Agros Blog

It’s nearly 3:00 pm in El Edén, Nicaragua, when a sudden wind driven torrent of rain turns the tin sheeted roof above us into giant timpani drums!  We’ve gathered here, a team of ten from the states along with fifty or so community members, to witness a first in this lush village nestled in a valley alongside the Dariense Mountains of Nicaragua – a coffee roasting and cupping demonstration led by master coffee roaster Artine Yapoujian.

Wide-eyed wonder greets every wisp of bluish smoke as the ancient rock-tumbler-like roasting device rolls the “café oro,” (“gold coffee” as it’s known, and handled here), over the propane burner.  Fifteen minutes later, a bead of sweat upon his brow, the master slides open the cylinder and quickly pours out the now chocolate colored beans into shallow plastic cooling tubs. He sifts the beans back and forth rapidly to keep them from continuing to “cook.”  Now, the moment of truth, the perfect grind prior to the steeping and cupping… alas, “What do you mean you didn’t bring the grinder Artine?” says his wife Sydney.  “Well, I brought it but it’s back at the hotel,” replied Artine. But not to worry, their first ever taste test was not to be thwarted, one of the participants posits the notion of using a cleaned up corn-grinder, and the deed is done!

“¡Peligro, peligro…agua caliente!” (Danger, danger…hot water), the crowd splits, creating a path directly to Artine and Jared, who have precisely prepped 6 white cups, ready for the steep. Next comes “cutting the crema” – the process of removing the creamy caramel color substance that rises to the top when the coffee grounds are combined with the hot water – and the subsequent slurps from special spoons revealing the distinctive characteristics: “bright,” “nutty,” “earthy,” and “fruity”.

Here we see eye-popping revelation as the two men and two women who were chosen to partake in the tasting, after a near surgical removal of the foamy crema, experience their first “slurp”:

Wonder of wonders, CAN it be so?  Unbelievably, perhaps, all the barista bean-team members suddenly see too what I’m seeing, the light of wonder that comes from “firsts” in our lives…for those who’ve never tasted fresh roasted coffee before.  In fact, later upon probing the crowd I learn many have never tasted coffee, period!   They’ve picked it all their lives – under the fear-inducing glare of the “patrón” and his coffee-field-guards, wary of being “robbed” by the pickers – but have never tasted that which fuels the world every morning. This is somewhat ironic, indeed since after petroleum, coffee is the world’s second leading commodity.

What do we learn from this; what did this beloved Bean-Team return home with?  Many things to be sure, but never… never again will we take for granted the work behind the baristas’ counter…many hands, brown, yellow, white and ruddy red, layer, upon layer of them, picking the beans from the “bean-there” slopes of coffee the world over.

Consider how you might join folks like the staff and customers of BMC as we come into this, our most grateful time of year and the generous season that follows and call us or email us…there are many ways to help those many, many, hands!

One of my new favorite authors is Dr. Vishal Mangalwadi. In his thought provoking work, Must the Sun Set on the West?: An Indian Explores the Soul of Western Civilization, he contrasts the lives of J. S. Bach & Kurt Cobain, two iconic musicians from different ages, both long now deceased, yet still very popular. When comparing the drastic difference of these two artists’ musical styles and worldviews he uses the phrase “always mind” – a summary of the two great commandments: loving God and loving one’s neighbor – to describe the worldview of Bach’s & the Bible while pointing out that Cobain‘s most successful album, “Nevermind” epitomizes the nihilistic opposite worldview. He rightly states, I think, that when we live out the two great commandments, we will, “always mind” about the welfare of others rather than attempt a narcissistic nirvana of “nevermind.”

While reading this I was reminded of someone who recently exhibited how “Always Mind” played out in his own life: Barney Reynolds. I recently witnessed Barney blessing his dear friends, and Agros’ recent guests for our Tierras de Vida event, Serbando Mérida and Ana Toma de la Cruz, a married couple from the Agros village of La Esperanza, Guatemala with a true labor of love a decade in the making.

Ten years ago Barney and his lovely wife Marge joined several of us on a Vision Trip to Guatemala to meet the newly selected villagers of La Esperanza. At that time the land was unsettled and undeveloped but through years of hard work has become verdant and fruitful. The president of this fledgling rag-tag group of highland indigenous Mayans was Serbando. A man of impeccable integrity, resolute resilience, unquenchable curiosity, and lifting leadership, Serbando greeted Barney’s towering figure of luminous blue eyes & white hair with gracious gratitude under a simple blue-tarp welcome canopy. From that moment they were knit together. Barney, the champion of Agros’ first Journey With A Village experience, a then recently retired Boeing engineer, began applying his meticulous planning methodology and keen eye to the task at hand. One benefit of which is his “always mindful” record of historic moments, whether present himself or from others who traveled to La Esperanza in the years hence.

Following our most recent Tierras de Vida on Sept 24th, Barney presented Serbando and his wife Ana with a personalized record of their historic story as part of La Esperanza’s success!  It was a book filled with chronological photos and salient commentary capturing a young man and his beautiful young wife’s sojourn from nothing to abundance; it was a tour de force of what it means to live out “always mind,” truly a labor love! Watching the “handoff” of his gift to them, this humble man of God, my heart nearly burst in gratitude. I knew I was witnessing in that moment a “knighting” of sorts, lifting further the dignity and character of a couple worthy to be honored and emulated, while showing us all that “always mind” is borne of love for God and for one’s neighbor, above self. Thank you Barney, even as you helped launch thousands of safe flights, you pioneered for Agros the journey of accompanying compassion we’ve called Journey With A Village. Today this is a vital link to forty-two villages impacting thousands of families like Serbando and Ana’s. When Barney helped lead the way ten years ago we had but nine serving a few hundred, last year we had four-hundred and ten volunteers who traveled to Agros villages to serve thousands.

To find out more how you too can be part of our “always mind” culture, check out the work of Agros and meet Serbando and Ana while you’re there.

As our SUV bounded around the steeply graveled corner to the secluded village of San Nicolás, near the town of Cotzal, Guatemala, a bell rang out across the full flowered pea patches, signaling our arrival. I’d been anticipating this visit for nearly five years, having passed by the turn off road more times than I can remember. Though I’d become familiar with the Ixil (ee-sheel) region over the past 19 years of visits, I wondered what this particular village would be like. I soon leaned that San Nicolás is not too different from the other 11 Agros villages in the region, but certainly more isolated.

I wondered too how these families were doing now compared to where they began. Five or six years earlier something about them inspired a private West Coast foundation to sponsor the village. Throughout the years the sponsors have both financially and personally – as service teams members – supported the village, alongside Agros’ dedicated all national field staff. Now the fruits of this co-laboring are quite visible.

As the bell’s call echoed through the valley, men, women and children clambered from fields and hillside homes, waving to greet us. Swiftly surrounded by the enthusiastic (and democratically elected) village leadership, we proceeded to the blue-walled block school-house, where the village president Manuel began to recount the dreams and subsequent accomplishments of this tight-knit community. Pouring slowly over each word, he proudly, but laboriously read…yes I said, READING… from the list plastered on the blue wall:

San Nicolás’ Village Committee President, Manuel

Since my first visit to the Ixil region, I’ve come to know this extraordinarily resilient indigenous people group who suffered horribly during that country’s brutal blood-letting over 36 years of strife. They’ve preserved much of their culture and at the same time adapted to the demands of modernity. San Nicolás reflects this tension as they now use greenhouses and drip irrigation alongside split-log homes and sooty temascals, (an Ixil ‘bath-hut’, their version of a sauna), which border a cluster of new block homes and their well kept school.

As the story goes, the now nearly 90 year old patriarch, Nicolás, kept these families intact during Guatemala’s civil strife, and upon learning about Agros’ work, approached us to help him fulfill his community’s dream of owning their own land. Many months later news of their dreams met with the provision of a partner willing to participate with them, and they began in earnest what has been an arduous, but continually progressive, journey toward self-sustainability. In fact, in light of the challenges these families had to overcome in the village development process, both partner and Agros pondered whether they’d make the turn.

Since then, however, Agros field staff and numerous teams from that partner with the village have visited, faithfully serving the community with the tasks at hand, earning trust, inspiring confidence, and restoring dignity. Step by step they moved ahead, encouraged along the way, once a year or so, by their caring partners.

President Manuel, wife & Women’s Committee Secretary, Maria & two year old Nicolás, great-grandson of patriarch Nicolás, in front of his home …generation upon generation transformed!

This is the Power of Presence – one’s presence among those who’ve suffered – the importance of which can never be overestimated. Just to have Manuel proudly present each accomplishment of the village and then to lead us into their income generating Corn Grinder – one of two $ available to the village, and also to their surrounding neighbors – followed by a visit to Nicolás’ home, left my group astonished and left those we’d visited brimming with pride. Why?

Because by being present with the poor, we can show them the possibilities of unfettered and carefully stewarded support, which simply stated: empowers, restores, and transforms both giver and given unto!

Join the journey with us… support a family, support a village, support a region and then, in due course, experience firsthand the transforming power of presence.

You’ve done chocolates and crowded restaurants. This year, give your Valentine a gift that both inspires and has lasting meaning.

What can you give your Valentine? Here are just a few ideas:

	Flock Of Chicks – $25 To our eyes, they are a cute bundle of fluff. To a hungry family, they are a source of food, income, and employment. Chickens provide eggs, meat, and a rich source of natural fertilizer that nourishes crops on the family’s land.

	New Mother and Baby Kit – $75 This kit provides rural moms with the knowledge and skills necessary for a successful birth, including training in reproductive health, pre-natal and infant care, nutrition and hygiene, and early education and parenting practices.

	Cow/Steer – $500 A cow represents a long-term investment for the rural family. It takes planning, pasture, and thoughtful care. Most poor, rural families eat only corn and beans. A cow provides milk and other products, and a source of pride that they can count on for the future.

In commemoration of Street Bean’s recent one-year anniversary, Agros International would like to highlight our informal partnership with the local coffee shop. Street Bean is a social venture business – connected with New Horizons Ministries – that is using coffee to serve those in need. The effort helps street youth by providing job skills and a safe place of steady employment.

Street Bean also uses Trapichitos beans for its drip coffee. In this way, it is not only helping youth to get off the street and become self sufficient, but also supporting the rural poor in South America do the same. This Street Bean promotional video highlights the unique relationship between the two types of poverty that are being addressed.

The street youth that work at the Street Bean are not only learning valuable job skills that are altering the course of their lives, they are also learning about the incredible journey out of poverty that rural, campesino famers in Central America are on. These two journeys out of two vastly different types of poverty have a unique relationship at Street Bean. Through this collaboration, lives are being transformed here in Seattle and in Central America.

On a recent family vacation I awoke early, as is usual for me, to walk the beautiful shoreline of Moolak beach on the Oregon Coast.  Given the context of Agros’ work and the purpose of this blog, the beach – appropriately – has an indigenous sounding name.  As the morning sea-fog and morning mist began to lift, showcasing famous Yaquina Head Lighthouse in the distance, three images and one thought came to mind which I’d like to succinctly share with you, hoping to explain the powerful ‘aha’ moment I had, it’s connection to those we serve, and an action for your consideration.

The three images were:

1.       The Pacific Ocean’s constant rumbling ‘roar’ of breaking waves.

2.       The soothing ‘song’ those once ‘roaring’ waves make when ‘landed’ as they bubble on and into  a wide, welcoming beach.

3.       Solitary Footprints leading to the Lighthouse, ‘lost’ along the way by a wave’s wash.

The Rumbling Roar

What I heard in those ‘roaring’ breakers was the constant cry from the “bottom billion” – that is, those who are the 1/6^th of our global population who make less that $1/day.  To some, that ‘roar’ is almost deafening, provoking concern and wonderment.  But to most, I fear, it is but background ‘noise’.  Which group are you in?  Just by my question you can guess which group I’m in, as that ‘cry’ surrounds my head and heart with, “what if” questions centered on compassion, care, and convictions.

The Soothing Song

Those of you familiar with Agros’ vision, mission, and approach, (we call it our Development Model), which centers on addressing the above referenced ‘rumbling roar,’ know that central to what we do is providing “place”…place for wave after wave of the world’s poor.  Foundational, that “place” is both physical and communal.  Just as an ocean wave ‘sings’ when it settles onto a sandy or pebbly beach, bubbling into bliss at having finally reached a safe shore, so too do the families we serve when provided the privilege of landing in and developing their own new Agros community…a community which, by the way, includes those who provide that ‘safe shore’, without which the roaring wave would be unbounded.  Interestingly, continuing this metaphor, when the land is too close and abrupt, crowding the waves, what happens?  Instead of a wide landing berth, (or should I say, ‘birth’), from which to sing, they crash and erode, creating cliffs of conflict.  But when a wide beach berth is given, the angry wave melts into a soothing song.  So too, we’ve learned that when together we, you as donors and we as stewards of your trust, give those we seek to serve freedom to pursue their dreams, bordered by nurturing care, they will flourish.

Footprints

While it may be trite…well at least for my generation, (having just turned a double nickel last week), but the famous poem, “Footprints in the Sand” says it all.

However, my version of this poetic image is now this:  turning around, seeing my own footprints, but stunningly now, a portion of my new ‘footpath’ was gone, lost by a wave that had washed up behind me, erasing all trace of where I’d just walked!  And as if to give it a Divine kiss, this image was framed by a beacon of hope in the distance as Yaquina Head lighthouse emerged from the sea-mist:

It took my breath away…there it all was…the cry of the poor, the service of safe place, (made by walking alongside them, perhaps even ‘carrying them’ for a bit, as the poem states), and our/my influence ‘washed away’ by their singing as they land on a safe shore, guided by a shining ray of hope!

This  safe shore, this light of hope is you, helping us help the villagers by financially supporting them, visiting them with us when you’re able, and cheering them on until they wash over us in joy, filled with hope and opportunity, as they stretch across a fertile front!

Now, in conclusion, as promised above, is a simple ‘footprint’ you can leave:  Check out One Village and

1.       If you’re not already supporting Agros, it couldn’t be easier for you to do so now, with as little as $15/month…and,

2.       Pass the link along personally, telling your family, friends and others that they can join you in forming a ‘place’ for others to sing and flourish!

Thank you.

David Carlson

Her name is Juana…one of a tragically sizable number of widows in this formerly war ravaged region of Guatemala.
Juana is leaning against her humble home, and as the photo implies she’s reserved when being peered at through a camera lens, which was an uncommon experience for her when this photos was taken six years ago. But notice something else in the picture–a slight smile and grace that adorns her self-woven attire.

If you knew her story you’d have to ask, “why?” Why would a woman who has lived through a virtual genocide, extreme hunger, displacement and desperate poverty have such a sense of dignity and hope on her face?

I could explain why, in my own words, but instead… let me tell you about what she and 58 other families received two weeks ago at a truly historic event in Agros’ history.

My throat choked, my eyes pooled, and tears fell as she and the other families in the Agros village of Trapichitos, (Trapee-cheetos: “the little sugar mill”), received their land titles after ten years of toil and trust!

Agros exists to enable rural poor families–like those in Trapichitos–to work their way out of poverty as an entire community. Because the rural poor depend on land for their survival and livelihood, Agros works to provide rural villages with long-term credit for farmable land, and then works to train and support the families as they develop a thriving and economically sustainable village. The process takes approximately ten years, and when it’s done the families own it all; it’s theirs for generations to come!

The land title ceremony in Trapichitos was to celebrate the fact that a decade long journey, almost 60 families have made their best dreams come true. After so many decades of suffering, these families now have the knowledge, training, and assets to hand down to their future generations.

This title ceremony was also Agros’ largest land title ceremony to date and was an extraordinary experience for the 19 of us from North America who attended, as well as for several Agros Guatemala staff and board.

Agros has learned over the years that the journey out of poverty does not happen in isolation. Witnessed by representatives of the local Guatemalan human rights commission, the event was also evidence of consistent leadership from in-country Agros staff and villagers, as well as generous partnership from the likes of families, churches, businesses, and service organizations here in the United States (see list and links below).

I’ll never forget my first encounter with these families in February, 2000. There were no roads into the village, and in order to build their homes they had to traverse peaks and valleys, walking four miles each way in order to carry in the block, cement, sand, gravel and rebar for their first 25 homes, (750 cinder blocks per home), carrying it all on their backs and that of the ten mules they’d purchased on a loan from Agros.

I remember visiting each home on an emergency visit of concern and compassion, inquiring of each family following a tragic explosion and fire that killed a beloved young father in the village, causing fear reminiscent of the civil war years when bombs dropped from above and fire was commonplace.

I remember teams of volunteers from the U.S. who came to serve, value, learn, laugh, sing and weep… caring by coming, restoring dignity stolen:

But now, dignity is restored, hope realized, futures secured, dreams unfolding as 10 years later, families own their land, proudly holding their titles, with both husband and wife, or in Juana’s case, alone but in community.

Thanks to all our partners, individuals I cannot take space to name, as well as the following organizations & businesses:

• First Presbyterian Church Boulder, Colorado
• Richard & Joan Ringoen Family Foundation, Inc
• Atlas Coffee Importers www.atlascoffee.com
• Camano Island Coffee Roasters: www.camanoislandcoffee.com
• Caffé Lusso: www.caffélusso.com
• Bellevue Breakfast Rotary Club: http://www.bbrc.net/
• Sun Microsystems Employees Matching Gift Program
• Ball Corporation Employees Matching Gift Program
• Global Giving: http://www.globalgiving.org/
• Jacobson, Lawrence & Associates, PLLC: http://cpajla.com/
• Mountain Bible Church, Los Gatos, CA
• Sammamish Presbyterian Church, Issaquah, WA
• The Dwelling Company: http://www.dwellingcompany.com/

(Photos courtesy of Hilario Pardo, Dan Ringoen and Steve Gnam)

Thick creases crisscrossed his proud face, telling of torrid toil, long ago loss, stubborn survivorship and now, grinning hope, as Don Rito, the 68 year old president of aptly named Bella Vista, (Beautiful View), pictured below, welcomed our gathered guests from Harvard, Seattle and San Francisco.

Little did we know his welcome would herald a momentous occasion soon to unfold before us over the ensuing hours:  witnessing previously landless poor learn of what would be their land plot through the ‘luck of draw’!  Don Rito, a man of few words, told us of the trust Agros Country Director, Joel Martinez, (pictured below on the left, holding up the soon to be walked plot map with Agros Agronomist Jose Lino Jiménez),

and his staff had engendered, (for more, see Stuart’s blog story), and that today, a scant few months into their new lives we were the first group to visit them , just as had been promised and that this was very important to them, never having hosted a gringo group before.

As part of that “first” for both Bella Vista and us,  one of my fellow sojourners and a key supporter of this new community, Barry Rowan, (pictured here with José & Maria, one of 6 families relocating from San Pedro Sulas’ sobering slums as part of the total of Bella Vista’s 35 families), followed Don Rito’s welcome with his own

reading a blessing he’d written that we’d translated into Spanish.   As he did so, every eye and ear was in rapt attention.  Then, in an act of love and symbolic devotion, he anointed the ground on which we stood with a small vial of olive oil I’d brought for the occasion.  Once finished I told him to hang onto the vial as I suspected he’d have occasion to use it while we walked the land.  Sure enough, two hours later, empty vial in hand and hearts overflowing, we returned with memories of the land plot distribution marking us forever, emerging from the mist just as the Beautiful View emerged:

So, just how significant is a small plot of land to the landless poor?  Go with me for a moment behind the smiles above of the young family, who left behind the sewage strewn slums of San Pedro Sula, a place of despair and decay to a place of promise, where the air is pure and the land fertile, where their teenage daughter need not fear peering eyes nor their newborn suffer pestilence’s deathly probe.   Instead, José, who walked beside me as we descended into the towering corn fields below his crested view, beamed in anticipation.  When the moment of revelation for each family came, smiles burst forth under the plastic-table-cloth-canopy protecting the plot map (pictured below is Otoniel, Secretary for the Community Committee):

Perhaps the significance of what having land means to one who never dreamed it possible was best captured when Roman, one of the men Barry was preparing to anoint on his forehead extended instead his cupped hands, motioning for Barry to place the precious drops in his palms, proceeding to rub his whole face, his hair, his arms and hands in grateful  glee as if to say, “Today I’m a blessed man and I receive every ounce of bounty this opportunity gives me and my family.”  Now, truly, that’s a “Beautiful View” Barry and I will never forget, astonished by both his abandoned gratitude and our privilege to witness and facilitate it.  He, José  & Maria, and the 33 other families of Bella Vista are now those who when you ask them to show you their land will  proudly point, saying, “Esta tierra es mi finca”, (This land is my farm), having made the dignifying transition from saying “this is my small parcel” to “my Farm!”, … indeed, a quantum leap!

Thank you for joining with us in caring so practically for families like these, as well as  those waiting for the same. ..your giving IS making a difference, for generation upon generation to come!

At the gracious invitation and arrangement of Mario Fajardo , owner of the Honduran eco-tourist ranch, La Estancia El Pedregal,  an interview of a recent Agros Vision Trip was conducted by two members of a Honduran national daily newspaper, and local television news station, the Diario Tiempo.

Participants on that Agros trip were Bellevue business leader, Barry Rowan, Harvard Graduate students and representatives from Menlo Park Presbyterian Church and  Bay area businesses.  Enjoy the following translation of this special coverage, benefiting all involved!

Below is a translation of the article from the Diario Tiempo. To read the article in Spanish click here. 

Read the rest of this entry »

“It’s because of you! All of you!” Tomasa exclaims, peering into our video camera as if one born to beam before a waiting audience.

Moments earlier she’d described Agros, and partners like you who help us, as “a very fine meal, inviting us to the feast of our lives.”  How can it be that this woman, who years before had been shot and left to bleed while witnessing her two daughter’s deaths at the hands of her would-be killers during the civil war in Guatemala, could now beam with a confident bearing defying so many brutal moments?

The answer, I think, is found in the following account from Jacob Johnson, a dear friend of mine and to many of you, now studying in Argentina on a Rotary Fellowship after nearly two years living among Guatemala’s Ixil (pronounced ‘eesheel’) Indians, listening and recording their stories, including Tomasa’s:

“Hope was one of the few things left to Tomasa following the civil war that ravaged her people in the 1980s.  As bullets tore into her arm one terrible day in 1982, she witnessed the cold-blooded murder of two of her daughters while a third, struggling to escape, was kidnapped.  Surviving her wounds, Tomasa and her family also lost all their few physical possessions that brutal day.  Fleeing in grief she found her husband and remaining children, and spent the next seven years hiding out in the mountains.

Once they were finally resettled in their village, life remained an uphill struggle for survival as they tried to rebuild their lives while living under a nylon tarp.  They scraped by, as Tomasa’s war wounds kept her from working the fields as she always had since the time she was a little girl.

The family fought on in the hope that their circumstances would somehow improve, fighting off rounds of illness while barely eking out enough to eat.  Despite the hardships, Tomasa turned her sorrow into a spirit of gratitude.

Overflowing gratitude, a hallmark of her daily life which she now offers to Agros and those who support this ministry, since the day she first heard of their work among her people.  Through Agros’ work, all in her village of Batzchocolá now live more comfortably with a view to the future that overflows.

She tells me as we lean over her drying coffee harvest  “Agros is an excellent thing for us.  Excellent!  It is like looking at something delicious that you’re about to eat, something pleasant, bringing happiness with each bite.  It is something great.  You all have done wonders!”

Witnessing the contrast between her present life and the past horrors she’d just shared with me; a contrast made startling by a partnership of relentless hope; was a precious moment of clarity: this gratitude and generosity of grace, regardless of circumstance, is what it means to have life in abundance.”

To hear Tomasa’s story watch the short Agros video, “Restoring Lives”.

As we come into this New Year, we all, staff and villagers alike, know that without you, our faithful donors, the waiting “Tomasas” of the world will not be served, nor be able to tell us as she has of the great feast of life, the banquet table daily serving the main course of Hope, Gratitude and consequent Generosity. May your table overflow with extra portions of gratitude as you look back on 2009, and look forward towards 2010, knowing you’ve made a difference among thousands of the rural poor in Central America & Mexico…because, “Its because of you! All of you!”

With the recent passing of Juan, “Señor Tortilla,” Agros has lost an inspirational community leader, a wise and patient employee, and a dear friend. Juan was a father of six, and husband to Juana. He passed away on August 19th, 2009, and will be greatly missed.

Señor Tortilla, as he was known among his North American counterparts for his appetite for hand-thrown tortillas, first joined Agros 15 years ago at a meeting of families interested in forming what would become Agros’ fifth village, El Paraiso. The families had survived a brutal civil war and had journeyed from miles to share their dreams for development of a new community.

Señor Tortilla emerged as a natural leader during the development of El Paraiso and was trusted and respected by those in the community. He was a self-taught, locally renowned furniture craftsman and a keen, mentoring agronomist and soon became a loyal Agros employee. He helped pioneer the new villages of Trapichitos, Batzchocola and Xeucalvitz, translating Spanish into the three dialects of Ixil he spoke. Often you would find him with children from the communities, coloring, playing, and resting with them as they followed him through his days. He had strong faith and was devoted to serving his people.

His memory will live on through the lives of all that he touched in Guatemala and North America.

Last week I was ambling across the beautiful land of the new Agros Nicaragua village “Luz del Mañana“, (Light of Tomorrow) with young José Adén ¡n Luna Dominguez, the community’s newly elected president. I was on this trip to share the work and vision of Agros with a remarkable group of supporters and potential supporters.

Vision Trip member, Bill LaMarche, asked me as we reached their new homesites, “David, please ask José Adén ¡n what his greatest challenges are as he leads this village?”

His humble reply stunned us both, exemplifying the heart & soul of Agros’ work among the extreme poor:

“I am only twenty-nine and this is very hard work for us all.  We’re a mixed age group, coming to a new place, new land, dreams now in sight, but full of many challenges. For that reason I think clear leadership on my part is critical right now, and for that I need two things. The first, is character. Character shown in both strength and sweetness. The second is patience, beginning with me, knowing I need the older members of our community to share their wisdom as we face each challenge together.”

This is the heart of future success, willing to lead by example, toiling, like a butterfly breaking from the cocoon, emerging from bondage to destiny.

What’s that got to do with the title of my blog post?

Why everything of course. It’s precisely this vision of transforming lives, one that is compelling, exciting and working that gives us confidence to ask you who read this to take up José Adén’s challenge, to lean into our strengths, sweetly and patiently, so that together we can continue to move Agros’ mission & vision forward to serve more families in need.

To that end we’re pleased to share the news of our anonymous challenge match! For the month of June, every new donation that you give to the Agros mission will be doubled, up to $100,000.

Three days into this last month we’re at $40,000 of that goal and are now looking to finish the remaining $60,000 so we can secure the full $100,000 matching amount.

Please consider this opportunity to double your gift, whether you send in a check, go online with your credit card, or make use of the Agros One Seed Gift Catalog.

Thank you for considering and acting as you’re able!

Manuel jumped into the bed of our pick-up truck, an ear to ear grin on his face as he waved, shouting to his fellow Tzotzil villagers, “I’m off to the Teaching Fields to give our new gringo family gifts of gratitude for this momentous day they brought us!”

Alfonso, an Agros Agronomist, said that Manuel had a surprise for us. A few minutes later he pulled over and both hopped out of the truck, crossed the road bending beneath the black mesh canopied Rose training field, with the glint of drawn knife blades shinning as they began their cutting search. Sensing what was up, I searched for my camera and found it in the knick of time, snapping a photo of grace personified in Manuel’s face.

I did this just before he began to hand each of us a long stem, rain dappled, red rose, saying “Chahall” (which means “thank-you” in his native Tzotzil), and then waving goodbye as he turned for the walk back up to the Agros village of Nueva Palestina, in the hilly region of Southwestern Chiapas, México.

Only a few hours before this tender moment, the seven of us were strangers –wrapped in a cultural bouquet of sights, sounds and smells. Together we were witnessing the renewal of hope of thirty-two families as we signed a covenant of mutual commitment between Nueva Palestina, Apple Physical Therapy (a 260 employee company providing financial and service team support to Agros International), and Agros México, unfolding before us like Manuel’s fragrant roses.

Seizing upon the ceremony as a teachable moment, Sergio Sanchez, Country Director of Agros Mexico, involved all as they streamed forth to sign the symbolic banner of brotherhood. While some could indeed sign, others could only make a thumbprint, followed by one of the village leaders or Sergio, who would write the person’s name above the ink mark.

Once the formalities were finished, the families invited us to a feast of fried free-range chicken, rice, black beans and cups of Horchata; dipped from a new 30 gallon plastic garbage can full enough for all present to have a subsequent celebration drink.

At this moment, while the village waited their turn, a “thorn prick” pained us all –we were to eat alone, while the eyes of children and women watched waiting until we were finished. Here our gentle mentor Sergio emerged again; reminding us that we were honored guests and this was their custom. He said, “Live into their moment for in doing so you honor them.”

Solidarity with the poor means risking life-altering encounters and advocacy. When we are willing to venture forth, trusting tutors like Sergio and a humble villager like Manuel to open our eyes and hearts we walk in the “teaching fields” together, being led among both the roses and thorns.

If you’d like to learn more about entering into teachable moments with us, email me at davidc@agros.org!

From my vantage point at 2400 feet, the cloud-shrouded Cordillera Dariense (Nicaragua’s main mountain range) loom verdant, inviting me to dream of times long past when these hills flourished without tracer bullets and land mines wreaking havoc on the hard-working Nicaraguense “cortadores” (coffee plantation harvesters) who’ve lived, worked and died here.

I dream all the more so today — with them — because I’m now looking at these storied hills through their eyes. Eyes of former cortadores-now-turned land-owners!

I’m here at our newest Agros’ village, San José, which in a short 9 months is a veritable paradise in the making. I pause in sheer wonder beneath the hand-hewn trusses of their newest addition, a “beneficio” or coffee processing station, made of 125 lb cut-stone blocks, cement & steel laminate roofing, all hauled up on willing backs from the road far below. The “beneficio” is complete with a large capacity depulper (used to take off the skin of the coffee) and large concrete wash basins in which the depulped-yet-fleshy beans soak for a day. From here the coffee beans “escape” the basins via 4″ pvc outlets into the rinsing trough, where they are paddled to knock off any remainder of the flesh before being put onto sorting/drying frames. The tiny beans are then laid out to sun-dry for a month.

Beaming with pride, bustling to show us their first fruits from this their first harvest from their own land, both Petronilio & Armando, San Jose’s President & Vice President, flashed their ear-to-ear grins, nodding their heads in agreement as we praised their accomplishment!

But that was only the beginning for me on this first visit to San Jose, our most remote community to date in Nicaragua. Inviting me and two potential Agros donors to clamber across flourishing fields of corn, viewing vistas of acre upon acres of beans, and then descending solo down steep & slippery slopes to see Armando’s charge: a first-ever-for-them dedicated plot (1.25mz or 2 acres) of tomatoes projected to yield over $9000 in only 4 months time. The proceeds will be divided among all 22 families.

This, coupled with their recent coffee harvest and the more than 100,000 lbs of corn they’ve harvested, bodes well for an altogether unprecedented first year’s income that will average close to $1500/family. This is more than 5 times their previous best annual incomes.

What does it take to turn disappointments into dreams? Disasters into “diamonds”?

It takes trust… humility… gratitude. It takes patience, and an ability to work hard. It also takes partnership. Transformation is a community process, where the strong help the weak and the weak become strong to help those who are next.

The next day we met the families of El Naranjo — families who are waiting for Agros to raise the needed funds to purchase the land and help them move forward. Many of the families forsook a days wages to meet with us for an update on when they might be able to be roll up their sleeves to begin to work their own land, joining the ranks of the like in San Jose.

We’re at 80% of the funding needed, missing now only $150,000 for the balance of the land. Let us know if you’d like to help us help them. They’re ready, eager, willing and waiting.

We are excited to announce the first ever Agros International Alternative Gift Catalog!

This catalog offers you a way to honor family, friends or colleagues year round and help rural poor families in Central America and Mexico break out of the cycle of poverty – one seed, one life, one village at a time.

An acre of land, a family health package, or even a can of worms — the gifts in this catalog represent the key elements that go into a village development project, enabling families to work their way out of poverty.

I invite you to take the time to visit the catalog at http://oneseed.agros.org and honor those you love by making a purchase to provide hope and opportunity to families working to lift themselves out of poverty.

Little entrepreneurs changing the world

A couple weeks ago, 11 year old Rachel Lingenbrink and her mother Terri arrived at our offices in Seattle’s U-District laden with a shoe-box of luscious vine ripened tomatoes, sweet golden yellow tear-drops, and red cherry-toms. Rachel also carried with her a Tupperware container filled with cash ready to give it all as her part in supporting a Guatemalan village called Xeucalvitz , which in the Ixil language means “Half-way up the Mountain”. Rachel has been three times to this remote Agros village of nearly 100 families, endearing herself to the kids there, broadening her worldview, and seeing the plight of the rural poor through tender eyes as only one so young can.

This summer, as part of her family’s growing commitment to serve the poor, she and her mother spent two weeks in the beautiful Spanish colonial city of Antigua, Guatemala, immersed in an intensive Spanish language program. Meanwhile, her older sister Sarah (13) was immersed in an ecological program in Costa Rica. Father/husband Steve kept the home-fires going in his law-practice, knowing that what he’d gotten his family into by venturing forth four years prior on that first trip to Xeucalvitz was bearing fruit in ways he’d hoped, beaming on his way into the office, eager to check the latest e-mails from down South!

While in Antigua, Rachel’s enterprising mind kicked into gear, fueled by Terri’s encouragement, to purchase colorful woven bracelets called “pulseras”. The child vendors of Antigua often peddle them along the cobbled streets of the city. Rachel thought she could do the same back home along the paved promenade of her neighborhood. Her idea was to open a lemonade stand with her sister and sell pulseras for the poor, telling would be buyers of their heart for helping those less fortunate in a high mountain village far away.

After biting into a sweet golden yellow tear-drop tomato, I led Rachel and her mother Terri into the accounting office carrying the purple-topped Tupperware treasure chest she’d handed me, and introduced her to Claudia Alvarenga-Beech, asking if she could give Sarah a full-accounting and receipt. As the pennies, quarters and bills spilled onto Claudia’s desk, her calculator began to sing as she tabulated the total…a whopping $89.26!! A minute later the printer hummed, producing the receipted accomplishment, handed over to a grinning Rachel.

This type of sacrificial and creative giving exemplifies a heart-felt response, which all of us long to nurture and release when we pause long enough to think about it. So be it a lemonade stand or some other expression, may you and I be encouraged to step outside the “box of comfort” we tend to insulate our lives with, and listen for what we might do too.

Thank you Sarah and Rachel, may your gift and the spirit behind it, touch hearts that read this to “go and do likewise”

As Agros continues to grow and serve the rural poor in Central America and Mexico, our team in Seattle is growing as well. Our current office location in the University District can no longer accommodate our space needs for the US staff. We are looking to relocate to a larger facility and could use your help!
We’re looking for the following:

• 4,000 – 6,000 sq ft.
• Geographic area: Northgate to SoDo/Columbia City; west of Lake Washington
• Public transit accessible; economical parking highly desirable
• Current lease ends in February – looking to move early 2008

We are doing a traditional search working with Dean Johnson from CBRE but also want our larger Agros family to be aware of our need. Please send any information or leads to Kathy Riper at kathyr@agros.org. Thanks.

Her gold-rimmed front tooth reflected the midday sun but it was her bright brown-eyes that outshone the gold of both, reflecting instead a heart-shine radiating from a spirit fired with hope and promise.

Gloria is her name, and aptly so. She has but a 3rd grade education yet was recently elected secretary of the all Lenca (a Honduran indigenous group) Agros village. I met her Friday last when gathered with all the leaders of this village. She waited her turn to speak until all the men had their say, although while translating for them I kept catching her out of the corner of my eye, an eager-eyed face and radiant smile nodding in agreement, lips pursed to extol her perspective.

As the conversation continued, Gloria could no longer contain her joy and began raising her hand, waving it for all to see she too wanted to speak, turning her captivating gaze upon me , declaring the following:

“Now I give God all praise, because of your coming here and telling us about people I’ve never met who are praying for us and seeing too that these here with you Don David have come to help others like us receive the promise of land and place for their families. My heart sings. You must tell them (Bethany Presbyterian Church, Seattle, and North Delta Evangelical Free Church, B.C.) and all at Agros how we thank them for this privilege. God, who is the Father of us all, has given us this open door and a father-figure here in Don Cándido, (one of the original family members of this village and the current village committee president), as well as including and adding our family to the families of Carlos and Armando (two of the other original families). We’ve been here for only a few weeks, but already our corn is sprouting and all of us toil daily making the adobe bricks that soon we’ll build our homes with. Only God could do this because we had nothing before, but now look at all we have. Our children will soon be in school and the Agros staff and Don Cándido are helping the adults already to learn to read. I must tell you all we will pray for you Don David, and these you’ve brought with you, asking also that you pray for us because we know there is hard work before us and more families who could join us to help.”

Finished, a giddy Gloria flashed her golden-toothed-grin, while all present applauded.

Formerly known as Agros Uno, this our first village in Honduras has now chosen a new name, as bright as Gloria’s heart-shining eyes…it’s appropriately called: “Nuevo Amanecer”, meaning “New Dawn”… and indeed it is, resplendent with an infusion of 13 new families who have joined with the original families and are forging new ground together by the sweat of their brows as each day dawns.

As more people are becoming aware of Agros, in both blog comments and emails we’re receiving many new requests from people wanting to know, “How can I best support Agros?”

Let me answer this question with the words from a personal hero of mine. On a recent trip to Guatemala, Serbando – one of the village leaders of La Esperanza – made the comment:

“Please David, tell the families who’ve helped us how important they are to us. If not for them – we would not have chickens, nor peas, nor corn to sell. We would not have a school for our children, or milk to help nourish them. I know this, and I tell our community that the help given us comes from God through the hands of our North American friends. It is now up to us to take that extended hand and reach out to each other and those around us in the same way.”

This is a sentiment we’ve heard echoed over and over from the thousands of individuals and families we serve throughout Central America and Mexico. The villagers themselves understand that the impact of your generosity extends their hands towards new life.

So to that end, here are some ways you can extend your reach and help villagers like Serbando extend theirs:

• Animal Husbandry & Training Loans: $100 helps provide families with a “starter” pig, or goat, or poultry, as well as training in low-impact grazing & care.

• Field staff & village support transportation: $11,000 for a pick-up truck for Chiapas, Mexico is needed.

• Life-sustaining water: Two villages in Nicaragua need wells. 5 wells total are being drilled at a cost of $5200/well to ensure year-round water supply and potable/irrigation for crops.

• Enterprise Loans are needed to fund the start up of new business development in each of our five countries: $100, $200, $300 can help support a woman in launching her cottage weaving, sundries & supply storefront, or egg distribution business to augment the family’s farming income

• Undesignated Gifts: As with any non-profit there are always pressing areas that go unaddressed for want of funds or development projects which end up costing more than projected. Agros uses unrestricted funds to try to meet these needs. Consider a monthly gift via Credit Card or ACH bank draw of $25, $50 or even $100…a regular cash flow of unrestricted funding is the life blood of any non-profit and Agros is no exception.

• Village Start-up Funds: There are quite a few new village projects in the early stages of development. Every new village needs start-up funding to facilitate community organization, training, land sourcing costs, and agricultural assessment costs.

These are just a few examples of how your generosity can impact lives. By making a contribution, you are not merely giving to hands that are extended... as Serbando is suggesting – you are instead helping them to extend their hands towards sustainable, personal, and regional transformation.

Please consider a donation to Agros today – just click GIVE NOW!

What is it about seeing those without hope and opportunity that stirs your heart?

This picture says so much to me personally about both hope and opportunity. This is a photo of a road to 48 families in Batzchocolá, a remote region of Guatemala’s Central highlands… built by the generosity of a Bellevue, Washington based mortgage company, Liberty Financial Group (www.lfgloan.com), who have partnered with Batzchocolá via the Agros Journey With A Village program.

Like the marvelous team of owners & employees of Liberty Financial who envisioned a new pathway to opportunity, so many of you recently responded to our recent year-end appeal letter and Matching Gift campaign. If you’re like me you’d probably like to know what happened, right?

Well, you met and surpassed the Matching Gift challenge!

As you may recall, the Matching Gift pool was $150,000, provided by the visionary giving of four different donors, $70,000 of which was for new business development loans and $80,000 unrestricted to go where needed most. The flurry of responses we received during the last weeks of December (both from gifts mailed in and gifts made online), had us continually moved and inspired. You would be too, especially if you could see all of the encouraging notes that came with each gift. For example, one donor who last year had donated $50 sent us a $1,000 gift, and attached a note that said, “Keep up the great work… I feel so privileged to join with you in this effort to serve those in need!”

The reality is that we are the ones who are privileged to be supported by you, at any gift amount. But what does this extraordinary generosity really mean? What does it mean for the families we all care most about? Your generosity means that:

• Enterprise loans totaling more than $140,000 can now be made to women wanting to start a new business of goats, or weaving, or specialty crops;
• Families planning on new crop initiatives for this Spring planting season will have seed, seedlings & fertilizer capital necessary to start on time;
• Unrestricted funds totaling more than $160,000 are enabling the National field staff in all five countries to continue moving forward with the village assessment and development that is so critical to village & family success.

Can you imagine what it will be like for these women to be given the opportunity to start new businesses for their families? Or what it means for the many farmers who can now begin planning for the Spring planting season, dreaming of the harvest to come?

The bottom line is that the lifeblood of Agros is dependent upon the continued support and generosity of people like you, and on behalf of all of the families in all of the Agros villages: THANK YOU!

Thank you for helping Agros build new “inroads” of hope and opportunity to more families in Central America and Mexico.