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<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\nPor Valeria Davila<\/h3>\nEnglish translation\u00a0by Abril Obregon Gonzalez<\/h5>\n
When the exchanges started between Dawson College and the Upemor, more than a year ago, I did not imagine the dimensions this project would reach. Each one of the 11 students from Dawson College that has come to the Environmental ![\"21\"](\"https:\/\/www.dawsoncollege.qc.ca\/sustainable-campuses\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/148\/21-800x600.jpg\")
Capacitation Center (CECAM) at the Upemor has left their own mark. We learned together. We built chimneys and solar ovens\u00a0with Ella, Ali, Morgen and Mikayla. We learned environmental leadership practices with Joni, Dalton and Arielle. We built bird feeders, we planted in the vegetable garden and handcrafted flower-seed-bombs with Sam B., Emma and Aniela. We made inventories and photographed the university\u2019s biodiversity with Sam Nesterenko. Together, with the students from the Environmental Program, we composted, cutted plants, took care of the orchard and organized events. We ate Pozole, Tacos and Sushi. We laughed and had lots of fun. We even played Blitz and Bucket, and we did so even with the language complications, the suffocating heat and the annoying mosquitoes. We learned, grew and felt.<\/p>\n
When Gisela Frias and Chris Adam visited the Upemor for the first time I appreciated the fact that an outsider, from a country ![\"image\"](\"https:\/\/www.dawsoncollege.qc.ca\/sustainable-campuses\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/148\/image-1-800x536.jpg\")
like Canada, could recognize and value the efforts that we have invested in the CECAM. It was gratifying to see that they understood the importance and the complexity behind our work. Teamwork, a talk about sustainable happiness and a workshop about environmental leadership helped us to get to know each other better. But it all took an unexpected turn when we started to talk about the \u201cDawson\u2019s Peace Garden\u201d. Hearing about this project and explaining to Chris Adam about a project that has long been in the making, \u201cthe Upemor\u2019s lagoon\u201d, was so thrilling that language was no longer an obstacle. Chris and I started building, imagining and dreaming upon the astonished looks of Luisa Montes (from Ciudades Verdes) and Gisela Frias. It was two nature, animal and flower lovers talking about creating the Upemor\u2019s Aquatic Peace Garden. The objective was high. We set as a goal to attract 200 species of organisms to the University. We started working and began by taking a tour of the ecological reserve El Texcal that is just a couple of kilometers from the Upemor. What we saw there gave us hope to achieve our goal.<\/p>\n
Today we can add to this effort, the work done by Larry, from the University of Santo Tomas in Colombia, who under the advice of Carlos Diaz (teacher) has been redesigning the water regulation lagoon that exists at the Upemor as a measure to avoid floods all year long. Some students from the university have also added their efforts. We thank them for their community work ![\"18\"](\"https:\/\/www.dawsoncollege.qc.ca\/sustainable-campuses\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/148\/18-400x400.jpg\")
and the work of the next Dawson students that will arrive in 2017. There is a lot to be done, desiging a mural, the gardens, the bird nests and to get the materials. We have have to do evertthing in time to be able to collect the next rainwater fall so that the lagoon can flood and create the Aquatic Peace Garden, a space for reflection and tranquility for the University\u2019s Community.<\/p>\n
When I got back home, after two weeks at Dawson, with a new vision and renewed commitments I found the inundated lagoon at the University. It had been raining heavily in Mexico. Seeing it full of blooming aquatic plants, seeing the fireflies, butterflies, the toads and the birds surrounding it, was a signal that we are in the right path. Today, I know that it can be achieved, because visiting the Peace Garden at Dawson, feeling the tranquility and seeing the pride in which they spoke of that space, made me feel that it is a possible dream and that it will only be achieved by adding effort and will. So it is time to keep building.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Por Valeria Davila English translation follows Cuando se comenzaron los intercambios de estudiantes entre el Colegio Dawson y Upemor, hace m\u00e1s de un a\u00f1o, no imagine las dimensiones de este proyecto con tantas vertientes; cada uno de los 11 estudiantes de Dawson College que estuvieron en el Centro de Capacitaci\u00f3n Ambiental (CECAM) de la Upemor…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":240,"featured_media":733,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-708","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-institutional-collaboration"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dawsoncollege.qc.ca\/sustainable-campuses\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/708","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dawsoncollege.qc.ca\/sustainable-campuses\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dawsoncollege.qc.ca\/sustainable-campuses\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dawsoncollege.qc.ca\/sustainable-campuses\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/240"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dawsoncollege.qc.ca\/sustainable-campuses\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=708"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.dawsoncollege.qc.ca\/sustainable-campuses\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/708\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2075,"href":"https:\/\/www.dawsoncollege.qc.ca\/sustainable-campuses\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/708\/revisions\/2075"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dawsoncollege.qc.ca\/sustainable-campuses\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/733"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dawsoncollege.qc.ca\/sustainable-campuses\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=708"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dawsoncollege.qc.ca\/sustainable-campuses\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=708"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dawsoncollege.qc.ca\/sustainable-campuses\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=708"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"18\"](\"https:\/\/www.dawsoncollege.qc.ca\/sustainable-campuses\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/148\/18-800x600.jpg\")
que llegaran a la Upemor del Dawson College para hacer su estancia en 2017.\u00a0 A\u00fan queda mucho por hacer, el dise\u00f1o del mural, de las jardineras, de los nichos de aves, el trabajar para conseguir los materiales y tener todo a tiempo para que durante la pr\u00f3xima temporada de lluvias pueda inundarse la laguna y crear as\u00ed el jard\u00edn esperado para dar un espacio de reflexi\u00f3n, esparcimiento y tranquilidad a la comunidad universitaria.<\/p>\n
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