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.