We find ourselves at the start of a new year and unfortunately COVID is still upon us for the third year running. BCS is still working its way out of the fourth wave of COVID-19 with OMICRON since its detection in late December 2021.
Foto Dr Deneb Poli 2021-03-29.jpeg This was to be expected with tourism peaking and hotels at maximum capacity. State health authorities have placed Los Cabos at Level 3 and continue to ask that face masks be used in public spaces and have established that local businesses can operate at 50% capacity.
Currently there are 1229 active cases that have been detected in Los Cabos by government health authorities. Many people are being tested at private laboratories or hospitals and these numbers unfortunately go unreported making the official number unreliable. Luckily most cases have been mild and few have needed hospitalization giving the local hospitals and healthcare workers a much needed break.
Vaccination has moved forward with those over 60 and health care workers receiving a third booster dose against COVID 19 with AstraZeneca. Children are now receiving their second dose and we have yet to hear news about vaccination for those under 14 years of age. Children 12-14 and have a known illness that puts them at risk are eligible for vaccination.
Free testing is available Monday to Friday at the local baseball stadium in San Jose del Cabo and on the weekends at the Centro de Salud in front of Coppel on Manuel Doblado street. There are also testing points in Cabo San Lucas. A hotline is available for free psychological help due to the stress and anxiety induced by COVID. Further information can be found for testing points and the hotline at http://saludbcs.gob.mx/.
International travel advisories continue to change as well as testing timelines, vaccination requirements and bans. Please review your country’s requirements on official websites for further information.
Tickets are going fast for Liga MAC’s 25th Anniversary Gala on March 30, 2022 at Querencia Private Golf and Beach Club. Tickets for this outdoor event include cocktails, a chef curated plated dinner, live entertainment, and dancing under the stars. For tickets and more information please contact Elva at elva@ligamac.org or visit ligamac.org.
Due to the latest outbreak of COVID, January’s proposed “Tacos & Tequila” event at Habanero’s and the proposed Liga MAC Open House to be held at the Centro de Apoyo in Colonia Zacatal have both been postponed. More information will appear in future Updates…
Be sure to stop in at the Liga MAC booths at both the Friday Palmilla Market at the Shoppes at Palmilla and the Saturday Organic Market on Calle Centenario. You will find information about Liga MAC and its programs as well as used books and new logo items for sale by suggested donation.
Liga MAC’s Donation Centre is open and operating on Tuesday and Saturday mornings from 8:00 am to 1:00 pm. The centre takes donations of used books and lightly used home furnishings and clothes. Items are for sale by suggested donation. The Donation Centre is located on Paseo de Los Marinos.
Sharo Laiza Martinez and Linda Anahy Montaño, Liga MAC educational support program students enrolled in Liga MAC’s ESL (English as a Second Language) program have nothing but good to say about the volunteer led program. They find the volunteer facilitators friendly, kind, and patient and the program interactive and fun.
Both students have found online learning during the past two years difficult remarking that public school online teaching abilities are inconsistent and sometimes non-existent with some teachers assigning and receiving projects via email and never making contact with students.
School English classes are often grammar based using course vocabulary only. And because assignments were not monitored many students defaulted to Google Translate to complete the work! However, recently, English classes together with other non-core subjects have been removed from the public school curriculum due to staffing and funding issues.
Liga MAC’s ESL program was faced with its own set of issues and solutions. Facilitators realized initially that “face-to-face” Zoom calls between individual students and facilitators, often in different countries, worked quite well. However, when introducing English to younger students, the Zoom format was problematic. This school year, with classes still being conducted remotely, ESL facilitators have decided for the second year in a row to work with senior students only.
Nancy Wayne Liga MAC 2019 ESL Edition
Max Samson Liga MAC’s 2019 ESL Edition
Kristin Brown Liga MAC’s 2019 ESL Edition
Last year Liga MAC’s volunteer ESL facilitator Max Samson and program co-ordinator Nancy Wayne were determined to create a workable Zoom ESL program to ensure that at least senior students would not lose their abilities in English and their enthusiasm, passion and energy continue to drive this year’s program.
Kristin Brown, a professional ESL teacher from California and Liga MAC volunteer, helped to create the assessment tool and, along with the team of facilitators, interviewed candidates via What’s App for the 2022 Liga MAC ESL program.
Sharo, a Grade 12 student enrolled in the Hospitality Program at Conalep High School and Linda, a Grade 11 student enrolled in a computer servicing program at Cecyt-07 High School, were interviewed by Kristin and accepted into the program.
The ESL program has completely changed the way both girls view English and online learning. Both have found that facilitators encourage students to speak with confidence. Sharo remarked that she feels “motivated, comfortable, and able to listen for correct pronunciation”.
Linda, a self motivated learner who watched online English tutorials and YouTube videos to improve her English prior to her assessment, particularly impressed Kristin with her perfect diction! Both girls are very excited to participate in the ESL classes and feel as though the facilitators treat them like friends and equals.
And finally as a testament to the importance of learning English in a destination tourist location like Los Cabos, Linda shared a recent anecdote. She and her sister were shopping in a local supermarket when an English speaker asked them for help. Employing some English, some Spanish and much sign language, the situation was resolved and all went away smiling.
Linda realized that attempting English with visitors is not such a scary prospect and that to do well in Los Cabos, mastering English is mandatory. She also appreciates that learning in a fun and friendly environment where she feels fully supported is going to increase her learning power.
St. Valentine’s Day or simply Valentine’s Day in the English speaking world, is a day devoted to amorous love. But in the Spanish speaking world, in particular Mexico, El Dia del Amor y la Amistad is a day to celebrate all relationships, fraternal as well as romantic. Acknowledging friends and loved ones who have been our lifelines after two years of restraint and isolation seems very apropos.
This month we highlight two students who have formed a special bond with their Liga MAC English as a Second Language volunteer instructors. Dr. Deneb Poli returns with her take on the health of Los Cabos in “Doctor’s Corner”. And we will update Liga MAC’s events and happenings.
What a legacy of which I am honoured to be a part! One of the reasons for Liga MAC’s longevity lies in its ability to adapt and change to meet local needs. Whether that means growing its volunteer cohort, adding skilled staff, increasing its ability to fundraise, being adept enough to offer immediate assistance in the face of major catastrophes, or changing its mandate, Liga MAC has always been there for the community it serves.
But none of Liga MAC’s celebrated history would be possible without the caring legions of volunteers and donors who have stepped up to help their neighbours. We salute you all! Gracias and “Viva Liga MAC”!
Dr. Poli is on leave but has advised that COVID numbers are rising and that everyone should ensure that they get vaccinated as soon as they are able. Los Cabos is currently at Level 2 Yellow (medium) but there are fears that with Omicron numbers surging the level will move to 3 Orange (high).
Foto Dr Deneb Poli 2021-03-29.jpeg Public protocols are still in place which include wearing a mask, social distancing, and hand sanitizing. Stay safe everyone!
Who doesn’t like Tacos & Tequila! Tadd Chapman and the team at Habanero’s at El Encanto Inn will be offering a Taco & Tequila event benefitting Liga MAC. Originally slated for January, due to COVID protocols, the event is being rescheduled. Stay tuned for more info…
To celebrate Liga MAC’s 25th Anniversary, the grounds of the Centro de Apoyo at the corner of Margarito Sandez and Luis Castro in Colonia Zacatal, will be open to the public on a date in February, 2022 TBA. For more information please visit ligamac.org or email info@ligamac.org
Liga MAC’s 25th Anniversary celebrations will culminate in a grand gala on March 30, 2022 at Querencia Private Golf and Beach Club.
WhatsApp Image 2022-01-06 at 12.06.43 PM.jpeg Owners Bonnie and Tom McCloskey have personally sponsored the event so that all funds raised will benefit Liga MAC. Tickets include cocktails, a chef curated plated dinner, live entertainment, and dancing under the stars For tickets and more information please contact Elva at elva@ligamac.org
Despite the increased efforts by volunteers in Liga MAC’s ESL (English as a Second Language) program to reach students electronically during the pandemic shutdown, the program has hit another roadblock.
Para CC ESL 2019.jpg Citing costs and difficulties conducting remote classes, the local public school district has decided to cancel “extracurricular” classes including art, music, and English. How this decision will impact curriculum and students remains to be seen, but Liga MAC volunteers are once again preparing to lead virtual ESL classes for our students.
In a high tourist area like Los Cabos, learning English is a vital economic tool for our Liga MAC Educational Support students. In the future, our planned new “Learning Centre” will afford our students a location to interact with native speakers and participate in ESL classes.
The name Liga MAC, A.C. tells a great deal about the founding of the organization. Liga MAC’s founder, Pearl Pardy an ex-pat Brit by way of Canada, called together a number of friends and neighbours on her birthday, January 25, 1997 to discuss a way of banding together to help the local poor.
That “band” or “liga” represented 3 nations: Mexico, America (USA), and Canada. Thus the name Liga MAC was born. Initially the group pooled their own resources to help their maids and gardeners but then gradually expanded to help those referred to the fledgeling charity by church groups and others.
During the winter months when the US and Canadian members were on hand, the group met once per month at a member’s home. They often held in-house raffles to raise money for their projects with the “winner” producing the prize (often baked goods) for the next month’s raffle.
Funds raised provided food hampers, medicines, trips to the doctor, prescriptions, clothing, baby formula, diapers, and blankets in winter.
Their referrals often took them out to remote farms and small communities rimming San Jose del Cabo.
At that time the population of San Jose del Cabo was roughly 25,000 with those on the fringes living at a subsistence level. Government medical insurance was accessible only by the privileged few. When the “free” Seguro Popular medical insurance was introduced in 2004, Liga MAC helped many families register for this government program.
Fonatur, the tourism and development branch of the federal government, was putting Los Cabos on the tourist destination map. San Jose del Cabo and Cabo San Lucas went from being sleepy little fishing villages in the 1960’s to being the jewels at the end of the Transpeninsular highway when it was completed in 1973.
In the 1980’s Fonatur promoted the development of 5 potential tourist destinations in Mexico including Los Cabos. By the late 1990’s resort and golf course development had begun in Los Cabos and a workforce was imported from mainland Mexico. The population influx created many social and infrastructure issues. Most of the workforce was uneducated and unhoused. Squatters built illegal “carton” shacks on the “free” land in arroyos only to have them washed away in the annual storms.
By the early 2000’s, Liga MAC was attracting many volunteers to serve a much larger clientele.
In order to help more people, more funds needed to be raised and in order to raise funds, Liga MAC needed to add the A.C. to its name. Asociación Civil, is the federal designation which signifies that a charity is able to raise funds for its mission. The group moved beyond raffles and was able to solicit donations and hold fundraisers.
Many in the group realized that more needed to be done besides tending to basic needs. The average education level in Mexico was Grade 6 due in part to the fact that in junior and senior high school students were required to wear uniforms to school. The cost of uniforms was prohibitive for a family whose income was $10 US per day.
A new program was developed in 2004 to help students stay in school, graduate from high school and acquire better paying jobs thereby ending the cycle of poverty. At the time Liga MAC operated three programs: basic needs, medical, and education.
In September 2014, Los Cabos and particularly San Jose del Cabo was hit by the major CAT 3 Hurricane Odile. The community including Liga MAC, with its centrally located and appropriately named Centro de Apoyo (help centre) in Zacatal, sprang into action providing water, food and medical supplies to the hard-hit area.
As Los Cabos continued to experience wild growth, more charitable organizations emerged covering a range of needs. In 2017, with the understanding that some of it’s programs were now being offered by other charities, Liga MAC’s board of directors made the mission altering decision to concentrate on the educational health of San Jose’s students. Liga MAC’s educational support program to help students stay in school was broadened to include 9 additional programs designed to increase learning capacity. At the same time, Liga MAC’s staff were available to deal with any medical, physical or emotional issues their students might be facing.
In March 2020, the COVID 19 pandemic reactivated the community effort begun in 2014 and saw Liga MAC’s Centro de Apoyo become a hub for the distribution of community care packages. As we begin to emerge from the grasp of the pandemic and reflect on Liga MAC’s 25 year history of community involvement, it is clear that Pearl Pardy’s vision of helping her community those many years ago lives on in the charity she created.
With the help of hundreds of volunteers and thousands of donors Liga MAC has been able to assist tens of thousands of local residents through major devastation and change the lives of nearly 7 thousand students. In the words of Pearl from the 20th Anniversary: Viva Mexico! Viva Liga MAC!
