Agros Blog

In April of this year, we shared how the skills and hard work of the Guatemalan refugees living on the southern border of Chiapas, Mexico, were in stark contrast to the desperate need and injustice they have faced for generations (see previous blog post).

Today, four months later, this group of families coming from Los Pinos and neighboring community Zapaluta, are getting ready to purchase land for the first time in their lives.

Santa Fé Ajké, Spanish and Mam for “Our Holy Faith,” is the 36th Agros village, the 5th community in Mexico, and the first group to purchase land in a new region of Chiapas. The families preparing to make the move to their new land are predominately Mam and Jacalteco, originally from the Ixcan region of Guatemala, just over the Mexican border. During the civil war in Guatemala (1970s-1990s), violence spread throughout the countryside, burning homes and fields and killing innocent families all over the country.  As a result, many Guatemalan families fled to Mexico for refuge. While they found respite from the war, they have nevertheless struggled to survive amidst discrimination, racism, neglect, and extreme poverty.

Now — over 25 years later — the families making up Santa Fé Ajké are beginning a new chapter in their lives. Having carried their cultural knowledge across borders and generations, they are excited to have the opportunity to partner with Agros and search for, select, and soon own land where they will live, work, and raise their families in safety. Women talk of raising small animals and selling homemade bread and handicrafts. Men plan for new sustainable ways to grow diverse crops. Children are interested in continuing their education and learning trades. In this 247-acre community, children, women and men are dreaming of the new possibilities for the first time. Where fear and despair once took hold, they can now plan for the future.

We have some exciting developments in Agros Mexico right now with the opening of a new region in Chiapas.  Over the past year we have been working to assess the feasibility of working on the border of Mexico and Guatemala, to start new Agros communities with Guatemalan refugees who fled during the civil war to Mexico.  There are over 6,000 refugees who escaped to Mexico in the 1980s and have chosen to remain and become Mexican citizens.  Most live in poverty and suffer from discrimination for being both indigenous and Guatemalan.  Agros Mexico undertook a feasibility study and in the process identified dozens of potential groups with which we could work, to help the families break out of poverty through land ownership and the Agros model.

The first group that Agros will work with is in its final stages of the selection process, and a piece of land has been identified.  We are working through our village approval process and if all the key criteria are met will be starting this village in late August, including purchasing the land.  Twenty-five families who come from great suffering and turmoil will be given a new opportunity and new hope.

We have also been selected as finalists for the 2008 Global Development Marketplace competition through the World Bank, with a proposal based on the work to be started in this new region of Mexico.  The proposal is for $200,000 to help start two Agros communities with indigenous populations.  Out of the original 1,700 proposals they received, 100 organizations have been chosen to continue after a rigorous review of the applications by 200 development specialists.  Agros was one of them!

The Development Marketplace is a competitive grant program administered by the World Bank and supported by various partners that identify and fund innovative, early-stage projects with high potential for development impact.  Since its inception in 1998, DM has awarded about $40 million (US) to more than 1,000 projects through global, regional and country level marketplaces.  Using DM funding as a launching pad, many projects have gone on to scale up or replicate elsewhere.

The 2008 DM competition sought proposals on the theme of Sustainable Agriculture for Development with sub-themes that address agriculture as an engine of growth, agriculture as an instrument of poverty alleviation and agriculture as a provider of environmental services.  We will now submit a more detailed proposal and are invited to attend the Marketplace Event September 23-26 in Washington, D.C. where 20 organizations from the 100 finalists will be awarded grants.  Both Sergio Sanchez, our Agros Mexico Director, and myself will be attending.  You can see the other finalists here.

This is a time of great celebration here at Agros as we announce the beginning of two new villages, Villa Hortencia I in Guatemala, and Nuevas Esperanzas in Nicaragua. Over 150 families are now beginning a new life of hope and opportunity.

Agros Village #35 Nuevas Esperanzas, Nicaragua
This community, formerly known as El Naranjo, waited for years to have the opportunity to own  land.  Their primary sources of income and food came from growing basic grains on rented land and working as day laborers on sugarcane and coffee plantations.  Fathers and sons would leave their families behind for months to work in the plantations, struggling to provide enough income to survive.  After so many years of living in devastating poverty, these 36 families are now able to stay together throughout the year, learning new skills to develop agricultural business projects on land they will one day own.  Journeying through the Agros development process, these families will learn to diversify their crops and economic activities, building the necessary infrastructure to ensure growth.  In a way that just wasn’t possible before, they can now seize opportunities for literacy, healthcare, education, and economic sustainability.  You can read more about Nuevas Esperanzas here.

Agros Village #34 Villa Hortencia I, Guatemala
After decades of war, hunger, and profound struggle, one hundred and twenty Quiche families now have the opportunity to flourish.  The 36-year civil war in Guatemala was devastating for the villages in this region, leaving families marginalized, displaced, and forgotten. In 2006 the Guatemalan Land Fund gave these families rights to 688 acres of land in Villa Hortencia.  While this was a hopeful first step, the land they received was rocky, dry, and not very productive.  Lacking the necessary agricultural knowledge and support, the families continued to struggle.

Agros began working with the families in Villa Hortencia last June, exploring a variety of ways to provide assistance.  Last week the Agros Noemi committee approved the long-term support that will be used to provide agricultural training and community development, maximizing the potential of these families to work their way out of  poverty.  Click here to read more.

Agros International is pleased to welcome its new Director for Agros Honduras, Joel Martínez.

Joel Martínez Durón is a certified Agricultural Engineer with a Master’s Degree in ‘Generation of Development Projects’ and a background in Business Administration and Organizational Development. Joining Agros as the Executive Director of Agros Honduras, Joel’s twelve years of experience directing development projects in the field will greatly contribute to the families in Agros Honduras communities.

Prior to his role with Agros, Joel served as the Director of Program Development in Morzán Yoro for World Vision Honduras.  Joel led the strategic and operative planning process for the program, as well as comprehensive monitoring of the program’s impact.  He directed a team of field staff providing health, education, and economic development projects to the targeted population.

Joel was also responsible for administering the World Vision sponsorship program that generates 50% of the program’s funding. With his depth of experience and networking contacts relevant to the work of Agros, Joel will be a tremendous leader as the Honduras team continues to bring land, hope, and life to impoverished families in Honduras.

Welcome Joel!

The Agros Development Model enables entire communities to fundamentally break the cycle of poverty for generations to come. With the support of Agros, a group of families from Aduana Dos, Nicaragua, is writing a new chapter in a history previously marked by poverty and lack of opportunity. The following report was written by field staff in Nicaragua:

The families from Aduana Dos, Nicaragua, have displayed an impressive degree of leadership throughout their plantain project. Management skills, accountability, and decision-making have allowed them to grow higher quality crops. The success and growth is impressive.

During this project the families have demonstrated positivity and an entrepreneurial spirit. Seventy-five percent of the families are marketing their crops allowing them to generate more income than originally projected. The news about their success is spreading throughout the region and as a consequence, neighbor communities have started to grow plantains in their home gardens as well. In all of our countries the Agros model impacts not just the village where the model is implemented, but also in neighboring communities as well.

It is important to note how much the women in the community have been absolutely key in the success of this project. They leave their homes early in the morning to sell and market the products in neighboring villages.

“We are grateful to Agros for the opportunity of being part of this project. We have recovered our self-confidence. We can work our land, and most importantly have food to eat with our children.” - Audelys, Aduana Dos.

On June 2nd, 2008, Nathan Hawkins joined Agros as the new Service Team Coordinator. Nathan is originally from Minneapolis and has lived in Mexico, East Tennessee, and most recently New Orleans, where he helped with rebuilding efforts after hurricane Katrina. He met his wife Joy in Tijuana, and together they moved to Seattle on November 2007. We’re truly excited to have Nathan join us.

Quoting the words of Frederick Buechner, Nathan describes his vocational calling as an intersection between “the place where deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.” Nathan adds, “I truly believe one such intersection for me is this opportunity to serve with Agros. I am so grateful to be joining you. I look forward to developing friendships and serving diligently alongside everyone at Agros and the many partners Agros counts as friends.”

Tara E. Leung will be leaving us on June 13th to pursue a masters program in International Development at Tufts University in Boston. She has worked and served with passion, excellence, and commitment.

Our very best wishes to Tara and a warm welcome to Nathan!

Graduation from university is always an exciting time in anyone’s life. But try to imagine what it must feel like if you were not only the first one to graduate from your family, but also the first from your town? And then imagine that you took all of your classes in a second language, and even began to learn a third language during your years at university. The joy and excitement would be that much more.

This is exactly what happened for four young women and one young man from the Ixil on November 17, 2007. They walked across the stage in their caps and gowns and received their diplomas as professional technicians from the Universidad del Valle in Guatemala. In the audience were members of their families who had left the Ixil in the Guatemalan highlands at 3am that morning to make the trip. These young people had received scholarships from the University and other non-profit organizations to attend four years of schooling-two years to finish their high school degrees and then two more years to receive technical training in their choice of specialty. Three of them chose to focus on agroforestry techniques and the other two focused on tourism. All five plan to return to the Ixil to find jobs, continue studying and serve their communities.

Just months after I began working for Agros in 2003, these five youth won their scholarships and began their studies. They traveled 8 hours away from their families to the University, and to a whole new world. From their small villages to the city of Solola, from their world of speaking Ixil with their families to taking all their classes in Spanish, which is their second language. It was a tough transition. At times they wanted to just leave and return home. They had to have special tutors and take remedial classes when they fell behind in their classes. The first year was the hardest, but they made it. Since then, they’ve served as support to the 17 other youth from the Ixil who have also gotten scholarships in recent years. On November 17th they served as examples that it can be done. And they were so proud.

I had the great honor of attending their graduation ceremony in November. Sitting in the audience, I thought back to that first year when I visited them as they began their studies. I no longer saw the timid young people who were trying to find their place in the world. Now I saw five mature people, proud of their heritage, proud of their new skills, and excited about what life has in store for them. With dreams and hopes, and the tools to achieve them. What a blessing to witness this, and what a blessing they will be to their communities.

A group of us just returned from a deeply inspirational trip to Guatemala. The following is the first of several reports to come, and was written by Brooke Rufo Hill, the Agros Service & Education Manager.

The First Families Move to La Providencia, Guatemala.

I recently had the privilege to spend time alongside the staff of Agros Guatemala in the remote region of Barillas, visiting the Agros villages in that area. During this time we bumped along rugged roads to visit the established Agros villages of El Edén, Nueva Primavera, and Villa Linda, as well as the newest Agros community of La Providencia. It was an incredible privilege to witness the first families move onto this beautiful and productive piece of land.

The terrain is over 550 acres of lush fields with crops of coffee, cardamom, and sugar cane already growing; it has a rushing river and spilling waterfall to boot. La Providencia is truly a site to see — it exudes a sense of hope and prosperity.

The leaders of La Providencia greeted us when we arrived. Each of the men had smiles ear-to-ear — they were anxious to give us a tour of their new home and the fresh start of opportunity was in the air. We found ourselves crossing a rickety suspension bridge swaying over the river, bushwhacking our way through the coffee plants and overgrowth, and posing under the glorious waterfall for photos. During this two-hour tour, we were able to engage in valuable conversations with both the community leaders and the staff of Agros Guatemala.

One hundred families will make up this village located in the northwest of Guatemala. Almost a half of the families are now in the process of moving onto land; the rest of them will begin to move in early January. Agros Guatemala is working with a professional engineer and architect to help the community design their master plan for the village. In the meantime, the families are choosing temporary locations to place their homes. The day we visited, representatives of all the groups and families of La Providencia were there to receive their plot assignments so they can start planting corn now to have food for their families. Most families also already have members working on the coffee and cardamom harvests. For now the community’s focus is to harvest the crops, plant corn for their families’ food, and construct their temporary houses, as well as working toward overall community organization and integration of the families. The community has already formed their key committees and they are beginning to work on integrating the different groups into the one large community.

La Providencia — both the fertile land and the amazing people who will make up this new Agros community — is alive with a deep sense of hope and opportunity. After visiting La Providencia and spending time with the families and Agros Guatemala staff, I now have a clear understanding of why the Agros tagline is “Land. Hope. Life.”

Back in February I visited Matagalpa region of Nicaragua to see a new piece of property that we were considering buying for a new group of families. Several of these family members came with us to see the land for the first time. We walked all over the property until the sun went down. Just a month later Agros did buy this land for the new Agros village of San José. This past month I went back to visit this new community to see how they are doing after 6 months on their land, and after the recent Hurricane Felix that affected them so significantly. It was an incredible visit, walking the land again with the same families, but now seeing their crops and hearing from them all the work they have done to establish their new community.

In just six short months they have planted over eight acres of malanga (a tuber crop) that will be harvested in March for international export, improved their coffee crops (which they have already begun harvesting), built temporary homes, and have a giant corn harvest to provide for their food security for their families.

The Matagalpa villages were negatively impacted by Hurricane Felix as we reported in our blog several months ago. However, through the generosity of so many we were able to hire a doctor to attend to the families to address illnesses brought on by the excessive rain and conditions. Two new composting latrines were also built for the families of San José to prevent further illnesses. And the families were given support to replant their bean crops, which they plan to do at the end of November.

I also visited the Agros village of El Edén, and was equally impressed with all the work these families have done over the past nearly two years. They are preparing for their third coffee harvest, as well as caring for their plantains, passion fruit, cacao, sheep, cattle, and cabbage. The families now have running water at their homes and wash basins to store water and use for their families’ needs. They have a preschool in the community, and eleven adults are participating in an adult education course. They are also participating in a reforestation project Agros is doing in the Matagalpa region (including and beyond current Agros villages) through generous funding from the Weyerhaeuser Family Foundation and the Atkinson Foundation.

Finally I visited with a new group of families, waiting to move forward as an Agros village and begin the process of becoming landowners themselves. They are anxious to have the land be purchased and begin planting as you can imagine. We spent time explaining the importance of the process Agros goes through to raise the necessary funding, as well as to select the right piece of land and the right families. We are nearing the end of these processes and once funding is complete, we will soon have a third Agros village in the Matagalpa region.

I’m not sure if it made the news in the States, but there has been a tropical depression over Central America for the past week, causing record amounts of rain. Many families and communities have been affected by flooding and their access getting cut off. No Agros villages have been flooded, but two here in Nicaragua are difficult to get into and out of now, due to the poor quality of their roads. This impacted my visit here over the past week, forcing us to hike in to both Norwich and Aduana Dos. In both cases we wondered if we could get in and back out, as the rivers crossing the roads continued to rise.  However, we persevered and it was well worth it as always.

In particular I’d like to focus on my visit to the village of Norwich, and the story of transformation that has taken place there.  The last time I was in Norwich was November 2006, at a time when the community was going through transition. The Agros staff had been working with the families for months to overcome a variety of social conflicts, as well as laying out a good production plan on their land in light of the challenges to get water to irrigate crops.  During my last visit we spent the time together talking through their doubts and frustrations, and seeking solutions of how they could successfully move forward with their community.

When we hiked into Norwich last Thursday, it was a different group of families waiting for us. Of course they were the same faces, but the attitudes and spirit of the community was completely different. They welcomed us with the banner their JWAV (Agros Journey With a Village) partners had brought them, and proceeded to spend their time talking to us about all their achievements over the past year and the ways God has been blessing their lives.

One of the men of the community, Carlos, sang us praise songs he had written himself, accompanied by youth from the community. Then they gave us tajadas for lunch, fried plantain chips made from the plantains they are growing on their land. They are now growing plantains, rice, sesame, and raising sheep and cattle. They have lots to do still to work towards paying their land and still face challenges of water for irrigation (which we hope drilling another well will solve). But they have made huge progress. And not only in their production, but in their spirits, their attitudes, and their willingness to work together and to see God’s blessing throughout it all. These families are a living example of the power of transformation that can take place through hard work, the love of God, and the constant, steady support Agros provides through a truly holistic development model.

It is an exciting time here at Agros — our Board of Directors just approved two new village projects! It is incredible to think of the opportunities that are now unfolding for these families!

Village #32 is “La Providencia” in the Barillas region of Guatemala.
This will be a village of 100 Kanjobal (a Mayan indigenous group) families that will be moving onto a 552 acre piece of land we will be purchasing in the next couple of weeks. The land already has coffee, cardamom and sugarcane crops on it, so the families will have the benefit of these already established sources of income. They will also begin working on building their homes and other infrastructure, and then other economic activities like growing tomatoes and sweet peppers and raising chickens to sell. These families come from the neighboring areas of this land we will buy, many of them living on land that isn’t theirs and forced to work for other farmers for a low daily wage. The adults have little education, but a great desire to work hard to provide opportunities for their children that they never had.

Village #33 is “Nueva Palestina” in Chiapas, Mexico.
This group of 39 Tsotsil (another Mayan indigenous group) families already lives on an ejido, which is land given to them by the Mexican government to live on through land reform years ago. Since the land isn’t the best quality though, and they lack sufficient water to farm it successfully, they are forced to go work on neighboring farms or even farther away to get a low daily wage. Agros Mexico will be focusing on helping them get water for irrigation to parts of their land, improve soil quality, and then begin production on their own land with black beans and sweet peppers among other crops. They will also be providing training for the families on their handicraft and embroidery projects they already do to improve quality and find access to sustainable markets.

Brisas del Volcán receives certification as a Farmer’s Business Association

On the second half of my visit to El Salvador and Honduras last September, I had the opportunity to attend a special ceremony in the Agros village of Brisas del Volcán in Honduras. Just as this village is completing its first year of working with Agros, they received a legal document from the Honduran government certifying that they are registered as an “Empresa Asociativa Campesina Agroforesteria”, or a Farmer’s Business Association. This means that the families of Brisas are now legally recognized as an association that can work together, sell their products, and do legal transactions to support their business. Working together in the production of their land enables them to increase their income generation to better provide for their families, all with the support of the government and other entities.

The highlights of the day -besides the delicious enchiladas they served for lunch- were the pride on the faces of the families of Brisas del Volcán, and the presence of all the other organizations that are supporting their work in this community. There were representatives from the Secretary of Agriculture, the local mayor, the national coffee association, and the local organic coffee growers association. The representative from the National Agricultural Institute also attended the ceremony to present them with their legal document as a Farmer’s Business Association.

Probably most importantly though, was the support of members from the other Agros village Nuevo Amanecer, as well as members of a new potential Agros community who attended the event to witness and to encourage themselves in their own work towards forming a legally recognized entity, that will empower them with their production and income generation to support their families.

Other updates from Honduras:

Brisas del Volcán -The families are busy preparing their coffee plants to harvest, as well as getting ready to transplant 15,000 new coffee plants to continue the regeneration of the coffee production. They are also working with 17 cattle, raising corn and beans for food security, and beginning a new plantain project. They also recently received training in raising fish, pigs, and hens.

Nuevo Amanecer-The families are busy harvesting a bumper corn crop, of which they will sell part and have plenty of food for their families. They also had a successful bean crop and are now raising certified bean seeds through a Honduran government program. They are experimenting with a local plant, Rosa de Jamaica, which is used for making a special drink and has a large demand in the market. They have planted 1,500 plants and are hoping for success with this new crop. They are also preparing for a cattle project and a plantain project.

Mario Gaitán, 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”

One of the greatest pleasures of my job is to take site visits to the countries where Agros works and see our field staff in action in the different villages we serve. Starting last Saturday I began my most recent site visit to El Salvador (and am continuing on in Honduras now) for four days. During my time there I was able to spend time with the Agros El Salvador staff, including our new Director Rafael Huezo.

Rafael has built a strong team to work with the four Agros villages in El Salvador. All of the villages are benefiting greatly from the work that is being done and the guidance they are receiving. Fernando and Miguel spend their days out in the fields with the farmers, showing new techniques and teaching about new crops, while Tania works with the women and the youth to set up their own productive activities and learn what it means to be organized and work together. Patty, and now Alvaro (the newest member of the El Salvador team) work with the families on their business plans and payment plans, to help ensure that they use their investments wisely and are able to make enough profits to support their families, improve their livelihoods, and pay their loans to become landowners. This team (as well as the ever diligent office staff of Tricia and Jimena) is extremely dedicated to the Agros villages and the families they serve… and the results are showing.

El Salvador Village Updates:

El Milagro - The first Agros village in El Salvador, this community is now well on their way in producing a variety of crops on their land. They are also beginning to work more in groups, and currently there are thirteen farmers working on a large pineapple project as well as beginning another round of tomato and green peppers in groups. They have a new community board of directors who are taking their new roles very seriously.

San Diego - To take advantage of the last months of the rainy season, the families in San Diego are preparing to plant a large area of vegetables, including green peppers, tomatoes, onions, cabbage and radishes. They plan to harvest them in December when there are good prices as people prepare to celebrate the Christmas season. La Esperanza - After a successful tomato crop, nine farmers from this community recently planted a large cucumber crop. They are working on plans to begin cultivating on 15 acres with a variety of crops and animals, and are working to finish the assessment process with the Agros staff to make the best decisions about this project.Nuevo Renacer - As the newest Agros village in El Salvador, each family in Nuevo Renacer recently planted 50 cashew trees as part of their long-term economic development plan. In three years these trees will start producing cashew fruit which can be processed and sold for both the fruit and the nut inside. During my visit they proudly showed off their tomato and green peppers plant seedlings that are nearly ready to be transplanted in the 1.5 acre plot they have prepared.

As with any community in any country, these four communities have challenges to face and barriers to overcome. Yet I know that the Agros El Salvador team will be right there to help them through it, and guide them towards the goal of sustainability and land ownership.

This following is an article written by Alfred Kaltschmitt and published yesterday in Prensa Libre, an independent newspaper in Guatemala.

Alfred Kaltschmitt was one of the founding members of Fundación Agros Guatemala, serving as the first Chair of the Board of Directors. The spanish version of this article can be found by clicking here.

Between the Clouds of the Ixil

We left early on a Friday; we took the car because of copious rain and mist that surrounded the capital city since the night before. Since it was impossible to fly to the Ixil, plan B was to take a four-wheel drive in case we could not fly to the airstrip in Ajt Tumbal, in Nebaj.

We started driving and took the highway headed west going to Quiché, through Chichicastenango, then Sacapulas, crossing the bridge over Río Negro, and then towards the top of the cordillera of Los Chutumatanes, through Cunén.  Almost daily, in the afternoon, the clouds make a date to dance upon the backs of these impressive and enormous thousand-year-old mountains.

The paved highway has transformed the whole region of the Ixil, an area that has experienced significant isolation due to distance and difficult access. The inhabitants of the Ixil region, which is comprised of the Nebaj, Cotzal and Chajul municipalities, are now connected to the exterior world.

I was overwhelmed by many memories — memories stretching back almost a quarter of a century. I thought back to the time when we first started Agros – an NGO whose vision was, is, and will continue to be, to help create new ways of development for the indigenous communities that are in most need. In those days, I had to travel by a slim dirt road filled with holes and ponds. This adventure could last up to 14 hours, depending on the conditions of the road. Driving could be interrupted by a landslide or other obstacles. The whole region of Ixil was isolated, and the war kept it even more depressed.

This time, however, in less than four hours we arrived to the top of the beautiful valley that surrounds Nebaj. I remembered the first time that my beloved friend Mario Morales and I stopped to contemplate the scenic beauty of the Ixil. That was almost 25 years ago, when we were young and believed that it is not by sword or armies that poverty is conquered, but through love and solidarity for your neighbor, and the message found in the example of the greatest politician - Jesus Christ.

How can I describe in a few words the intensity of what my fellow Agros Guatemala Board members and I lived these past three days? I still feel a sense of pride over seeing the first class of carpenters graduate from the new Agros Training Center in Nebaj. I can already envision the future for the Training Center of Nebaj… of how advanced it will be in the construction of training workspaces, computer laboratories, staff and student housing, and in teaching intensive agriculture skills! This center will also provide training in agriculture, eco-tourism, and general contractor skills.

We visited seven of the 22 villages that Agros has developed in Guatemala over the past years: La Esperanza, Belén, Caxijay, Xeucalvitz, Trapichitos, Batzchacolá, and Sumalito. We have also built dirt roads leading to three of these village -  an enormous achievement given their location, as there are steep drop-offs and deep valleys everywhere in this area.

Climbing and descending over four thousand feet of elevation, and crossing up to three different micro-climates, we finally got to visit the projects and talk to the grateful Agros villagers. Their lives and their children’s lives have been transformed by having access to the simple dignity of a home, potable water, schools, health, and professional training. We also attended a land title ceremony in the village of Belén. I can still see the face of Pedro Raymundo, bursting with happiness as he received his land property title.

As we were leaving a fellow Board member asked, “please pass me a tissue.” Tears had filled his eyes.

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!

Just to let everyone know, I have checked with our Honduran and Guatemalan offices and it appears that there will be no major impact from Hurricane Dean passing close by. Both country offices have reported that it’s not yet raining, but it’s looking like it will start soon.

Let’s keep all of the affected countries in our prayers as the hurricane gets closer to landfall in the Yucatan.  We will definitely post an update if there are any impacts on our staff or the villages.

When I started working at Agros in 2003, Agros had just begun to support the 16th and 17th villages and was still only working in three countries (not having started any villages in Honduras or Mexico yet).  This year Agros has hit a milestone with the launching of the 30th Agros village - Espinal Buenavista in Chiapas, Mexico!

Espinal is the third community Agros supports in Chiapas, Mexico. The families of this community have been in the preparation process for over a year and a half, and have steadfastly waited to become an Agros community. We’ve all heard the phrase “patience is a virtue” - to me the families of Espinal Buenavista epitomize this saying. After much work, training, and preparation, so many dreams have come true with the commencement of our partnership with this community.

The families of Espinal will be focusing on animal husbandry projects (particularly cattle and pigs), as well as women’s handicrafts, reforestation, building efficient cook stoves, and a variety of trainings for the community leaders and members.

While Agros is not purchasing land for Espinal (they already own their land through a government program), the goal remains the same: to facilitate a holistic development process where the families create their own sustainable local economy, learn how to best use their land, develop and grow as a community, and realize the dreams they have for their children.

We welcome Espinal Buenavista to the Agros family!

I am writing to spread the good news that we have a new Executive Director in El Salvador. The hiring workshops in El Salvador were a huge success, which of course made our decision process that much more difficult due to the quality of all of the participants. We had several finalists for the position, and in the end Rafael Huezo accepted the invitation to serve as Executive Director for Agros El Salvador, starting March 15th.

Rafael is an Agricultural Engineer, with Masters degrees in Business Administration and Environmental Studies. He has over 20 years of experience in the rural sector working in agricultural projects of a wide variety. Recently we visited the community of El Milagro with the candidates and Rafael truly demonstrated his ability to “get his hands dirty” and work alongside the families of the communities with skill and a spirit of servant leadership. Raphael also identifies strongly with the core values of Agros. We feel he will be a blessing to the communities in El Salvador and to Agros as a whole.

Last Friday I had the absolute pleasure of visiting with Pedro Pablo Rodríguez, the first person to pay off his land in the Nicaraguan community of Futuro de Mañana. We almost missed seeing him, since he was out working with his cattle and we were about to leave as it was getting dark. I am so thankful that we were still there and were able to talk to him… to see the smile on his face, feel the firmness of his handshake, and see the pride in his eyes. In addition to paying off his land loan with the proceeds from his hard work, Pedro has also been paying for his daughter ’s education - she is now in her third year. Pedro has plans to obtain even more cattle and to expand his earning potential even more.

Our Regional Credit Fund Coordinator, Kira Lopez, has written the following piece on Pedro and how he paid off his land. The Agros Nicaragua staff has noted how this is causing a ripple effect among the other families in Futuro, and inspiring them to work harder to pay off their land too. We are all inspired by Pedro.

Don Pedro Rodríguez is a simple man of few words. He and his wife Guadalupe have been blessed with a beautiful family of five boys and three girls. In the past, Don Pedro did not have land to live on or a farm to work and faced many difficulties renting land from others. As a farmer, he only knew how to provide for his family through working the land.

Their lives changed however when five years ago, Don Pedro and his family were selected to become part of the Agros village Futuro del Mañana in Rivas, Nicaragua. Shortly, with help from Agros field staff and financing, Don Pedro set out to plant corn and beans for his family in the communal fields in Futuro.

God blessed Don Pedro and his family’s hard work with a successful harvest. Don Pedro was able to store 7,000 pounds of corn and 5,000 pounds of beans! At the time, he sold his crop and then opened a bank account to deposit his earnings. Soon he realized that the savings’ interest rate was too low and decided to invest the money in a livestock project, buying seven calves.

Meanwhile, the land of Futuro was being divided and distributed amongst the families and Don Pedro’s family received a plot that although was not well-suited for farming, was good for raising cattle. This could have caused Don Pedro discouragement, but with his new livestock project, he responded by making good use of the land that was assigned to him. He also continued to rent a small section outside of the community in order to continue growing corn and other vegetables that Agros technicians helped him to grow.

Don Pedro made two annual payments on his land loan and in January 2007 sold the cattle that he had been raising. With the cash in hand, Don Pedro called the Loan Officer in Agros Nicaragua, and what a surprise he had for her! Don Pedro was ready to repay his loan in full! Hardly able to contain himself with happiness, Don Pedro and his family celebrated together the pride of having achieved so great an accomplishment.

“I thank God and my children who helped me,” he says. “To stay in good standing with Agros, I’ve repaid my debt. The land belongs to my family and we are ready for our property title.”

Don Pedro is the first in Nicaragua to pay off his land loan. He continues to rent land to grow crops and has applied to be able to grow on the community’s communal land that is not in use. He has several other ideas for future projects, including another livestock project for which he is currently applying to receive another loan. In addition, Don Pedro also commits his time to the community by participating in community work, learning from Agros field staff about new crops and thanking God for everyday in Futuro del Mañana.

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 wanted to say ‘Thank You’ to all of those who responded to the request we made for emergency funds for villagers in El Edén. We met the goal for $1000 and more in a very short time, thanks to your generosity.

Because of your quick response, our staff in Nicaragua has been able to purchase the needed roofing materials for the families to restore their homes. We will also be using part of the funds to help the families rehabilitate their crops from the damage done by the wind. The families continue to be very motivated and are currently working hard to harvest the remaining coffee crop. They aren’t letting the windstorm set them back and are determined more than ever to move forward for the good of their families.

Thank you for your fast and generous support in helping them achieve that dream.

We are seeking to raise $1,000 for the families of El Edén to help with their recovery from the massive wind storm. Our Nicaraguan Director sent me this update:

“There was a loss to the bean production, as part of the plants were still very young and therefore won’t fill with full grains as normal. The cacao lost its leaves - and for us this is the crop that was most affected, along with the plantains. There was also loss to the coffee harvest. The houses have been rebuilt, however we are missing roofs for several of the families.”

The families are continuing forward with their coffee harvest and to recuperate as much of their crops as they can. The Agros staff is walking right alongside them as they do so. They haven’t lost hope and they maintain their vision of a better future for their families.

The most urgent need is for the roofing of their homes. The roofs consist of zinc laminate sheets, which will cost approximately $1,000 total. This will buy 128 zinc laminate sheets to provide the families will new roofs to protect them from the elements.

We are seeking to raise this $1,000 as soon as possible. Would you consider making a donation towards the families in El Edén today? Just go to the Agros Give Now page and specify that this is for the families in El Edén.

Thanks for your generosity, and we’ll keep you posted.

Yesterday morning I received news from our Nicaraguan Director, Mario Gaitan, that on Tuesday there was a severe windstorm in the Agros community of El Edén in Nicaragua.  On Tuesday afternoon, while I had been writing my previous blog post about Olivia in El Edén, the thirty-two families of El Edén were taken by surprise by the massive winds (almost tornado-like) which caused significant damage in the community.

Thanks be to God that no one was injured, but there were heavy material damages.  The roofs of their temporary homes were damaged, as well as a large portion of their crops.  Their new plantain and cacao plants lost most of their leaves, they lost a significant portion of their coffee harvest, and the beans and vegetables were also impacted.  Plus, there were several downed trees.

Our staff in Nicaragua is working with the families now to rescue the cacao and plantain crops with extra irrigation, and the families are busy repairing their roofs of their homes.  Mario spoke with the community on Tuesday, motivating them to continue working hard despite the natural disasters that we cannot control.  It is hard to understand events like this, and I keep thinking of Olivia and her daughter and what they must be feeling.  My prayer is that Olivia and the other families don’t lose their incredible hope and energy.

Please keep the families of El Edén in your prayers.

The power of a mother committed to her child transcends national boundaries. On my recent trip I spent some time talking with Olivia in one of the newest Agros communities of El Edén in Nicaragua. Olivia is a single mom with a three-year old daughter. She proudly showed us her corn fields and her newly built temporary home, where she lives with one of her brothers who helps her work her land. She also has chickens that Agros has provided for her, and was proud to show them off.

In talking with Olivia, all I sensed was pride and hope. No desperation or anxiety at what she was going to do to make ends meet. This was not always the case… Olivia has known real struggle and hardship in the past. However now she has food to feed her daughter and dreams of the upcoming coffee harvest and making yet another payment on her land loan with the proceeds.

I was touched by how her brothers and other community members work alongside her to help make this new life a reality for her, and by her own determination and plans to provide a better life for her daughter. The community of El Edén has chosen a community hymn, with the words “unity” and “love” in the chorus as these are their main values as a community. In meeting Olivia and talking with her, the presence of unity and love and the hope this provides to her was evident to me.