GVI MEXICO MARCH 2014, ISSUE 1

GVI MEXICO
MARCH 2014, ISSUE 1











Inside this Issue
Juvenile and Adult Fish
Monitoring.
English lessons at the Ludoteca.
Cooperative Las Orqudeas de
Sian Kaan
Cocos Cat Rescue Annual
Fundraising Event
Pez Maya Observer of the
Month
International Womens Day
Gender Equality Enforcement















INTRODUCTION
Welcome to the first edition of the
GVI Mexico trimestral newsletter.
GVI is a non-political, non-religious
organization, which operates in the
third sector filling critical voids in
the fields of environmental
research, conservation, education,
and community development. Our
funding comes from donors,
fundraisers, paying volunteers,
interns, corporate donations, NGOs,
and governmental and international
funding bodies.
We are working in the Yucatan
Peninsula, in partnership with
Amigos
Amigos de Sian Kaan and Flora,
Fauna y Cultura de Mxico, A.C.,
collecting marine and terrestrial
data, as well as on the community
and veterinary projects in Playa del
Carmen alongside our partners
Cocos Cat Rescue, Save the
Children, and The Equine Therapy
and Integral Care Center.
Each issue of the newsletter will
look to bring a summary of the
latest achievements of GVI in its
Mexico Program.
We hope you will find these updates
enjoyable!
- THE GVI TEAM

JUVENILE AND ADULT FISH
MONITORING
In the heart of the Sian Kaan
Biosphere Reserve you can find
Pez Maya base where GVI works. In
partnership with Amigos de Sian
Kaan, we collect data of the
Caribbean reefs. Many different
methods are used globally to collect
data about the health of a coral reef.
At Pez Maya we use the
Mesoamerican Barrier Reef Systems
synoptic monitoring program.
Volunteers are guided by staff
members to achieve monitoring
level within four to eight weeks
since

GVI MEXICO MARCH 2014, ISSUE 1





























since their arrival. Our phase for January showed great
data collecting potential, achieving 100% in their
identification exams, sizing and in-water spots in only
three weeks. Volunteers must combine in-depth
knowledge of their subject, be it fish or coral, and
excellent diving skills to be able to begin monitoring.
A fish monitoring team consists of one juvenile monitor
and one adult monitor. The pair scan a transect of 30
meters, writing down on slates the species and sizes of
any target fish that swims through an imaginary two
meter cubed box in the case of adults and one meter
cubed box for juvenile.

An adult and juvenile buddy pair laying out the tape measure and
using the T-bar to monitor within a 2 m
3
box.
ENGLISH LESSONS AT THE LUDOTECA
In the current age of globalization and social media,
being multilingual is increasingly common and certainly
an asset. The English language has enormous political,
economic, and cultural significance. For children in
Mexico having some understanding of English in addition
to their native tongue is a distinct advantage, especially
in Playa where tourism is the primary industry.
In January 2014 GVI started delivering English lessons at
the ludoteca to equip the children who attend daily with
more tools for their futures. With the approval of Save
the
more tools for their futures. With the approval of Save
the Children representatives, English lessons have been
planned out for the children until June, when the current
interns will finish their volunteer stay in Playa.
The first few weeks address Hello my name is, numbers
1-50, and I am _ years old. It then develops along these
lines to include colours, countries, flags, animals, food
and so on. These are also topics which can be creative,
interactive and fun. We try and include an activity within
the English lesson which is either creative or fun such as
games.
Volunteers Maddie and Nicole teaching English to young kids.
In the first week the children created name badges, in
the second they played bingo with the newly acquired
knowledge of English numbers. Future activities planned
include Guess who? and Noahs ark, so acquiring another
language will be tremendous fun.
The first few lessons have been a great success. In the
coming months we will continue to provide lessons of
different standards so all the children of the ludoteca
and the community benefit.
To learn more about Save the Children visit:
http://www.savethechildren.org
GVI MEXICO MARCH 2014, ISSUE 1



























GVI provided willing, interested bodies for the ladies to
practice their performance on the different tours; to tell
them our opinions and also to provide them with a guide
of the English vocabulary and phrases they will need to
learn to offer a better service to international customers.
All the tours generated different opinions and lots of
feedback, but in general it was a beautiful experience
and it was very rewarding to see these women happy,
following their dreams, and sharing their knowledge and
experiences with us.
COCOS CAT RESCUE ANNUAL
FUNDRAISING EVENT
Cocos Cat Rescue is a GVI partner in the Vet
programme. They are an organization that provides
valuable services, such as spaying and neutering, to the
cats and dogs within the community in Playa del Carmen.
The team runs entirely on donations and GVI lent a
helping hand for their 5
th
annual fundraising event. The
team in Playa was in charge of contacting local
businesses in the city and generating awareness and
interest in donating a prize for an auction.
A month before the event, the GVI team took up the
mantle of fundraisers and official procurers of sponsors
for the event through the initial contact with shop
owners, delivering of leaflets and posters to promote the
event and raise awareness of responsible ownership.
We managed to gain a large number of exciting and
valuable items for both the online and live auctions
which would take place at the event itself. These
included donations of art work, jewellery, dinners for
two at local restaurants, tickets for tours, entrances to
the legendary Coco Bongo, diving equipment and
instruction, tattoo vouchers, gym memberships, yoga
lesson


COOPERATIVE LAS ORQUDEAS DE SIAN
KAAN
Among Pez Mayas main objectives we find the necessity
to keep a close and healthy relationship between GVI
and the community of Punta Allen, to raise awareness on
different key environmental issues as well as to build
capacities among the members of the community. As
part of this project, the staff and volunteers from Pez
Maya were taken on four different eco-tours organized
by the new women cooperative in the Sian Kaan
Biosphere Reserve Las Orqudeas de Sian Kaan.
The Sian Kaan Orchids Cooperative was created about
two years ago by a group of outstanding women from
Punta Allen that wanted to offer a different product in
the Reserve, diversify the tourist options, and support
the family economy. Their project has been supported by
different institutions like the National Commission of
Natural Protected Areas (CONANP), Amigos de Sian
Kaan, the Compact UN program, and the WWF.
On February we had the privilege to cooperate with
them participating, as tourists, in the hiking, history,
kayaking, and cycling tours guided by the members of
this community.
Kayaking in the mangrove system.
GVI MEXICO MARCH 2014, ISSUE 1

























GVI team at the event.
To learn more about Cocos Cat Rescue visit:
http://cocoscatrescue.org/
PEZ MAYA OBSERVER OF THE MONTH
In addition to recording specific coral and fish species, at
Pez Maya we contribute to several scientific databases
and keep internal records to monitor other fauna such as
migratory and non-migratory bird species, sharks,
stingrays, sea turtles, and dolphins to name a few.
The data collected by volunteers over the last months
has contributed to the following databases: Shark
Network Observation (www.sharksonline.net), OBIS
SEAMPA (http://seamap.env.duke.edu/), as well as
internal GVI databases. During March our volunteers
recorded two Bull Sharks, seven Nurse Sharks, seven rays
of varying species including, the Yellow Stingray,
Southern Stingray, Lesser Electric Ray and Caribbean
Stingray. Because of this, GVI Pez Maya has been named
Observer of the Month for March 2014 by the Shark
Observation Network. Volunteers also contributed to
OBIS SEAMAP with seven turtle and sixteen Bottlenose
dolphin observations. Turtle species identified were the
Loggerhead turtle and the Green turtle.



lessons and many, many more. These extremely
generous prizes reflect not only the hard work of the
fundraising team (who probably walked a marathon
distance up and down 5
th
during this period) and the
dedication of the Cocos team, but also the level of
enthusiasm for this kind of work within the community.
Cocos 5
th
Annual Fundraising event poster.
The GVI team helped secure over 100 sponsors, raising
$3798 US purely on online auctions, helped selling over
200 tickets to the event and had 70 more donations up
for auction on the event night. The fundraising not only
served to gain donations and prizes for the event but
also enabled us to raise awareness of Cocos mission,
GVIs commitment to community development in Playa
and advocate responsible care of animals.

GVI MEXICO MARCH 2014, ISSUE 1



























within the Sian Kaan Biosphere Reserve. By doing this
we hope the area will remain protected contributing to
our millennium goal of environmental sustainability.
INTERNATIONAL WOMENS DAY GENDER
EQUALITY ENFORCEMENT
GVI introduced, on the 8
th
of March, the celebrations of
International Womens Day to the children of the
ludoteca with the objective of expanding this concept on
the childrens growing minds. The aim is to equip them
with knowledge of the importance of equal treatment
amongst genders and to show them examples of
renowned famous women around the world.
This year the theme for International Womens Day was
Inspiration for Change. In addition to fulfilling GVIs and
our implementing partners Save the Childrens objectives
to empower the children, the recognition and
celebration is imperative for a developing Nation such as
Mexico, which experiences the chasm between rights in
law and in practice.
Sisters in the ludoteca ready to participate in empowering one
another.
The Playa team saw the opportunity with the ludoteca to
illuminate womens rights for the children there through
a presentation and an activity, to empower the girls and
Yellow Stingray (Urolophus jamaicensis).
Internally, Pez Maya staff and volunteers record all the
birds they see on a 30 minute daily birding transect, in
one of four locations, the mangrove mouth, the bridge,
the beach, and the road. 485 birds were spotted during
March, among which we were excited to see 11
American Flamingos, Roseate Spoonbills, Bare-throated
Tiger-herons, and Red-Vented Woodpeckers. Also this
month we said goodbye to our Yellow Throated Warbler,
who leaves around April but returns during December
each year, flying South to spend the winter in Pez Maya.

Yellow Throated Warbler (Setophaga dominica).
It is important to record and contribute our sightings in
Pez Maya to help raise awareness of the biodiversity
within
GVI MEXICO MARCH 2014, ISSUE 1

























inspire the boys by showing them examples of famous
inspirational women and apply these ideas to recognize
the inspirational women in their lives. The team had
intended to make a presentation explaining the purpose
of International Womens Day but one of the girls asked
if she could read it out loud. It was a perfect addition and
empowering on so many levels. The slides included a
number of inspirational women and the children were
very receptive and fascinated by them and their lives.
To reinforce the notion of inspirational women they
were asked to apply this to their own lives. They were
given a pre-prepared worksheet which was entitled My
inspiration is and why. Most of the children recognized
their care givers as the inspirational women in their lives,
sighting their grandmothers as their inspiration because
she loves and cares for them. This is not a surprising
result for Playa del Carmen where the chief childrens
issue is abandonment. Ludoteca was created against this
backdrop and extended family often provides a large
amount of childrens care whilst parents work. Some
other variations included their elder sisters, various
Disney princesses, teachers, and the ludotecarias.
This successful presentation and advocacy of this day has
inspired the GVI team to bring more international
themes to the ludoteca. The Playa team is hoping to
present on world book day and International Childrens
day amongst others.



Intern Naomi helping the kids with their inspirational women ideas.

XPLOR BRAVEST CHALLENGE
In January this year, 15 brave volunteers and staff took
part in the Xplor bravest race, a 5 km local obstacle chase
which we adopted as a challenge to raise funds for our
local partners. They raised 775 pounds which has helped
to provide daily drinkable water in the Colosio ludoteca for
the kids that attend it; it has also helped to buy a projector
for films and documentaries as well as to buy cleaning
products for them to work in a hygienic environment.
https://www.justgiving.com/teams/xplorbravestrace

RECYCLING & FOOD PROGRAMME
We also started donating the recycling products produced
in the volunteers house to different families from the
centers where we work in Playa del Carmen; whom
exchange them for food vouchers from the Playa del
Carmen municipality. So far we have donated 36 kgs pet, 6
kgs aluminum, 12 kg carton 12 kgs tetrapack.

GVI MEXICO MARCH 2014, ISSUE 1








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