Agros Blog

I was recently able to spend time in San Jose — one of our newest Agros villages located in the Matagalpa region of Nicaragua. It was an incredible experience. The last time I was with these families (just over a year ago) they were landless and living on approx $2 per family per day. This averages out to about $.25 a day per person. They were growing single-season subsistence crops on unproductive, rented land. With no irrigation and poor housing structures they were at the mercy of unpredictable weather. They were struggling with hunger, health problems, lack of access to clean water, no work or food security, and a pervasive sense of despair.

Today — one year after starting this new Agros village — these same families invited us to a banquet… a feast of chicken, corn, and other food produced on their Agros farm. It was a feast!

Here is what they’ve accomplished over the last year:

• Temporary houses (with latrines) have been built
• An irrigation system with piped water has been established
• The families are planting 8 different crops year-round during three unique growing seasons
• Proceeds from a recent tomato harvest have been invested into cattle worth more than $6,000
• They are storing the surplus of recent corn production, waiting until the prices go up so that they can make additional profit
• 10,000 coffee plant seedlings will soon be planted in order to increase coffee production
• They took out an additional loan from Agros and built a coffee processing machine and a pump
• Everyone is involved in community development activities, the women are actively involved in leadership, and children now have access to both preschool and elementary school

WoW!!!! Talk about impressive! And they did all of this while also being impacted by Hurricane Felix, which hit in September of 2007. I was (and am) blown away. What a story!!!

These families are representative of hard-working Agros families across Central America and Mexico. They are a great example of how the Agros model enables the poor to develop assets, create security, and slowly but surely work their way out of poverty.

This is Land, Hope, and Life at work! Here are a few photos from this incredible Agros village:

We have a new opening at Agros for a Major Gift Officer:

GENERAL FUNCTION:  Initiate and cultivate relationships with potential major donors (individuals, businesses, and family foundations) who have the capability of making significant financial contributions to Agros International; maintain and build strong relationships with existing Agros International major donors; and professionally and effectively ask for financial gifts to fund the mission and program of Agros International.

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS & ABILITIES:

• Minimum of 3-5 years major donor fundraising experience
• Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal
• Effective combination of being people-oriented, detail-oriented, and direct enough to ask for large gifts
• Capability to develop and maintain long-term funding relationships
• Strong organizational skills and the ability to meet deadlines
• Proficient computer skills (Microsoft Office and Blackbaud’s “Raiser’s Edge”)

PLEASE CLICK HERE for more information.

In order to better serve the mission of Agros the Seattle office will be relocating to a new space on March 15, 2008. We’ve worked hard over the last several years in our current office space to maximize resources and accommodate a growing organization. For Agros, organizational growth is driven by a determination to meet the enormous need of struggling, landless, rural poor families.We are committed to meeting that need with passion, resourcefulness, and conscientious stewardship.

After many months of diligent searching, we will be moving to the corner of 4th and Bell, in Belltown. (For those of you outside of Seattle, Belltown is a neighborhood north of downtown Seattle, and south of the Space Needle).

Driven by a desire to be as economical and wise as possible in our selection we spent nearly a year looking for the right space. This office in Belltown is by far the most economical option of all the spaces viewed and it also allows us room to expand without over-committing resources. The building itself is owned by a non-profit housing management organization which operates residential units for elderly and disabled people on the upper floors, and is in a neighborhood that is full of other non-profits and service related institutions.

As a staff we’re excited for not only the move, but also the ongoing growth opportunities ahead of us. We realize that fundamentally, growth means more families having the opportunity to escape the suffering of extreme poverty, and building new lives for themselves.

We’ll soon have an open-house event at the new space, and we look forward to seeing many of you there.

Nuestra casa es su casa.

As we begin the New Year, within the Agros family we join with you in looking back over this past year and ahead to the next. There have been times of great joy, great sorrow, suffering from natural disasters in the villages, celebrations of new project beginnings and quite a few land title ceremonies. It has been a full and rich year.

As a family we have experienced tremendous sorrow as we walked alongside Don Valencia and his family through his profound journey with cancer. We have seen true friendship in action from so many in Don’s community, including the Agros Board of Directors, and specifically current and former Board members Skip, Art, and Wes. So many accompanied Don and his family daily until his passing. We continue to mourn his death and celebrate his life.

There was a outpouring of solidarity within the Agros family as we traced the terrible hurricane winds, learned of the damage, and immediately there was a tremendous response to restore the lost crops, temporary housing and health of the vulnerable villagers. Thank you once again for helping all of the affected villagers make it through this unexpected natural disaster.

In the villages we have celebrated new land-owners through land title ceremonies, we’ve seen graduations for literacy achievements, we’ve cheered as university degrees were handed out to several young students from the first Agros communities in Guatemala, and we’ve seen a class of new carpenters trained at the Ixil Guatemala Training Center.

And the Agros family continues to grow! The family grew in the US through new Journey with a Village partner commitments, and through new supporters giving to the One Seed Gift Catalogue. And perhaps what is most exciting — there are more than a hundred new families in Mexico and Central America that will became part of the Agros family through new village projects soon to be launched!

What lies ahead? Land. Hope. Life! We can already see that in 2008 the growth and pace will increase, many more people will become aware of this work and come alongside to support it, and more importantly — hundreds of families will experience the dream of breaking free from poverty. We know that challenges lie ahead as well, and in the midst of it all we will continue to seek to grow in our understanding of what it takes to restore the many broken relationships that define systemic poverty. We will continue to grow in our understanding of what it takes to empower entire communities in their dreams of leaving poverty behind for good.

Join us in the journey as we seek to follow, to serve and to give thanks in all things.

As the celebration of Christmas is upon us, you might be asking what is it like for the people in the Agros villages. How do they celebrate? How do those outside the Agros communities still waiting for the opportunity, how do they celebrate? There is a quote from Martin Luther King that says, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” Can it be that there is truly no Christmas, no real celebrations until all have achieved dignity and the image of God in which we are all created?

Join us and listen to the ways in which villagers mark the passage of Christmas:

Mexico:
With respect to the Christmas celebration, Sergio Sanchez, the Agros Mexico Executive Director writes: “In Nueva Palestina… there are some variations, but in general they will hold a worship service giving thanks in their church and afterwards they will all share a meal among the families of the village, all sharing together in what they have brought. Often the Agros staff is also invited.

Nicaragua:
In Nicaragua, the staff have worked with the villagers to prepare a special time of giving thanks for another year of life, for the harvest of crops, for their families, for the new members of the community. It is also a time to remember the achievements of the communities as well as the challenges… the happy times and the sad times are all a part of our life here and it all helps us to mature and develop.

In each community a symbolic road is drawn, and with the families and staff we all draw our footprints — marking the places where we have walked together. In this way we remember how we’ve shared our lives with one another. We also give thanks for the birth of Jesus as part of our birth, of renewing our commitments as we seek together to construct the Kingdom of God together.

It is a beautiful ceremony in which we share food and have a party with the entire community.

Honduras:
In Honduras Christmas is a family celebration. Villagers often also invite their friends and neighbors to join in the fiesta. In the Agros communities, the families all participate in these family times. The typical food for Christmas is the tamale with chicken, pork, and home-made bread.

On Christmas Eve it is common for the families to come together just before midnight and share in the experience together.

El Salvador:
Traditionally the families of El Salvador begin the celebration of Christmas on the eve of the 24th. They may make tamales of duck, chicken or pork, “gallina de india rellena” (chicken with stuffing) and pan dulce (special breads). Each household prepares a little tree and at the foot of the tree places a representation of Jesus´ birth. The “Baby Jesus” is discovered at midnight or in the morning and usually the honor of placing the baby in the nativity scene is reserved for the youngest or oldest in the family.

What traditions would you share with the people in the villages about your Christmas?

Don Valencia, co-chairman of Agros from 2000 – 2007 died on December 8, 2007 after a valiant 15-month battle against cancer.

Agros will be honoring Don in various ways, including a written tribute that will be included in this Agros blog. In the meantime, please refer to Don Valencia’s blog site at www.donvalencia.com for details on his memorial service.

Our deepest respect, love, and prayers go out to Don’s family.

UPDATE: The Valencia family has graciously established a Don Valencia Memorial Fund here at Agros, to honor Don’s deep commitment to serving the poor. If you wish to make a contribution in Don’s honor, you can:

• Make a donation online by clicking here. Please specify that this is in honor of Don Valencia.
• You can call the office direct, at 206-528-1066.

Where do you go to “connect”? Do you network in your neighborhood, church, school or online? Who is your community?

Last Saturday night for just a few hours the “Agros Family” connected at Tierras de Vida, held at Seattle Pacific University. It was a time for sharing with friends and family what happens through Agros. It wasn’t about the food, it wasn’t about the displays, it wasn’t about the eloquence of the speakers… it was about the relationships that are formed and that continue to be nurtured through the special relationship with Agros and the people served in Central America and Mexico.

More than one third of the 350 people at the event were new to Agros. This was their first experience. We all heard the Agros story from Skip, the founder. We listened to Libby Boatwright paint a picture of the squalor of people in need in Honduras… a people of incredible integrity who want what most people want - a way to earn a living and provide for their children.

We heard from Mario Gaitán, Executive Director of Nicaragua, explain how the Agros model works — from land purchase to community development to passing on the blessing to other communities.

Three short videos, shown after each speaker, provided a real look at life before Agros, and at what happens in the process as communities move from despair to dreams realized.

Tim Dearborn from World Vision, the keynote speaker, painted incredible word pictures by sharing with us stories of people he had recently met in Nicaragua on an Agros vision trip. These are people who are waiting on Agros to provide a different kind of tomorrow, one changed from despair to hope.

Tim challenged us to consider that we, in that room, were much like a traffic cop. We had the power to metaphorically hold up one hand and say NO to despair, and with the other hand to say YES to hope. Tim invited us to challenge the despair of the many families waiting to begin a new life, and to say yes to their dreams.

On Saturday night the group at Tierras de Vida responded with generous donations of more than $350,000 — far exceeding our goal for the evening.

All of this so that we can continue to connect with the message that even though despair is so prevalent and powerful in the lives of many… it is hope, combined with the will to work toward your dreams, that is far more powerful. This message, and the people who are willing to put resources and will behind this message, all came together last Saturday… connecting us here in Seattle and parts around the US, and even more profoundly — connecting us with families in Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras, México and Guatemala.

So thank you for connecting in a real and powerful way. Thank you for connecting to the Agros family both here and there.

See you next year!

To see photos from the event, click “rest of this entry” below

Read the rest of this entry »

First and foremost, thank you for your prayers for the families affected by Hurricane Felix. We are all grateful that the damages suffered do not include the loss of any lives in Agros villages. However, there are significant damages that have occurred that will affect hundreds of families over the next year. Many of the families we serve are now facing the coming year with the potential for disease, hunger, and lost income.

We cannot let these families suffer alone, and we need your help.

Specifically, the early damage reports from the field show that:

• Basic food crops in many villages have been either partially or completely destroyed.
• Many families are suffering from respiratory disease and need medical attention — local clinics are over capacity and do not have enough medicine or human resources to help.
• The latrines have entirely collapsed in the village of San Jose, which could lead to a health epidemic if not repaired soon.
• Heavy rains have caused significant damage to income-producing crops as well, including the coffee crops in some of our newer villages.
• Many of the roads leading to villages in El Salvador have been damaged and will need repair.

For most of these families, damaged crops mean the devastating loss of an entire year’s worth of work, income, and for many the loss of food supplies for the coming year. In addition to coordinating repairs, medical assistance, and the replanting of crops, Mario Gaitan (Agros Nicaragua Exec Director) estimates that it is also necessary to provide emergency food rations throughout the coming months.

$25,000 is needed immediately to provide the necessary support to help these families rebuild and replant. Please donate today to help these families in the rebuilding process.

Thank You,

Greg Rake
President, Agros International

Mario Morales, the Executive Director for Agros Guatemala, has been working hard to demonstrate to the families of the existing Agros villages that they can pay off their land and provide for their children. Here’s a story direct from Guatemala demonstrating how the process can often take time. With the recent and extraordinary news that Pedro and Juana have paid off their land loans, the community now understands the importance and the possibilities for the future.

Here is Mario’s report:

Hello Everyone,

I’d like to share with you that on Thursday, May 25, 2007, I, along with Diego (Cotzal Coordinator), Job (Loan Officer), Jorge (Village Promoter), and families from neighboring and distant communities, met with all the families of Belen.

As a result from our gathering, many men and women realize they have lost a great deal of time and money to the committee that was misusing resources to pay land expenses. These families are now tired from the lack of results. The families also realize that Agros has been supporting their productive projects but due to their reluctance in seeking additional sources of income to repay their land, they realize that they are behind compared to other villages like La Esperanza, Cajixay and San Nicolas.

During the meeting, members of Agros recognized and affirmed the example of Pedro and Catarina, grandparents of Israel (a student at the Universidad del Valle) and parents of eight children, from both Pedro’s first and second marriages. Pedro and Catarina have paid off 50% of their land, and are an example worthy to imitate.

Further, Pedro Raymundo (46) and his wife Juana Sanchez (38), live in one of the houses furthest west of the village. Their house is plain and simple, but always clean. We can see their loving relation in how the speak to one another and their delight in their sons and daughters.

Pedro helps at the Word of Life Church, as an Elder and a servant in the prayer ministry, visiting communities and fasting for the sick and traumatized. His strong faith and wisdom have guided this important step for his family, and have served as a testimony for his community and committee leaders.

Pedro and Juana paid off 100% of their land at a total of Q 10,300.00 (US$1,373.33), and between June 20th and 30th will be receiving their land title. We will celebrate with joy and song, the first family from Belen to repay their land, as others will follow.

We give thanks to God for this journey and its progress — a steady raindrop making its mark on the land.

- Mario Morales, Director Fundación Agros, Guatemala

I’ve just returned from an extended time in the field. Driving through some of the poorest areas of Nicaragua, El Salvador and Guatemala I was struck by the faces and stories of so many people without land, without jobs, and without hope. People begging on the roads, fathers abandoning their families to work in another country, single mothers risking everything because they don’t have anything.  There are so many thousands of families with children living in borrowed houses on borrowed land, with no security for tomorrow and often having to migrate to secure even just a little food for their children.

Even though I’ve been working with the rural poor for many years, it is still easy for me to feel overwhelmed, overtaken by the enormity of the sheer human need that exists. These are the questions that keep me up at night - How can Agros possibly make a difference given the scale of suffering that exists? How can we have an impact in the lives of these families? How can this impact go beyond the short term, but create tangible and lasting transformation?

Returning home from this trip I am clear that merely feeling overwhelmed by the needs of the poor is just not good enough. We MUST be willing to be moved by the plight of the poor, but I know that there is a more powerful question to ask:

“The needs that exist are clear - but what do these families hope for and dream about?”

Rather than enumerate a list of the needs that exist for the rural poor, at Agros we’ve learned over the years that it’s more powerful and effective to create tangible plans and development models that are based on the values and dreams of the people we serve. And further – we must also be able to articulate the dreams of Agros.

In the face of so much need, at Agros it is our dream to make a difference in the lives of these families that will last for generations; to enable villagers to obtain the security, permanence, and dignity of land ownership and economic opportunity within strong, healthy communities. We are dreaming about starting new projects so that more families will have security and opportunity. We are working hard so that children will have enough to eat, be able to attend school, and have the opportunity to dream their own dreams, with the tangible resources to fulfill them.

It is our dream that in the years to come thousands more rural families will be able to see their dreams realized with crops harvested, houses built, new businesses launched, food provided for their children, and the brutal cycles of poverty ended for good.

So I am back from this trip feeling the needs of the rural poor like never before – yet knowing that ‘need’ is just one part of the whole. We must be willing to weep over the needs of the poor, and then to go to work driven by the values, ambitions, and dreams of those we serve.

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.

Due to a fierce Northwest windstorm, many of us here in the Seattle area have lived through the last week without lights or power. This has provided me with an opportunity for reflection…

No control. Can’t see. Waiting for the electricity. Reaching out to neighbors. Finding common ground with neighbors that we never see. No TV. No switches to control the climate. Imagine the world without light. Forces you to build relationships, to provide warmth. What does this have to do with the Christmas story? Jesus came to a manger, a lowly, dirty shack. To be followed. To be imitated. To reach, give and receive gifts… to be Light.

So many of the families that we serve know what life without light is like. In both a literal and metaphorical sense. I am struck this season by how very many Agros supporters have extended themselves, reaching out through relationship and contributions, to be light in the world. Thanks to all of you who are involved in Agros - for “being the connection” between a world with so many material goods and a world with so few. Thank you for imitating the example of Jesus, and striving to serve the poor among us. Thanks for being the difference.

Merry Christmas, and truly - Happy New Year!

Recently the regional team met in Honduras for their regular meeting.  At every gathering time is always set aside to share what is going on in our personal lives.  We share, we listen and we pray for one another.

As the team shared, I sat in awe at the people that God has brought together to lead the work of Agros in Central America and Mexico.  A son of a farmer, a physician, a pastor’s daughter, a shoemaker’s son, the son of a school teacher, an agronomist, the daughter of an airport administrator, a public health administrator, a renown international trainer.

As they individually shared their joys and sorrows, it was clear that they were all deeply involved in relationships as sisters, sons, fathers, brothers and spouses.  They all work long hours, they know the families in the villages, they know about the families of their team members and often go the extra mile to care for them.  In short, they are committed and extraordinary people.

These are the people that lead Agros, and in my next few blog posts I would like to present them individually so that you might appreciate and understand why I am so grateful for their leadership and commitment.

Here at Agros, we believe that ending poverty is about restoring relationships. And anyone who cares about real relationships knows that it is not always easy, or efficient.

In North America we are constantly looking for ways to make life and business more efficient. Efficiency is part of what it is to be entrepreneurial; finding ways to do something better, faster, all the while cutting down on expenses. In today’s world, this often means eliminating personnel through technological advances such as online purchases, self check-out stands at stores, Automatic Teller Machines, etc.

Even in real estate technology, our penchant for efficiency has almost eliminated the need for real estate agents. In today’s world if you want information about the house, you don’t even have to pick up the flyer under the sign. You can go to a website and find out all you want to know about that house and more, with photos at every angle. You can virtually go through the entire selection process without even meeting the seller or dealing with an agent face-to-face. All in all, it can be a pretty depersonalized process. And yet it is efficient.

At Agros, we also believe that efficiency is important, but not in a way that sacrifices relationship. Dealing with the core, root issues of poverty, we are committed to the transformation of real lives over the long haul. Our commitment is to entire villages over the course of many years, and so relationship is integral to everything we do and to who we are.

When we talk about buying a piece of land for a new village, it is the culmination of a very complex and lengthy process that involves lots of people and lots of relationships, and at every step of the way Agros emphasizes the relationships involved - from the farmers and their families who will eventually own the land, to the relationship with the seller. It may take a year or more to form and get to know a group before Agros even begins to look for land. We don’t hire a real estate agent to look through the Multiple Listings for large farms. The people in the group look for the land. Can you imagine trying to buy a house with 30 other families involved in the process? That’s what is involved in an Agros purchase of land.

Once the land is identified, then the study and negotiations begin. Again, this is not a simple process. It involves lengthy studies at various legal offices; there are no title offices that have everything on file to make sure there is only one owner, no liens, etc. These negotiations are a very personal process for all involved. During conversations for a recent farm in Nicaragua, the owner invited all 20 people who were visiting to have a meal.

So, why does Agros go to such lengths to actually buy a piece of land - why spend so much energy focused on relationships over the course of so many years? We’ve learned that those who suffer from extreme poverty have lost their most basic connections; connections to land, to community, to one another. Poverty can never be reduced to mere economic measurements. And while we believe that providing economic opportunity is essential, we have learned that alleviating the root causes of poverty is about restoring these broken relationships in all their forms.

This is why Agros cares about relationships. They are integral to everything we do. It’s a simple idea, but a complex task. And while it may not always be efficient, perhaps a better question to ask is - is it effective? To hear villagers answer for themselves, watch this clip from our newest video:

Agros Helped To Remove All Our Misery

So while all of this is going on in the field, in my next blog post I’ll talk about how Agros goes about a similar process here in North America to develop relationships with potential partners….stay tuned!

First impressions. Some times they are so important. Some times together with intuition they provide so much information. And then there are times when they don’t even begin to scratch the surface.

Have you ever been to an Agros village? What were your first impressions? Poverty, sickness, people, mud huts, beautiful children, tall corn, dirt, smiles, new smells and sights. Crops, dirt, water, dirt houses, tin roofs. How do you get behind and below?

This week I visited “Brisas del Volcan”, the most recent village in Honduras. Here are my first impressions I would like to share with you.

The white washed houses of the nearby community… the rocky access road… the property manager trying to hand the keys to Victor, the Executive Director for Agros Honduras, and Victor standing aside so that the property manager had to give the keys to the community president… the somber faces of the men in a line… until a woman shared the story of how they, the women organized and then convinced the men that this was possible… walking along a path of freshly cut grass to see a beautiful waterfall and seeing it for the first time with many of the villagers… hiking up to see a breath taking view of the land, of the water flowing down the mountain and the changed faces on the men as they shared their plans for planting corn and beans so that they would have food for their families.

Listening to their excitement was contagious These were new friends eager to share with me their joy and dreams for a different future. It all starts with land… providing hope… to produce, nourish, and sustain life.

That’s the essence of Agros and I hope that your first impressions will continue to surprise and challenge you as you become involved through this blog and entire site.

Along with the lives of men, women and children… in Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Guatemala and Mexico and here… join us and venture with us as we move beyond first impressions to understand what is behind, below and beyond.

See more photos of this trip here!