idealist.org

Centro Madre in San Jose de Barlovento is a 2-hour drive from Caracas. The governmental agricultural institute (CIARA) recently inspected the project and rated this project as excellent, a national model of small scale sustainable agriculture, and described it as one of the best projects that they have visited. Groups come every week to to see and learn from this Master Unit enterprise. The farm, which is still in the beginning stages, has vegetables, root crops, flowers, medicinal plants, fruits, compost, a seed bank, nursery, bee-keeping, fish ponds, egg-laying hens and several cottage industries including honey extraction, medicinal herb processing, fruit drying and packaging. Participants will see and learn about each part, and contribute with their work.

Barlovento, where Centro Madre is located, is the heart of the Afro-Venezuelan people and culture. The group will visit a traditional cacao plantation and hear rich oral stories of how the people survived and resisted slavery and racism, and how their music, dance and art have helped strengthen them.

For 10 years Centro Madre has been serving five nearby villages with educational and cultural programs and women's empowerment projets. During the camps, the group can visit the villages if we can positively contribute to the communities. Depending on your creative talents, abilities and skills, we can do simple workshops that could include, for example, reading a children’s story (in Spanish), handicrafts, singing, theater, games, magic tricks, dance, arts, juggling, or even a cooking class. Your contribution to such an "educational talent show" can enrich the lives of both children and adults who have very little contact with outsiders.

Barlovento baseball kids Baseball is the national sport of Venezuela. Children and adults love to play, but very few people in the villages have gloves, a bat or other equipment. If you can bring some gloves or a bat that you could donate, we could also hold an international baseball game for fun. We also have a popular Children's Reading Program and lending library, so we also request donations of childrens books in Spanish or with very little text in English, so that we can easily translate them.

The Caribbean Sea is just 15 minutes away from Centrol Madre, by car, and we plan on taking you there for an afternoon, so bring your swimsuit!

Cost: US$190 (4 full days, 4 nights). A late fee of US$25 will apply two weeks before.

Please visit our website to register.

visit our website or contact us for further directions