Agros Blog

War, poverty, systemic injustice… these are forces that work to steal the dignity and hope of so many. Here at Agros, it is our mission and passion to challenge the hopelessness and despair that exists for so many. This following is a story about a group of families in Mexico striving for land, hope, and life. They have a unique story, and yet nevertheless also represent the thousands upon thousands of families across Central America and Mexico who face the same struggle — people who are skillful, hard working, with hope and faith in abundance… and yet who lack fertile land and tangible opportunities.

The readiness of the group was felt throughout the room. Anticipation and hope mixed with desperation from previous dead-end after dead-end. The number of women, children and men that traveled to meet together at the end of a hard workday… the posture of each perched forward on the hardwood benches their own hands had constructed… the questions speaking to their hunger for change and fear of yet another false hope… it all spoke loudly of not only their history of marginalization and poverty, but also their desire for dignity and hope.

These twenty-five Guatemalan refugees were naturalized in Mexico after over twenty years of living on the outskirts of society. They gathered to meet with Agros to discuss the needs and hopes of their families. Currently, they are living on land that is entirely too small to support a healthy community and sustainable growth. “We’re going around in circles on this land,” says one woman in the front row. Even so, most have extensive experience in worm-composting, non-traditional crops, livestock, and other skills passed on from their ancestors. They simply do not have the land needed to grow the most basic crops to feed their families.

Racism and neglect are other issues this group faces, highlighted in their 10-year struggle with the Mexican government to connect their community to a local water system. One frustrated man recalls politicians’ visits — where packages of campaign materials were dropped off in their community while obvious, urgent needs are ignored. Abandoned by both the Guatemalan and Mexican governments, they feel like citizens of “not here nor there.”

Despite the struggle, these families have not given up. As part of a network of over 50 neighboring communities, they are united in their vision for a better future and are meeting together regularly to organize their search for land and opportunity.

Agros defines poverty as ‘broken relationships’, and this can be seen in how families are often forced to live apart, with the men forced to work on plantations, or in other parts of the region. One wife and mother, left behind as her husband was forced to look for work elsewhere, shook with emotion, “Here, the women work even when their husbands are gone; we take on the men’s responsibilities. But it scares me to think about what will happen to us if we don’t find land to work.”

At the end of the meeting the families filed out with hope and determination in their eyes. Conversations will continue as the families and Agros staff continue to explore the possibilities of launching a new project together.

Virtually every Agros village starts this way… with conversations, relationship building, and desire. Because Agros is committed to long term transformation, the process takes time. However, after 33 projects in 5 countries, it is clear that a modest investment in these families will reap enormous rewards. Land, agricultural training, relationship… hard work, commitment, faith… the ingredients are there. It simply takes a willingness to challenge despair and hopelessness.

Mario Gaitan, executive director of Agros Nicaragua, reports on the actions taken in the aftermath of Hurricane Felix:

“Because of the devastating consequences of Hurricane Felix in Nicaragua, Agros created a special fund to meet the basic needs of the families impacted by the hurricane. Here is what is being done in each affected Agros Nicaragua village:

Norwich
We’ve been working hard to revitalize the production of sorghum that was affected by flooding. We’ve hired a doctor to provide health care to families in the village, giving special priority to children and women. We’ve also been able to acquire preventive medicines for the villagers to complete a community first aid post, which will be used to treat common illnesses such as flu, fever, and dengue.

Agros Nicaragua also purchased abate, a substance used to disinfect water by killing the parasites that later become mosquitoes that transmit dengue. The families are not only prepared to fight common illnesses during this season, but also are better prepared to prevent health problems in the future.

San José
In the Agros Village San José, we’ve purchased 20qq of bean seeds in order to replenish the food supplies for 28 families. The Nicaraguan team is also providing support with additional agricultural supplies and building materials for the construction of fertilizer latrines. A doctor was hired to provide post-hurricane health care for all 28 families.

El Edén
Agricultural supplies have been purchased to help replenish food supplies for all 27 families. Basic grains will be planted, with harvest targeted for the second crop of the year. 3.4 acres of Maracuya will also be replanted.

As a final note, I would personally like to thank all of the families in the US who have donated funds to support these families in Nicaragua. These resources are an abundant blessing in this difficult season.

The families in Agros Nicaragua villages are actually in good spirits, and are very hopeful in spite of the circumstances.

Greetings to all,
Mario Gaitán
Executive Director, Agros Nicaragua”

Brooke will join the Agros team in September 2007 as the Service and Education Manager. Before joining Agros, Brooke served as the Training and Resource Specialist at School’s Out Washington, a program of the YWCA of Seattle, King County & Snohomish County. In this position she provided technical assistance and training to afterschool programs in King County through the Washington Regional Afterschool Project (WRAP).

Prior to returning to Seattle in July 2006, Brooke and her husband James served for two years as Peace Corps volunteers in the Dominican Republic, where she worked in positive youth development and provided technical support and training to teachers. Brooke also served for two years in the Jesuit Volunteer Corps in both East Los Angeles and Seattle. She has a Bachelors Degree in Spanish from Seattle University and a Masters Degree in Social Work with a macro concentration in Program Planning & Development, Management, and Community Organization from Boston University.

In her free-time, Brooke enjoys supporting Seattle’s current Jesuit Volunteer community, running, cheering for the Red Sox, and heading east over the mountains to hike and spend time with her family in Wenatchee. Brooke is beyond excited to join the Agros team and eager to reconnect with Latin America and support Agros’ service teams!

We have been blessed this year to have a new member of our Program staff here in the Seattle office, Christina Cummings. She is working as the Program Assistant and plays a vital role to helping the Agros program run smoothly. Christina traveled with me this last November to visit three of the countries where Agros works, and it was a joy to see her experience in the flesh what she had been helping to coordinate and write about from her computer in Seattle. Below is a story she wrote from this trip. We are very fortunate to have Christina as part of our team!

“I almost didn’t meet her at all. The visit was short and we only were able to see a few of the farmers before leaving for the next community. But upon loading into the cab of the pick-up, an older women in a flowered skirt and pink top slid into the back seat next to me. Her hair was wet as she had just bathed and I studied her wrinkled face. Her eyes we deeply set and knowing of many years of change.

The road into La Esperanza, an Agros community in El Salvador, is long, unpaved, crossed several times by water and extremely bumpy. Even though riding with us to the top of the road where it meets the main highway meant cutting her trip in half, I was astonished at the distance and conditions she would have to face on her two-and a-half hour return to the community. “What was she making this trip for?” I wondered.

We chatted about the weather and the rain that surprisingly had begun to fall this late in the season, but I knew there was much more to this aged woman than her meteorological commentaries. Would it seem rude or inappropriate or just plain strange to ask her about her life? How does one ever begin to draw closer to the life of a stranger? Hoping she would sense my loving intentions and genuine curiosity of her story, I began directly and simply, trying my best to use the most respectful tone, “What has life been like for you?”

My backseat buddy smiled to reveal her missing front teeth, so she must have not been as nervous about my question as I felt, and began with a description of her personality. “I love living with my friends and family, doing everything together. If someone doesn’t have something and I do, I give it to them. I love having good friends wherever I go- and I do,” she snuck in with a spark of pride. “I love leaving good memories everywhere I go. People have been so good to me, I am very well-liked. Just look at what I’m wearing- my friends gave me all of this,” she boasted while motioning to each article of clothing she wore.

I was intrigued by the excitement in her old face where I expected to find tiredness and burden so asked who taught her to be so generous. “My mother and my grandparents gave to everyone around them. We may be poor, but we have never been miserable.” Continuing with the riches of her life, she told me of the diamonds of her eye, her children, and here I learned that just six months previous, she had lost her only daughter to heart problems. The long journey she was making was to enflorecer her daughter’s grave in the church cemetery, a bittersweet tradition of painting the tombstones of loved ones in bright colors, leaving flowers and sweet cakes and celebrating the lives of those passed. In this moment of painful truth, the secret in her eyes and the lines of her face was made known and I felt that now we were connected.

I realized in this moment that there was so much more to this woman, so much history, so many stories yet to be uncovered. The rain stopped and we arrived to the cross roads where she would get out to continue on her journey. I asked if she could help me write her name and birthday in my journal, as to not forget this special woman. Rosaberta Andra Descobar, fifty-nine years old, she told me as I wrote. There were not adequate words to honor the life of joy and pain that she had so willingly shared with me, so we hugged goodbye and then watched each other go as the truck pulled away.

“All I want is to be a good person.”

Rosaberta, 59, La Esperanza

I had promised in a previous blog post to introduce several members of the Agros staff serving in the field. This first introduction is of Kira López, the Agros Noemí Fund Coordinator. Kira is an extraordinary person, and we’re very fortunate to have her as part of the Agros team.

My name is Kira López. I am Nicaraguan and the mother of my six year old daughter Kyra Saraí. I am the oldest of 5 brothers and sisters, all of whom had to work very hard to get to where we all are today. I live in Managua, the capital of Nicaragua, a stunning country of lakes, volcanoes and other natural beauty located in Central America. With His grace, the Lord has allowed me to enter into a career of Business Administration and receive a Master’s in Business from the Central American Institute of Business Administration (INCAE). I asked Jesus Christ to come into my heart when I was seven years old and since that day I have been living following the example He has given us.

Two years ago I became a part of the Agros family, accompanying and facilitating the development process for thousands of people of Central America and Mexico, particularly in the coordination of the organization’s loan operations.

Twelve years ago I began participating in different development projects and for 8 years I was the Executive Director of an institution that specialized in microfinance, facilitating and promoting access to financial services for low-income individuals, especially those living in rural areas.

I enjoy what I do with Agros and I feel that it is a blessing to be able to serve others. If I share and put into practice what God has allowed me to learn through all these years, I can make a positive difference in the lives of the families partnering with Agros to realize their dreams.