| Villa Hortencia I “Town of Hydrangeas” Cotzal, Quiché, Guatemala Size: 688 acres |
 Download a Summer 2011 Village Update |
 Download a Fiscal Year 2012 Village Plan |
 Download a Fiscal Year 2011 Expenditure Summary |
For years the families of Villa Hortencia I traveled by foot from the Ixil highlands to the coast to work in sugar cane plantations. After working there for several months, they returned to the Ixil with a few dollars in their pockets and permission to borrow land from the plantation owners to grow corn and help meet their families’ basic needs. The next year the cycle would begin again. There were no schools for the children and the families often became ill because of the change of climate between the highlands and the coast, lack of shelter, and other adverse conditions.
The early 1960’s saw the beginning of a devastating civil war in Guatemala that ended with the signing of the Peace Accords in 1996. The war had particularly harsh consequences in the rural areas by hampering development, keeping rural areas marginalized, and causing more than 200,000 casualties. Large numbers of people were displaced. The families of Villa Hortencia I were forced to escape their homes in the Ixil to save their lives.
Now, just a little more than ten years after the Peace Accords were signed, the families have obtained rights to the 688 acres of land in Villa Hortencia I through the government run Land Fund, Fontierras. The families’ principal economic activity is subsistence agriculture with the primary crops being corn and beans. However, due to the poor quality of the rocky land, lack of water and lack of training in knowing how to best utilize their land, the majority of the community still migrates to plantations on the south coast of Guatemala to pick coffee and cut sugar cane three times a year.
In 2006, Agros began working with the families in Villa Hortencia I, facilitating a process of community organization and leadership development. In June 2008, with the support of long-term funding, Agros was able to begin implementing the components of the model and 120 families now have access to training and support to maximize the productivity of their land, as well as building on their process of community organization and human development.
Projects planned for 2011 – 2012 fiscal year include:
- Adult literacy programs and classes and educational materials supplied to the schools
- Promoting gender equality among men and women
- Nutrition and cooking workshops for mothers of children under five years old
- Teaching mothers the importance of early childhood development
- Financial education sessions for the youth of the community
- Establishing a field school in order to teach community members about production and consumption of their crops
- Building twenty-five cook stoves to improve respiratory health and decrease use of firewood
