Cuauhtemoc, Chihuahua, MX; Guadalajara, Jalisco, MX- The Institute of Rural Social Work (IRSW) has been hard at work with our neighbors south of the border, expanding the international reach of WNMU. One student, Jeanine Celeste Romo, has been working on bringing members of another culture to Western New Mexico University, on behalf of IRSR, the Institute of Rural Social Work Research Consultation and Training.
According to Dr. Robert Rickle, the head of the IRSW, a group of Mennonites traveled down from Canada in the 1920’s and eventually settled in the state of Chihuahua, opening up a farming settlement near Cuauhtemoc, where Jeanine lives. The members of this community are predominantly Spanish-speaking, but there are also some who speak English and some German.
According to Dr. Rickle, the formal education of Mennonites only goes up to about sixth grade, though some have continued past that. Jeanine developed a project, on her own, to get members of the Mennonite community to attend classes on campus at Western New Mexico University.
Dr. Rickle visited Jeanine and saw her efforts over the summer, before heading a little deeper into Mexico to Guadalajara, to visit one of the campuses of UNIVA, the Universidad del Valle de Atemajec. UNIVA has a program called Global Summer, an international exchange program that welcomes instructors from and around Latin America as well as from other universities such as WNMU. The purpose for Dr. Rickle’s visit was to meet with UNIVA and discuss a research project on the indigenous population around Lake Chapala, Mexico’s largest freshwater lake. The lake is also home to many retirees and was once the site where famed playwright Tennessee Williams worked on a play originally called The Poker Night, but later became his most famous work, A Streetcar Named Desire.
The goal of the project would be to have the local population learn to become certified produce growers, farmers essentially, and teach them how to market their product.
Jeanine Celeste Romo is currently developing a webpage for IRSR and their Facebook page can be found here. Photos for this article are courtesy of IRSR.
