Sue_Heily@hotmail.com
 

George Vena
We have a couple of reports from people traveling to Bolivia recently. The first of these was compiled by Wayne Swegle on behalf of George Vena. George traveled to evaluate the status of the justice project in Bolivia. Here is his report as summarized from the recent meeting of the Partners Board, October 9, 2004: Vena said one of his assignments was meeting with prosecutors and public defenders in La Paz and in Santa Cruz. Main subjects of discussion involved some difficulties the prosecutors and public defenders were encountering in implementing Bolivia's relatively new justice system; and how experience in the US justice system might suggest means of ameliorating these problems. He also was asked to discuss the subject of management of case files, and how to have a transparent investigative system.

He illustrated the differences between the old and new Bolivian systems this way: Under the old system, if someone stole a person's cow, that person would make a complaint and the police would arrest the alleged culprit and put him in jail. Then the procedure would go to a writing process, without verbal testimony. The culprit might spend 6 or 7 years in jail before his guilt or innocence was determined. If he were found innocent through the long written trial process, he still would have served the time in jail. Under the new system, the culprit would given a more-timely public trial, not a written one.

There are differences between the new Bolivian system and the US system. For example, in the Bolivian system, there is a trial before a citizen jury comprised of three ordinary citizens and two attorneys. The attorneys guide the citizen judges in matters of the law to help the citizen judges in reaching their decisions. Typically, the case is decided in a year to 18 months. Although, technically, under the Bolivian system, the accused's defender can get access to his case file early on or before the case is formally filed, it doesn't always work smoothly. While the accused can't be taken to a backroom and "talked" into confessing, his attorney may have a problem getting his case file. The police may not be able to find it or it may get "misplaced" in the records system. (Vena went to an anti-corruption seminar held for the Santa Cruz prosecutors and public defenders to learn more about how the system operates in real time.)

Luis Fernandez, a skilled video producer and Santa Cruz Partner, came to Arkansas about a year ago for a series of meetings with video production people, the state's television producers, legal authorities, and other specialists to mutually share helpful ideas. Fernandez produced a series of videos for use in educating citizen judges and others about the system and how it works.

A next step in the north/south exchange process is expected to be inviting and bringing the head prosecutors from La Paz and Santa Cruz to Arkansas to meet and confer with their counterparts on matters of mutual interest. The Bolivian prosecutors can discuss how the US system, based on many decades of experience and with a different historical base, might help resolve some of their new system's issues.

On the wish list of Santa Cruz Partners is finding funding to buy a mobile unit and equip it with videos, projection equipment, screens, sound systems, two-way radios, and other educational equipment in order to take these and other worthwhile messages to communities outside the metropolitan cities.

Caroline Kinsey
Caroline is a French horn teacher who traveled to Santa Cruz, Bolivia Aug.23-Sept.5. This is her trip report

Purpose and Activities – To teach the fundamentals of brass playing which will include basic techniques as well as all around knowledge of the instrument. To teach proper sitting position, instrument fingering and ensemble playing, distribute brass playing literature for future reference.

Results/Impact:
The purpose of my trip was accomplished in the best way that was possible. The Bella Artes Institute was the location of my teaching and my students were Enrique Lopez and Lucas Romero. Both boys are in 8th grade and have been playing French horn for 3 months.

My main goal was to teach the basics of horn playing through private and group lessons. The first week was group lessons for an hour and a half each day. The second week was 45 minute private lessons each day.

The other two students were Silvestre Sanchez and Angel Quispe. They are members of the local army band and the Santa Cruz Youth Orchestra. The gentlemen are adults and I had 30 minute lessons with each of them every day for the two weeks. I also attended one youth orchestra rehearsal and played in the section with them.

I performed a short demonstration for the youth orchestra and for the young kids at the Bella Artes Institute. The youth orchestra has around 45 members and the kids in attendance at the institute were about 60.

At the end of the two weeks the two young boys performed a memorized duet for their peers to show what they had learned during my two week residence. They learned proper entrances of the stage, correct handling of the instrument, breathing techniques and most importantly, working with your colleagues.

The two adults students learned proper warm ups, transpositions technique, sitting position, advanced rhythm, and quality of sound.

My biggest difficulty was language. I do not know Spanish, therefore when my translator was not around ideas were lost and progress was slowed significantly. For future travelers it would be nice to know what kind of material the students already possess so the teacher can come with the most efficient material.

Aida McKenney was the most involved as she picked me up every day to take me to lunch and to the school. Ms. McKenney was a very gracious host and made me feel very comfortable. My host family, Rosaria Anaya was very hospitable and was very helpful in my stay. Taking me to local events and restaurants.

I will be forming a lesson plan with recommended books and schedules and send to Aida McKenney. This will be for the young students. This lesson plan will also include suggested repertoire as the students progress in their studies.

The expected benefits will be the faculty at the Bella Artes will have a better idea of what is expected of their French horn students. The French Horn is one the most misunderstood and complicated instruments in the orchestra. They will be able to better guide these students and future students in the right directions. If all goes well, maybe one of the students can come back and be a French Horn teacher at the institute. This would be the best outcome.

Follow – up
The Bella Artes Institute would benefit greatly by having a French horn teacher on staff but in the mean time encouraging my students to want to teach and possibly my colleagues to want to take a trip to Bolivia would be a goal.

Sharing my experience with the community and letting them know how important Partners of the Americas is will be a goal of mine in the coming year. I believe many teachers would be interested in this project but they are just not aware of it. A call or email every 3 or 6 months to the institute would be good thing to keep motivation up for the students.

Making sure they are on track and that they have recitals scheduled will also keep them going. Sending them fresh and interesting ideas and publications that I receive on horn literature could go to the school.

The staff at Bella Artes Institute were very generous and enthusiastic about my visit. Again, the main problem was communication. If I am invited and I decide to go back, learning some Spanish would definitely be a good idea. I joined Partners of the Americas this summer.

Awards and a Profile
It is a pleasure to announce both awards and a profile in this section. At the outset it must be admitted that it is difficult to mix professional objectivity and modesty in announcing these, but we will try. You see, two of the awardees are heavily involved in much of the reporting that occurs in these pages. You will see what is meant below.

Bill Millager
The Hispanic Women’s Organization of Arkansas (HWOA and www.hwoa.org) awarded Bill a certificate at last September's HWOA Conference in the Union. It says, "For untiring commitment to improving access to voter participation for all Arkansans."

It all started during the intense election campaign in the fall of  2002. The then-President of LULAC (League of United Latin American Citizens) encouraged Bill’s interest in voter registration for Hispanics. He was handed a copy of a registration form that had been obtained from the Arkansas Secretary of State's office. Bill looked it up online at http://sos.state.ar.us. A convenient, interactive English registration form was there, along with a link to a Spanish form, with an FEC web address. But the link was a dead link.

Sleuthing revealed the then-current Spanish language document . The address was http://fecweb1.fec.gov/ votregis/pdf/nvra_spanish_public.pdf. (This is now a dead link, too.) The document turned out to be "The National Mail Voter Registration Form." This is "the one document that allows you to register to vote from anywhere in the United States."

It contained a generic voter registration form, plus a page for each state giving the changes needed to make the generic form comply with that state's procedures, plus the appropriate mailing address at the state capital. The document was pdf, about fifty pages long. So it helped to have patience and paralegal know-how to download, modify and complete the standard form.

This was far inferior to the convenient on-line form available in English. It also turned out that the identification requirements in the resulting Spanish instructions were more restrictive than those in the English version.

The situation seemed inherently unfair, and Bill believed that was illegal. So he started a telephone campaign which reached the SOS's chief counsel, the head of the Election Division, the responsible official at the FEC in Washington, and the Governor's office, among others. In several of the discussions it came up that it wouldn't do much good to have the form in Spanish, because the employees who would need to hand out and receive the forms, and record the information, "did not understand Spanish."

But after several rounds, it became generally accepted inprinciple that if a Spanish form was legal - and its existence on the FEC website made that fairly obvious, then equal access should be a given.

So the Arkansas SOS website needed a Spanish form just like the English form and it should also be available from each of the County Clerks. So then the need for a certifiable Spanish translation of the Arkansas form became the next hurdle.

But eventually all of these things worked out, and Spanish forms do now exist, on the Secretary of State website - under Online Services, and in the County Clerks' offices.

Bob Frans (write-up provided by Bill Millager)
As October, 2004 rolled around, Bob Frans was quietly preparing for another of his near-annual treks to Bolivia as a Partner of the Americas. On the evening of Friday, October 1, the spotlight found him at a packed Rogers Youth Activities Center, enjoying Mexican food and entertainment among friends, and receiving a coveted award.

The occasion was the 6th annual Heroes de Corazon  celebration, jointly sponsored by LULAC and Wal-Mart. Bob received one of 10  Olympic-style medals presented to NW Arkansas residents. Nominees were chosen by a broad-based selection committee for selfless contributions to the betterment of the Hispanic community.

Bob was cited as a "researcher, humanitarian, and helper." He was commended for these outstanding career contributions: "Taught Latinos agricultural methods; traveled throughout Latin America, helping along the way; has given Latinos skills to help their families." The person who surprised Bob by phoning to let him know of his nomination reported that he seemed to be very excited and gratified by the award.

Identity of the nominator is a closely guarded secret, but it does appear that the committee did not know of at least one of Bob's major contributions. About ten years ago, he instigated the hugely successful Bolivian Scholarship Program by which Bolivian students pay only in-state tuition at the University of Arkansas. More about this can be found online at http://www.uark.edu/misc/partners/
Direcc37_Spring04.html#asado.

The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) - Northwest Arkansas District - consists of Councils 754 (www.nwalulac754.org), 757, 758 and 761 with approximately one hundred members. LULAC national is the largest and oldest Hispanic advocacy group in the United States. It was founded in Texas in 1929. The annual Heroes de Corazon awards recognize outstanding efforts to further the well-being of the NWA Hispanic community. As described in separate articles (preceding and following), two members of the Arkansas POA circle were among the eleven 2004 medal winners.

Manny Gomez
The accompanying photo captures the scene as NWA LULAC stalwart Manny Gomez receives his medal in the capstone award of the evening. His well-deserved citation reads, "Selfless, willing, all-heart; regularly translates where needed; education is his top priority; assists students to gain higher education; helps displaced families in time of need; takes food and clothing to families in need.”
  

President Heily reported that she had received a letter on our rechartering process. The letter reads:
“On behalf of the Partners of the Americas Board of Directors, the Partnership Development Committee, and the Partners’ staff, we congratulate the Arkansas chapter for satisfactorily completing the rechartering process for 2004-2007.

“As we celebrate our 40th anniversary in Guatemala, and look toward an exciting future, we count on your chapter’s support, leadership and commitment to the Partners Mission. To work together across borders to build understanding and to improve the lives of people in the Western Hemisphere.

“It will be our great pleasure, at the meeting of the 2004 Partners Congress in Antigua, Guatemala, to announce that your chapter is among those that are rechartered.

“Congratulations!”

That’s about it for now. By the time you read this (or soon after) several Partners will be traveling to Guatemala for the International Convention, and some on to Bolivia afterwards. In the next issue of Direcciones, sometime after the first of the year and after the next Board meeting, we will report on the Convention and some of our Partner’s activities. Until then, have a happy Fall, Winter, and holiday season, and look forward to a great new year.