundation of Indigenous development.

Lisa Dixon (L), Michelle Thrush (C), and Margaret Lewis-John (R)