‎*****WHAT IS "LA BRIGADA DE LOS NINOS?" (THE CHILDREN'S BRIGADE)*****

Since 1979, when GFI Executive Director Phil Melnick worked in Guatemala with the Guerrilla Army of the Poor, he has had a dream of making a contribution to the poorest children in Mexico and Central America. Two years ago---when an elder shaman in the village of Halacho in Yucatan, Mexico saved his life---the contours of that dream finally developed clarity. All around the otherwise pristine pueblo were aluminum cans, plastic bottles and containers, and other trash that had gathered over the years. The citizens were far too busy struggling to earn enough money to feed their families to clean up the growing blight. Then, Phil & his wife, Nikki, learned about a tragic condition in Halacho and all over Mexico. Children of the poorest workers & campesinos did not have enough money to purchase the requisite uniforms and books for their children to attend school with their friends. They were condemned to a life of illiteracy and poverty for lack of five or six hundred pesos ($50.00 U.S.). Phil and Nikki discussed this situation with their many friends throughout the Yucatan and decided that they could make
a difference. So---during the latter part of 2011---Gopyaka Films International (GFI) began a project which was named “La Brigada de los Ninos.” Beginning in the fall of 2012 GFI will purchase books and uniforms for all children who join the brigade and participate---under our supervision---in the effort to clean up their villages and pueblos. We’ll provide snacks, protective gear, heavy duty plastic bags, and will make each day of work a fun, communal experience for all volunteers. Also, it will be politically instructive. We will demonstrate
that collectively a great deal of work can be accomplished---that when people work together the results will be plain for all to see---a pueblo clean of plastics, glass, and aluminum. It has to be emphasized that not only needy children will be involved. We already have many kids in the pueblo of Halacho who have agreed to join us on weekends until the pueblo is cleaner and safer than it has been in years. Also, the providing of books and clothing to those who cannot afford these necessities will be discreet and private so that the recipients
will not be singled out by others in their community. Halacho is an agricultural commune, and nobody is affluent. But some people have more than others. GFI intends to establish these brigades throughout the Yucatan and eventually all over Mexico. All profits generated by our filmmaking collective, outside of what’s needed to continue our production of documentary films, will be invested in creating children’s brigades in the Yucatan, Tabasco, Chiapas, Campeche, and other states with a high percentage of indigenous people. Please join us in
Halacho in the autumn of 2012---only a couple of months before the current era ends and a new 26,000 year era of higher personal consciousness and spirituality begins.