Seeds of Learning, a Sonoma-based nonprofit organization, is offering a free event at the Sonoma Valley Museum of Art next month to familiarize the community with its efforts to build schools and boost education in developing communities in the Americas.
At the event, slated for Saturday, Nov. 2, from 3 to 5 p.m., Executive Director Annie Bacon, and Mexico Coordinator Malia Cashel will discuss Seeds of Learning’s projects as well as plans for future projects in Mexico and Central America.
“This will provide a chance for people to come and learn about Seeds of Learning, get to know what we have been up to, including highlights of our programs, and share more information about our future plans for traveling with us to Mexico,” Bacon said.
Sonoma resident Gary Edwards will speak about his experiences with his son, Sullivan, when they helped to build a community learning center in Oaxaca, Mexico, last summer. Sonoma Valley High School student Kyle Niel will also discuss his memories of the trip.
Details will be provided about volunteering for the organization’s 2025 work group projects, scheduled for Feb. 1 to 9, March 23 to 30 (open to Sonoma Valley High School students) and June 22 to July 1 (led by Sonoma resident Mark Etherington) at Teotitlan del Valle in Oaxaca, Mexico.
Event attendees will also be able to enjoy appetizers and drinks as well as explore the works of a local artist in the exhibit, “Cenote de Suenos: The Art of Juana Alicia.”
They will also be able to view Items from Seeds of Learning’s online auction, including stays in Tahoe, Inverness and Puerto Rico as well as kayak adventures, one-of-a-kind artwork, wine and restaurant meals.
Bacon said the event is not intended to be a fundraiser, though: The focus will be on sharing information about the organization’s work.
Seeds of Learning was founded in 1991 by Sonoma resident Todd Evans and Patrick Rickon in response to the need they saw while participating in a Habitat for Humanity trip to Nicaragua in the late 1980s.
“They saw kids sitting on concrete blocks, not having desks or schools,” Bacon said. “Patrick started making desks from scrap lumber from a Habit of Humanity small lumber mill outside of Ciudad Dario, where we have our base in Nicaragua. Community members were interested in what he was doing and asked if they would make some for the kids in the school in their community.”
Rickon said he would make desks with community members and invited them to do so.
“Meanwhile, Todd Evans returned to the United States and founded Seeds of Learning as a way to help increase access to education,” Bacon said. “The next year, the first group of volunteers traveled from Northern California to work with a community in Nicaragua to build a classroom that was requested.”
Since then, Seeds of Learning has sent work groups to Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala and Mexico. Its mission is to promote conditions for quality learning in developing communities of the Americas while educating its North American constituents about the rich culture diversity and the educational and social needs of communities in Central America and Mexico.
“We try to respond to community members’ needs in education and work side by side with them to improve their access to quality education,” Bacon said. “Programmatically, this translates into school infrastructure — including classrooms, learning centers, kitchens and desks — as well as projects, scholarships and learning resource centers.”
The organization also facilitates hands-on cross-cultural exchanges between people of the global north and global south.
“This translates into seven- to 10-day work group volunteer tips where volunteers learn about the culture, art, politics, history, economics and more before they go,” Bacon said. “Then, they spend time with a community — currently, we are just offering trips to Oaxaca — where they work side by side with volunteers from that community on a hands-on project that improves education in that community.
“We hope that through this experience, people from different parts of the world and backgrounds can have the chance to work together on a project to improve a community, get to know each other and recognize the common humanity we all share.”
Seeds of Learning formerly sent about 20 groups of work volunteers to Nicaragua each year.
“Following the political protests in Nicaragua in 2018 and then COVID, we slowed way down,” Bacon said. “We sent two groups last year, four this year and plan to send five more next year.”
Nearly 300 volunteers from Sonoma and almost 800 volunteers from Sonoma County have served as volunteers in Seeds of Learning work groups. The Sonoma participants include Edwards, who has traveled to Nicaragua five times, and Wayne Schake, Sonoma’s 2024 Alcalde, who has made seven trips — to Nicaragua El Salvador, Guatemala and Mexico.
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Publish date : 2024-10-22 11:49:00
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