Agros Blog

Any day that an Agros family receives their land title is a very exciting day here at Agros. May 13th was an especially exciting day, because not only did two families get their land titles, but they were the first land titles to be transferred in El Salvador by Agros!

Both families are from the Agros community of San Diego de Tenango which was the second Agros village established in El Salvador.

To commemorate this special day we held a land title ceremony in the community of San Diego, and invited representatives from the other three Agros villages to share in the event. Before the ceremony was even set to begin, the community center filled with men, women and children excited to be there! After the usual speeches and formalities, our lawyer stood up and read the titles aloud… word for word. And then it was time to make the transition of ownership official, first with signatures by Cipriano and Maria Antonia from one family, and then German and Isabel from the other.

 

Two families became landowners this day, but an entire community shared in their pride of ownership. The San Diego village was started by a group of 18 families who had a long history of commitment to one another. Having been displaced first by civil war and then again by Hurricane Mitch in 1998, the group came together through one man’s generous invitation to share his half-acre parcel of land with 18 other families to live on, and together they would cultivate the adjacent rented land. But because they could only rent the farmland, their income would always be limited and the lack of true assets meant they couldn’t qualify for any traditional enterprise loans to grow a fruitful business. So, with a shared tenacity and vision to improve their circumstance further, the group negotiated a purchase price to acquire the 141 acre parcel of rented land and make it their own in 2000 with Agros’ help.

This land title ceremony was a validation of their shared efforts and, based on the excitement on the faces of all in attendance, is one of many to come.

Patty Borja, the longest serving staff member in El Salvador, spoke at the ceremony and shared how much of an honor it was for her to be able to see this moment come true — to see the dreams of these two families become a reality.

This is land, hope, and life… realized.