Local students learn how to reforest
In the last 4 months, 25 students from the Intercultural University of the State of Guerrero, speakers of indigenous languages such as Ñu savi and Me'phaa and coming from 12 communities in the area, designed and built an agroforestry plot for reforestation.
At the same time, the same students as well as the students and staff of the Ojo de Agua secondary school carried out the diagnosis for the care and self-management of water.
Both water and agroforestry are a key tool to reforest not only timber but also edible species.
Why we chose the agroforestry
What they have done
First, students and teachers from the University carried out the participatory design of the space for the agroforestry plot, and the selection of species to be reforested.
During the implementation, the seedlings of the selected species were germinated and after one month they were transplanted.
At the same time, students and teachers were trained to carry out Successional Agroforestry Systems.
Next fruits
From the group of students and teachers came the proposal to also take advantage of the empty spaces that have been left between the planting lines. After a joint evaluation and an exchange of knowledge between experts and students, they decided to start a second phase of implementation.
English below
Gracias a la enorme solidaridad que ustedes manifestaron el pasado #GivingTuesday, en la montaña de Guerrero las mujeres pudieron realizar 27 estufas ahorradoras de leña hechas con tierra. Las estufas complementan el proceso de restauración ambiental, ya encaminado con los viveros de reforestación (informe anterior).
Beneficios para mujeres e infantes
Al ser diseñadas por las mismas mujeres, reflejan sus expectativas:
La señora Martha dice: - Las estufas salieron como nosotras queríamos. Es la primera vez que lo hacemos. Estamos de acuerdo porque se tomaron en cuenta nuestras opiniones, la estufa que elegimos es la que se hizo.
Beneficios para las comunidades
La señora Rosario comenta: - “Aprendimos a hacer una estufa, sembrar árboles, el cuidado de las plantas y que la unidad hace la fuerza. Estuvo bien usar materiales de la región porque no se gastó dinero en comprar materiales, salió económico y mano de obra de nosotros.
Beneficios para el Planeta
En Monte Alegre entre octubre y diciembre del año pasado se codiseñaron y construyeron 27 estufas que lograron el dato asombroso de bajar de la mitad el consumo promedio de leña. Si extendemos el proyecto a más comunidades, esto va a tener un impacto muy positivo sobre el bosque, y, por ende, contribuirá a contrarrestar el cambio climático.
La señora Hernestina comenta:- Hemos aprendido la organización, el trabajo en equipo, el apoyo mutuo. Aprendimos la compactación de la tierra para más resistencia.
Estuvo bien usar la tierra y materiales locales porque son cosas que tenemos a la mano, naturales”.
Buenas noticias para 2023
Al inicio de este 2023 queremos desearte un año lleno de alegría y paz, y recordar que cada nueva donación mensual tendrá tu primera donación igualada al 100% luego de cuatro (4) pagos mensuales.
Si dona 20 USD al mes, está donando 240 USD al año, ¡que es lo que cuesta una estufa ahorradora de leña en Guerrero!!
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Thanks to the amazing solidarity that you showed the last #GivingTuesday, in Guerrero the women managed to make 27 wood-saving stoves #MadeWithhEARTh. The stoves complete the environmental restoration process in the community of Monte Alegre, together with the reforestation nurseries reported in the previous report.
Benefits for women and children
The women have designed the stoves, according to their expectations:
Mrs. Martha says: “The stoves were as we wanted. It is the first time we do it. We are happy because our opinions were taken into account. We made the stove we chose”.
Benefits for communities
The stoves were made through "tequio" (traditional practice of community work), thanks to which the entire community is involved; and social ties and mechanisms for the intergenerational transmission of knowledge are reestablished.
The social production of stoves not only implies design and self-construction, but also requires technical training and organization of the process. This generates a lot of learning that remains in the community, strengthening its self-management.
Finally, technical knowledge, added to awareness of the impact of human activities on the environment, contribute to better comprehensive risk management in communities.
Mrs. Rosario comments: - “We learned to make a stove, plant trees, care for plants and that unity is strength. It was good to use materials from the region because no money was spent on buying materials, it was cheap and labor from us”.
Benefits for the Planet
The 27 stoves that the women have built in Monte Alegre, between October and December of last year, have achieved an astonishing halving of the average consumption of firewood. If we extend the project to more communities, this will have a very positive impact on the forest and, therefore, will help to counteract climate change.
Mrs. Hernestina comments: “We have learned organization, teamwork and mutual support. We learned the compaction of the earth for greater resistance. It was good to use the local earth and materials because we have it here and it is natural”.
Good news for 2023
At the beginning of this 2023 we want to wish you a very joyful and peaceful year, and remember that each new monthly donation will have the first donation matched at 100% after four (4) monthly payments.
If you donate 20 USD a month, you are donating 240 USD a year, which is what a wood-saving stove costs in Guerrero!!
Thanks to your support the community of Monte Alegre, in the Mountain region of Guerrero, is starting a comprehensive action to save and regenerate the forest.
Enhancing reforestation
30 families from Monte Alegre donated their garden to implement nurseries for reforestation of local species, made with local and natural materials.
In the last three months, these families have been strengthened in the care of the ecosystem and the conservation of local trees. Subsequently, they built five small nurseries to cultivate oak seedlings and ensure their proper development.
The most significant moments were the tequios (collective work) for the collection and germination of seeds, and then for the transplant, where children and the elderly joined the action.
It will be very exciting to see the 7,200 m2 (8,210 yards) of reforested land, with 923 trees.
Reducing deforestation
Meanwhile, 28 people (22 women and 6 men) are strengthening their skills to design and build a traditional, sustainable and safe stove.
The stove will be designed and built by the participants, with local materials. The exchange of knowledge between CC and the local community will allow the implementation of a new technology adapted to the local geology and culture and friendly to the environment. This will reduce the impact of cooking on the forest environment!
Call to Action
On October 4, join with us the #RootPoliticalaction to celebrate the World Habitat Day!
For the #UrbanOctober Cooperación Comunitaria will promote #ClimateJustice, by recognising land as a universal human right and its social & environmental function. Follow us on fb @Cooperacioncomunitaria
Links:
This June we celebrate collective actions that contribute to restore our planet, and we do so by sharing transformative practices that through the methodology of Social Production of Habitat aim to regenerate and improve spaces where people live, from processes where the human-nature relationship is more balanced and equitable.
Healing the soil and generating food sovereignty
Inhabitants of “La Soledad”, who strengthened their sovereignty through efforts to self-produce 16 adobe reinforced houses, are now working in their backyard to strengthen their food sovereignty.
Housing for the méphàà culture, in addition to being a place of rest and family coexistence, is also a productive space where they usually grow edible or medicinal plants for self consumption in their backyard. Based on this traditional practice, plus scientific knowledge based on agroecological techniques, members of the community built backyard orchards through mutual collaboration and now produce their own food. An action that, besides improving their economy, contributes to their health.
With agroecological practices, food is produced through processes that have biological diversification as a principle, and thus strengthen environmental resilience. Which is why, beyond harvesting their own food, families are also regenerating the soil promoting biological diversity in their territory.
Ángela’s testimony:
“It is very nice to be growing, my family situation has been very difficult and I did not know if I would be able to do it, which is why I joined with my daughter to do it together and help each other”.
Building collectively with “0 km” materials
Community kitchen in El Paraíso
“0 km” is the distance traveled by the main building material of the community kitchen in El Paraíso. In walls and ceilings, the earth, which is used for construction, comes from the same land where it is being built. In this process, members of the community have agreed to carry and transform the material (earth / soil) into adobe blocks for walls, or “pajarcilla” (mud with straw) to make the thermal and acoustic insulation for the roof.
This kitchen was developed from a collective proposal to create a space where residents could cook typical dishes for their traditional festivities and provide food in assemblies or any other collective activity. For this reason, after a stage of participatory design, women, men, young people and even children have been involved, carrying out “xtajá” (collaborative work in méphàà) throughout all stages of construction.
Revaluation of the méphàà constructive culture
The construction work that we started a few months ago with the community of Moyotepec for the recovery of 4 traditional houses, has ended. Participants in the process inaugurated their households and are now being inhabited.
In some cases, these houses were more than 80 years old, having been built with local and natural materials by the ancestors of the current inhabitants, which is why their rehabilitation promotes the conservation of the traditional méphàà construction culture.
Thanks to the efforts of the community, in addition to the social and technical accompaniment of CC, members of the community renovated their houses and now live in a safer place with better living conditions, due to the fact that:
- They are better adapted to the local climate through natural insulation in the roof.
- They have better finishes that make it easier to clean the interior.
- They have optimal natural lighting conditions thanks to new light entrances in the roof, which also saves electricity.
-The repairs that have been made guarantee that with proper maintenance, these buildings will remain for a long time to house new family generations.
After seeing these completed houses, many people in the community have become enthusiastic about bringing back the use of these materials in their homes.
We share in video the testimony of Aristeo, who tells us his experience about the house his grandfather built.
Aristeo’s testimony:
"This house belonged to my grandfather and then to my parents… The house was built in 1942: imagine, it is a long time! 80 years!... When I was born the house was already there, and we grew up here. Now I have left it for my children or my grandchildren; I feel like it is new again, and I hope it will last for another 80 years…”
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Méphàà culture reminds us with their traditional and local practices that it is possible to live in a world where the environment and humans coexist in harmony and equilibrium.
Thank you for being part of these transformative actions for our planet!
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Despite the pandemic and all the economic consequences it has had on the communities, the Guerrero families together with our team achieved amazing results in 2021: together we built 18 houses, made with reinforced adobe systems, through a collective process led for the community.
Let us tell you this story through the direct voice of the participants.
Rogelio and his family were homeless. During the pandemic they returned to their community without resources. He, Estela, his wife and his two children worked hard together to build their own house. From the first day it was finished they planted many flowers and Rogelio said “this proves that nothing is impossible. Thank you for allowing us to have a home to stay." Andrea is a single mother of two daughters and a son, who used to live in a wooden shack, together with her sister's family. She participated with her son in the whole construction process, cooking for the workers and doing anything useful to complete the construction. Now that they have an adequate and safe house, she comments “life can knock you down but you can get up and fulfill your dream”.
The families participated from the assessment, participatory design and planning of the houses, sharing their expectations, their traditional knowledge and their labor. Thanks to that, these houses are fully adapted to the climate, geology and culture of the Me'phaa region. They also respect the family life cycle, because they have been made with the possibility of growing and changing as the families’ needs does. That is why Evaristo says “We made this house to our liking. That is why it is even more our home”. And Bartolomé adds “I am happy because what I wanted and needed was reflected in my house”.
Teacher Erica was one of the strongest local promoters of the project. She told us that people did not recognize the potential of local materials, as they are fleeing the communities in search of work and forgetting their traditions. After the social production of the 18 houses, they regained confidence not only in local materials but also in their traditional practices and knowledge. Ulises said “I learned from this experience to value the earth more because now I realize that it has many uses. The earth is never canceled, it does not rot, even the earth can be turned into paint”. Profetiza comments “I feel satisfied to be part of an important achievement, which allows us to preserve the tradition and culture of this Me'phaa region”.
In 2022 we will accompany the families in new challenges. They will build sustainable and traditional kitchens to complete their home. Moreover, a group of women from other two communities will design and build an ecological stove, strengthening their skills as forest defenders. Another group of families will promote the food sovereignty, reactivating their backyard gardens to produce vegetables according to agroecological methods.
We want to extend our greatest gratitude to you, both for what we have achieved and for the new path to which you are contributing.
We wish you a happy new year!!
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