Empowering Indigenous Youth in Mexican Communities

This project aims to strengthen meaningful bonds between local youth and their indigenous community culture, carrying out workshops to increase awareness and foster creative expression regarding fundamental community practices. During this period, the UMCO team carried out a state-wide workshop in San Pedro Molinos, and began the organization of local workshops for elementary school children in Santa Ana del Valle and San Pedro Molinos to be carried out in February and March 2026.  

From November 21 to 23, 15 young people from San Pedro Molinos and Santo Domingo Yanhuitlán participated in a three-day gathering held in San Pedro Molinos. Two on-line sessions had generated reflections regarding the importance of preserving local memory, and during the final in-person session the participants formed 5 teams to visit the community museum, dialogue with elders, and visit significant sites in the community. The exchange was focused on practices to elect local authorities, which involve community assemblies and the traditional system of community service. The young people studied texts that document the ceremonial speeches given by elders to the newly elected authorities, which include these exhortations:

Receive this staff of authority

That our ancestors left us

Because today our people have chosen you

To work and serve your pueblo

Be careful how you live

Because this place is sacred.

Be careful that power doesn’t overcome you

Don’t grow in pride

Because I warn you

Power is only passing

Power is not eternal.

Here everyone will be watching you

And they will judge you without compassion.

This staff of command that I give to you

Is the symbol of power but it can revert

And work against you if you don’t fulfill your service.

Receive it then, in the name of us all.

The participants of the workshop represented their reflections in sociodramas, contrasting moments when the principles of community government were honored, and occasions when they were violated. Community authorities, elders, and representatives from visiting villages witnessed the presentations, which were also broadcast through UMCO’s YouTube channel.

During this period UMCO facilitators also worked to prepare local workshops for elementary school children in two communities, coordinating the efforts of community museums, schoolteachers, and students from Kalamazoo College who will develop internships in these communities. These workshops will be carried out in February and March 2026, to bring together the knowledge provided by elders and the creative medium proposed by the Kalamazoo students to help local children enrich their understanding and share their perspectives of community practices and traditions.