Non-profit community center in Akumal, Quintana Roo
For those of you unable to visit us in Akumal, and those who have visited and would like to see the children’s happy faces once more… The crew at Wonderworld Creative produced this short video to give you all a glimpse into a day at Hekab Be.
Para ustedes que no pueden viajar a Akumal, y ustedes que han llegado pero extrañen a nuestras caras felices … El equipo de Wonderworld Creative creado este video para que todos pueden mirar como es un dia a Hekab Be.
First off, A HAPPY NEW YEAR from all of us at Hekab Be, and an apology for not getting you all an update in January. We hope you all follow us on social media at our Facebook and Instagram pages. If you do, you will have seen the wonderful photos from the Christmas party, but if you haven’t here’s a quick look at all the fun we had …
As you can see, the party was a big success, and ‘Red Beard’ 😉 Santa did a great job handing out gifts to excited children. Thank you to everyone in the Akumal community, both here and away, for your generous donations that gave the families of Hekab Be some extra Christmas cheer this year.
We also give a big thank you to the local businesses that donated food, drinks, and treats for the party, including Taqueria Maya, Turtle Bay Cafe, Lolha, La Taverna, Tequilaville, El Ultimo Maya, and La Buena Vida. Many of these businesses have been loyal Hekab Be supporters for many, many years and are always willing to step up and help out, not only with events but on a regular day-to-day basis. We appreciate you all!
If you follow us online or have stopped by recently you will have noticed our beautiful new murals by Rory Eade. 
A fantastic artist who reproduces pre-Hispanic art from archeological sites, Rory has not only shared his talent at Hekab Be, but is working his way around Akumal painting traditional artworks. You can see his depiction of the famous mural from the great ball court at Chichen Itza on the wall of the Cancha (basketball court) in Akumal Pueblo. Great location for it!
As well as the beautification from the murals, we recently completed work to fix up the concrete façade and roofs of the library buildings, and will be working on the inside of the classrooms soon.
We are continuing with our regular classes for the new year, and cooking class is always a favorite. Recently we had some parents show the children how to roast vegetables in a campfire. The roasted yams were delicious! Some of the other classes are swimming, yoga, painting, English, math, sports, and Maya culture and language.
Kaori’s big dream is to install a soft cover for the sports area to protect the children when they fall, and we are working with our volunteer board members to make that a reality. Watch this spot for news.
At Hekab Be we are blessed with many visitors that stop by to visit the children and join in classes, and our parents are wonderful at helping Kaori and Lucy on a daily basis. We also have a core group of US board members, including new members Virginia Welstead and Ben Albright, to help with fundraising and administration … but unfortunately I (Betsy) am the only one here in Akumal most of the year. This means we really need of local volunteers to help with fund-raising and general publicity. (You may have noticed I am not so good at getting this newsletter written on time each month!)
If anyone reading this would like to volunteer, please email me at betsyamy@gmail.com, or talk to me in person. Your help would be very much appreciated!
This past month, the afternoon activities organized by Kaori, Lucy, and our dedicated young volunteers from Tulum and G.V.I. have included baking cookies at Turtle Bay cafe, painting flags for the Akumal Art Festival,, trick or treating, making masks of native animals, swimming and learning about aquatic animals at the beach, learning how to dunk a basketball, and playing Twister! Plus homework help and classes in math, Spanish, English, caring for the environment, and local history and geography.
We now have a group of over 50 children, plus parents, that walk across from the Pueblo to join the classes on a regular basis. It is heart-warming to see all the happy faces, both children and adults, filling the library with noise and laughter. Kaori has really stepped into her role as Director, and Hekab Be is regaining its place as the community center it was always intended to be.
As a community of many cultures, we hold celebrations for Halloween, Dia de los Muertos and the local Maya Hanal Pixan here in Akumal. So as you can guess, the end of October and beginning of November is party season! The locals are celebrating not only the festivals to honor the dead, but also the end of the slow season as it gets colder up north. We’re also celebrating the return of many familiar faces in the ex-pat community as the part-time Akumalians head back south for the winter.
Last night we had a Halloween celebration with our very own haunted house, and 90 children attended! The Haunted House was really scary fun. Thank you to our High School volunteers who spent all last week making it!
We went trick or treating in costumes around Plaza Ukana and the businesses at the arch, and enjoyed delicious pasta from La Tavera. You can see from the photos that everyone had a spookily good time! Thank you Club Akumal Caribe, Lolha, Cueva de Pescador, La tienda de artesanías, Turtle Bay Cafe and and Hotel Las Casitas for welcoming us to trick or treat at their businesses.
We will be celebrating the traditional Maya festival of Hanal Pixan on Nov 1st with an altar, traditional pibes (chicken and corn masa steamed in banana leaves), pan de los muertos, and of course, hot chocolate. Look for photos on Facebook!
As part of our outreach into the community, Kaori has been working with Jennifer and Marti from the Akumal Art Festival to organize flag painting sessions. All the children from Hekab Be painted flags, as did all the children from the Akumal public schools, and Akumal’s Otoch Paal Montessori school. Over a thousand flags have been painted in preparation for November 9th through 11th, when they will decorate the streets of Akumal during the festival.
These are just a few of the wonderful works of art they have created – you can see more on the Hekab Be facebook page, or go and see the flags flying during the Akumal Art festival!
October started out with a trip to learn how to bake at Akumal’s favorite place for sweet treats – Turtle Bay Bakery and Cafe. Owner Jennifer Smith shared some of her trade secrets with the children, who worked together to make fresh mango cookies. Thanks Jen, the cookies were delicious!
We get many wonderful donations from visitors who stop by Hekab Be, and we are always very grateful for everything you so generously gift to the children. This month we were surprised by a donation of over 30 pairs of cute socks! While we live in a tropical climate it can get chilly in the winter, and most houses have bare concrete floors and are not well sealed against cold north winds. So a pair of cozy socks for each child was a welcome and fun gift.
Don’t forget to drop off donations of lightly used clothes, household items, and good condition toys for our fundraising sale in the middle of November. We are also starting to prepare for our Christmas party, and this year we’re organizing our gifts slightly differently. If you would like to make a difference in the lives of these children, you can see our wish list on the website, or contact Kaori directly through our Facebook page. You can find our Hekab Be Holiday wish list in a separate post.
Keeping Hekab Be open costs money, and some parts of the buildings are badly in need of repairs. If you wish to donate to help for ongoing operations expenses and maintenance, you can make a US tax-free donation via Paypal.
The holiday season is here, and we’re gearing up to have the best party ever here at Hekab Be. The more children, the more fun! Santa Claus has promised to visit us during the party as always, but this year we are going to be giving slightly different gifts to previous years.
Many of the families whose children attend Hekab Be struggle to make ends meet, and they have shared with us that they would appreciate gifts that are practical as well as fun. Gifts such as new clothes!
So this year we will be giving each child a set of new clothes, plus some small, fun, stocking stuffer style toys. We think this is a good middle ground where they will still have the thrill of new toys but also receive a gift that will be appreciated and used for much longer than something mass-produced in plastic.
We have 38 girls ages 3 to 12, with most aged 5 to 9. Clothes for girls would be shirts, skirts, t-shirts combos such as these on Amazon.com.mx, and sundresses such as this on Amazon.com.mx
We have 19 boys aged 1 to 12, with a pretty even distribution across the ages. Boys would love shorts and t-shirt sets such as these on Amazon.com.mx, or these Amazon.com.mx
You can buy clothes and gifts yourself, and drop them off at Hekab Be any weekday between noon and 6pm. Gifts can also be left at Turtle Bay cafe or at Super Chomak if you can’t make it by when we are open.
If you would like to buy clothes online via the Amazon.com.mx site and have them shipped to us here in Akumal, please contact Betsy for more information and a shipping address. Please don’t ship to the library – it is not secure! We suggest a price range of between $200 – $400 Mexican pesos (approximately $10 to $20 USD) per outfit.
The small toys should cost around $5 each, definitely no more than $10. The girls like unicorns, princesses, dolls, kitchen toys and and animals such as horses, dogs and cats. The boys like dinosaurs, sharks and lions, legos, cars, trucks and airplanes, and balls.
You can also donate directly to Hekab Be via Paypal. Make a note “Holiday wish list” and we will buy gifts for the children with your donation. You can also see our regular wish list here.
For three weeks this summer, Hekab Be was transformed as we explored the art and culture of Mexico, learning about the traditions of our local Maya, as well as the Aztec and Huichol cultures through crafts, theater, sports, dance, and cooking.
A total of 64 children attended camp this year, and we’re proud that tuition and supplies were covered thanks to generous donations from our friends, families of the children attending, and the Akumal business community. Thank you all!
Judging from their smiles, the children had lots of fun. Camp ended with a big celebration, where each class of children performed a play, and everyone danced the traditional Aztec “danza de los concheros,” complete with traditional dress.
The smallest children, aged 3 to 5, were taught by Kaori. They learned about native animals from the Yucatan jungle. In their play, two explorers went into the jungle to meet the animals and learn their names in Maya.
Lucy taught the 6 to 9 years old, who performed a play about the legend of “El hijo del Maguey.” This traditional Mexican legend tells the story of Meconetzin, the son of the agave.
The older group, ages 10 to 13, were taught by Elizabeth, and created a play based on the Maya and Aztec gods. They not only performed, but wrote and directed the play and created their own beautiful costumes of the gods.
Every child who attended summer camp left with a backpack filled with supplies for the new school year, and an additional 26 backpacks with supplies were given to children who attend class at Hekab Be during the year, but were unable to attend summer camp.
It wouldn’t be an Art Festival without art from the children! As part of the upcoming festival scheduled for this November, we are working with the Akumal public schools and Otoch Paal Montessori to decorate the Pueblo with beautiful, hand-painted fabric flags. We wanted to make flags that would last a while, but not become trash to litter the streets, so we are painting on fabric which will naturally decompose after a period of time. We want to include ALL the children of Akumal in this project, so if your child goes to school outside Akumal and wants to paint a flag, please contact Kaori to make sure they get an opportunity to be part of this event.
We are entering the Fall semester excited and energized, with a great group of children and volunteers. We’ve already had some great classes, including an introduction to scuba where the children made cardboard scuba gear and practiced how to descend and underwater communication. Every second Saturday you’ll find us in the ocean for real, learning to swim and just enjoying the beauty of Akumal bay.
Coming up on Oct 30th we are planning a bazaar to be held in the Akumal Pueblo. We are asking for donations of good quality clothing, small household items, and toys to sell to benefit Hekab Be. We’d also love any old bicycles (working or non-working) that we can use at the library for the children. Please drop items off at the library during open hours.
If you’d like to share you expertise with the children by teaching a class, contact Kaori. Or stop by anytime and join in the fun. Classes are Monday through Friday from 3:00pm to 6:00pm, and Hekab Be is open weekdays between noon and 6:00pm, and Saturday mornings.
That’s right; we’re already gearing up for our Curso de Verano 2018! This year’s theme is The Art and Culture of Mexico and we’re busy organizing a fun and education four weeks, but we need your help!
Can you afford $300 MX (approx. $15 USD) to sponsor a child to attend our summer day camp? Donate HERE, and note ‘summer camp sponsorship’ on the form, and a child will attend camp thanks to you! We will allocate sponsorships on a needs basis, so you can be sure it will go to a deserving child. Remember, the link is Donate!
If you’d rather donate supplies, we are very short on art and school supplies. One of the things we do for each child at the end of summer is gift them a new backpack filled with supplies for the new school year. This is not just a fun gift for the child (there’s some pretty cool stuff out there!) but also takes the time and money burden of purchasing school supplies off the parents. Come visit it us at the library any day between 10am and 6pm to drop off your gift. Thank you!
What about donating yourself?! If you are in Akumal this summer, please consider spending a day or two with us as a volunteer during summer camp. What do you love doing? Sports, arts and crafts, nature, a life experience or an unusual career … Please join us and share your passion!
Summer camp will be held from Monday 16th of July through to Friday the 10th of August. All local children are welcome; please contact Kaori for more information or to enroll your children.
Too much time has passed since our last blog, and we have been working hard but always making time to play! We have classes every week day afternoon from 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.
Monday and Thursday are for homework help and practical skills classes. On these days Kaori teaches a variety of subjects including mathematics, reading, cooking, English, and Japanese.
Tuesday’s are nature classes with Elizabeth, who is teaching the children how to care for the earth by recycling, planting an organic garden, and learning about local plants and wildlife.
Wednesday is Global Volunteers International (GVI) day, where the young adults volunteering with GVI here in Akumal come and teach the children. Every week the subject is different, and once they even performed a puppet show, which was a big hit!
Friday is the day that talented local artist Rory Eade comes to teach art. If you follow us on our Facebook page you’ll know that the artwork the children create with Rory is amazing.
And Saturday, of course, is BEACH DAY! The children walk just down the road to beautiful Akumal bay for two hours building sandcastles, learning to swim, and having fun in the sun! (With proper protection of course!)
We took advantage of the last of the cool weather to give our property a much needed spring cleaning! Volunteers from the community, local snorkel cooperatives, GVI, and of course our regular library crew all joined forces in a massive effort in which we:
A shout out to to super volunteers Eileen McCormick, Rozanne Quintero, Lisa Picardi, and all the amazing Hekab Be family of volunteers, staff and children who worked so hard to make this day happen. And of course, a big HOORAH to the super generous Akumal business community who donated materials and/or employees to help us out. You rock!
Please visit and support all the local businesses when you are in Akumal, as most of them are long-time Hekab Be supporters and are always on our thank you list.
Dia del Nino is always a BIG holiday in Mexico (and why not?) This year we had TWO celebrations – we took a trip to the ruins of Tulum, where we had a guided tour of the site and enjoyed a picnic. Then we had a big party at Hekab Be, with gifts, dancing, pinatas to bash, and a wonderful cake from Jen at Turtle Bay Cafe.
Just a few weeks later it was time to celebrate our mothers. Mother’s day is always the 10th of May in Mexico, and that afternoon we invited all the families to join their children at the library for a party. We had more fun, games and cake, and the children all gave their mothers a handmade gift.
NOTE: Due to low attendance last month, our community Mercado is on hold until after the summer. Check back with us in October or November!
Have you seen the signs on the recycling boxes by the colectivo stop on the highway? They were made by the children of Hekab Be! We helped the Pueblo community and snorkel cooperatives to clean trash from the path between the highway and the beach, and have been painting wooden signs and setting up boxes to separate trash for recycling.
We’re busy cleaning up, not just along the beach road, but inside the library as well. Elizabeth is teaching classes on organic gardening, and the children have transformed plastic buckets into pretty pots to grow their own mini gardens. They also painted tree trunks with ‘cal’ (powdered white lime and water), and learned how the natural material repelled bugs that harm the trees.
As well as the children’s efforts, a group of adult volunteers have been busy cleaning the bodega and sorting and shelving our English fiction collection. We have slimmed down the collection on the shelves, but we have many books for sale at just ten pesos each.
One major triumph this month was receiving the official permit from the Tulum municipality giving us rights to the parking area directly outside the library. This had been a long time in the works, and Elizabeth deserves public recognition for finally making it happen. Thank you Ely! Next up is installing a chain, cleaning the area, and clearly marking it as parking for Hekab Be use only. If you are coming to the library, we will have a small sign for you to display in your car so the police know you are visiting us and not on the beach! 🙂
The children celebrated carnival on Friday February 16th with costumes and dancing, and attendees at the Organic Art Market the next day enjoyed a repeat performance of some of the dances. Everyone was invited to join in, and we had a great time pretending to be cowboys and line-dancing along with the children. YeeHaw! It was a lot of fun, and good exercise! This video shows the children dancing. If you were at the sale and have photos or video of the sale, please post them on our facebook page. We’d love to see them!
The Organic Art Market was such a success that we have decided to make it a regular event for the first Saturday of every month. This means that the next one is coming up THIS SATURDAY March 3rd from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
In addition to unique art work and handmade products we will have organic produce, natural therapies such as ear-candling and chair massage, and delicious local food and drink. Vendors who would like to join us for either the April 7th or May 5th markets, please message us through the Facebook page: www.facebook.com/Hekab
We have two new volunteers who will be assisting Ely and Kaori each afternoon. Jocelyn and Mauro are both studying Hotel Administration in Tulum, and are coming to Hekab Be as part of their work-study and community outreach program. Mauro knows Hekab Be well, as he grew up in Akumal and came to classes at the library when he was a child. Jocelyn has experience working at a Mexican library, and so is going to help catalog our extensive book collection.
Please come by the library to visit us, and to see the ongoing changes. We are open to the entire Akumal community from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. and welcome everyone to come in and get away from the heat and dust of the beach road. Volunteers are welcome to join in the afternoon classes or help with clean-up, and the office is always open with free wifi and a place to sit and relax.
It’s been a busy start to 2018 at Hekab Be, with a change-over in staff bringing new ideas and new energy to the library.
Replacing Emilia as Director is Kaori Sueki, who has been working with the children as an assistant since last summer.
Kaori was born in Japan, but has lived in both Nicaragua and the USA. She has been a resident of Akumal for the past two years. She holds a Bachelor of Design Management from Nagoya University of Arts, with specialist certification in teaching.
As well as being an experienced teacher and artist, Kaori is fluent in Japanese, Spanish, and English. She is in charge of coordinating the library’s educational program, and welcomes visitors and residents of Akumal to come and join in with the library’s afternoon classes.
We are also welcoming Elizabeth Bautista, known as Ely, who has taken on the role of library administrator.
Ely is a Mexican national, and holds a degree in Environmental Technology Engineering. She recently moved to Akumal from Campeche, where she was in charge of coordinating training and development activities for the staff of Consultoría CONCES, S. C.
Although she has been on staff for less than a month, Ely has already made some wonderful changes, including sorting through and re-organizing the office filing system and book collection. She is in the library from 10:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Monday to Friday. Ely has studied English, but is a little rusty so she needs to practice. Please stop by and say hello to help her out!
Although Kaori and Elizabeth have jointly taken over the reins of day-to-day operations, we’re happy that both Emilia and Jake will continue to be involved with the library as volunteers. Emilia will continue to help out with special events, and Jake will be teaching art and helping with special projects.
There have also been some changes in the US non-profit Board of Directors, with Nicky Lawson, David Kustra, and Betsy Amy-Vogt joining to replace members who had to step down due to family and work commitments.
While we are blessed with a team of dedicated volunteers, we still have room for more! We have opportunities for teaching the children, assisting Elizabeth with the book collection, and we’d love a volunteer who would be willing to help out with simple handyman projects such as patching concrete and painting. If you are interested in becoming involved please email via the library Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/Hekab/ or just stop by the library anytime during opening hours: Monday through Friday 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. and Saturday 10 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
On our wishlist for 2018 is to complete the renovation of the classrooms; clear, clean and repair our current bodega as a room for community use, and separate the current single bathroom into one for girls and one for boys. Last year we were able to install new doors and front windows for the classrooms thanks to a donation from a group of visitors from the Hard Rock Hotel, but the rear windows are still the older style wooden shutters that do not do a good job of keeping the rain and dust out, some of the older concrete is starting to crack and flake, and the walls need a new coat of paint.
One project that was undertaken and completed this month, was clearing the lot in front of the library and re-painting the building façade to be more visible from the road. Can you see us as you drive past? Taking charge of this was Agustin, an artist who has painted murals with school children in communities throughout Mexico, Central and South America. The finished work is a collaboration work of art painted by Agustin and the children of Akumal in a true group project.
Plans for the future include starting a garden for the children to learn about growing vegetables, and we have an art show and book sale planned for Feb 17th at the library. We are hoping to have as many local artists as possible join us for this event. Cost will be $100 MX per space, with 100% of funds raised going directly to support Hekab Be. Artists will be able to show and sell their work. We welcome everyone who creates hand-made, original works of art whether they are life-size portraits or artisanal bars of soap. Please contact us via the Facebook group to reserve your space.
We’re looking forward to a wonderful and productive February, so stop by and say hello and see what is happening.
A big thank you goes out to everyone who made this day possible. Emilia for organising the day. All our employees for putting in the extra hours to make it such a special day. Betsy and Jennifer at Turtle Bay Cafe for doing all the shopping for gifts. All the parents and volunteers who helped wrap the presents and serve food. Lol-Ha, La Taverna, La Buena Vida, La cueva, Secrets Akumal and Turtle Bay for donating mountains of food, drink and cake. And last but most certainly not least Bart for braving the warm weather to come down as Santa Claus. It was an awesome afternoon and we can’t thank you all enough for your continued support. It means so much to us and the children of Akumal that we can all come together to make events like this happen.
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So again THANK YOU 
🙏 FELIZ NAVIDAD and FELIZ AÑO NUEVO!!!! 
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You are invited to join us for our Christmas party on Friday 15th December from 3 – 6pm. The children have been practicing a dance and song to perform on the day and other traditional dances will be performed by local artists as well. Come and enjoy the show and eat the tasty food that will be donated by our lovely friends over at The Taverna restaurant, Lol- Ha and La Buena Vida. And also cake and cookies will be donated by the wonderful team over at Turtle Bay Cafe and Bakery. With refreshments being donated by our awesome supporters over at Secrets Akumal.
We are still collecting presents and we need a lot as we expect up to 100 kids to be here to receive a present from Santa. ( Yes that’s right Santa is braving the heat of the Caribbean to give out presents! ) You can see our Christmas wish list Here.
And for those that are too far away to give a gift, you can also donate money for us to go and buy gifts. Just follow our Paypal link Here and request you donation that your donation is to be spent on gifts in the notes box when you go to donate.
Feliz Navidad!
