Child Protection Mexico Project #34180

Nutrition for me and all my friends: Chiapas

by Amextra, Inc.

Project Report | Jun 19, 2020
Amextra Los Altos in times of Covid-19

By Stephanie Ahlgrain | Fundraising Manager

Dear friend,

Thank you for being a part of this project and for your interest in learning about the advances of health and nutrition programing in Chiapas. As with most non-profit organizations, we have undergone some changes to our operational plans this 2020. The global spread of Covid-19 has had effects across Mexico, including in the Los Altos region where we work in this project.

In the spirit of sharing some good news in an otherwise dark time, here are two of the achievements we had this trimester, up until Covid-19 made our visiting the communities unsafe for our teams as well as the remote tzotzil families.

Bio filter for water. Right before we paused our visits to communities, in February a bio filter was built the community of Tzacucum in Aldama, Chiapas. A bio filter is a tool that helps remove contaminants from the water using materials such as: coarse gravel, sand, biochar and stones, the purpose of which is that the quality of the water is safer for home use. Eight people from the group in Aldama participated in the preparation of this filter (as seen in photos). Access to clean water is one of the most important determinants of childhood health, and we are thankful to have built this filter as access to water is more important than ever.

Beekeeping. Beekeeping is important for environmental protection, biodiversity, and as a source of employment and income generation for many families. That is why in the community of Xulumo Aldama, Chiapas, we carried out activities such as strengthening of hives and raising queen bees to introduce to weak hives. Three people who participated in the workshop learned about these activities in order to improve the management and control of diseases in bees and obtain better quality honey and derivatives in the future. During the pandemic our agricultural coordinator has traveled to the hives several times to provide essential maintenance and supervision. However, in to provide the least risk these visits were carried out alone and without calling families to be present. We were able to carry out a few visits before March, like the one in Xulumo pictured below.

We look forward to working with the communities in person once again as soon as we evaluate that it is safe. Through these trimestral reports as well as through our Facebook (@AmextraOficial) we´ll be sharing more information about the achievements we have throughout the following months.

Stay healthy and safe.

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Feb 25, 2020
Spring news from Los Altos, Chiapas

By Stephanie Ahgrain | Fundraising and Alliances Manager at Amextra

We wouldn´t be able to start 2020 completely without thanking you for your support of this project in 2019. Because of you and others like you, families of the rural communities in Los Altos, Chiapas, Mexico have an alternative to marginalization, and are producing their own foods, cooking with less wood (and therefore less smoke!) and changing their vision to realize they have skills and recources that can make their lives more abundant and make their community a better place.

In addition to thanking you for your support, we also want to keep you updated about the projects and the families. Without further ado, here are a few updates from Los Altos, Chiapas from December 2019 to February 2020:

Challenges and lessons learned in 2019 On December 13th, 17th and 19th in the communities Tzacucum, Namtic, Canech, Santa Cruz, Tabilhucum, and Aldama Centro in Chiapas, Mexico the final workshops of the year were held, in which 105 people participated. This last workshop of the year was aimed at summarizing the advances and achievements of each community group, as well as learning their dreams and challenges for 2020, in order to create a joint plan that will help us promote the holistic transformation of families in 2020.

Bacteriological Analysis Water is a basic resource, but it can also be a cause of illness, such as diarrhea, which is the main cause of morbidity and mortality globally among children. Because of this, in the communities Tzacucum, Xulumo, Tabilhucum and Santa Cruz, the workshop Bacteriological Analysis (led by the non-profit Agua Pura para el Pueblo) which allows us to test the microbiological characteristics of water (identify bacteria Escherichia Coli) was held for 24 people from the communities.

Lastly, as you may know, the women and children we work with through this nutrition project not only benefit through health and nutrition programs, but rather as part of Amextra´s holistic program in the region. For this reason, we want to share with you that in January of 2020 in the Aldama Centro communtiy 8 women attended a workshop for sewing on new fabric used for shirts, (called manta in spanish) learning about quality of materials, color combinations, and types of stitches, so that they can innovate in the making of local garments.

Each and every one of these acheivements is thanks to donors like you. We hope you feel a part of this change and know that you are a valued member of our community!

With gratitude,

Stephanie

Manager of Fundraising and Strategic Alliances

www.amextra.org

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Nov 29, 2019
Exciting nutrition plans in store for 2020!

By Stephanie Ahlgrain | Manager of Fundraising at Amextra

Paty is our nutritionist in Los Altos, Chiapas

Dear friend,

We have some exciting plans to tell you about for nutrition and food security project with tzotzil indigenous families in Chiapas. From November 10 to 16th we had our annual all-staff training, in which 35 staff members from every region where Amextra currently works participated in a series of technical workshops, recieved reminders of Amextra´s values, practiced skills for conflict resolution, and learned a ton of beneficial information that will enrich their work next year.

During this training we also had time to refine out 2020 annual plans. The team of Los Altos, Chiapas has some exciting plans for their health and nutrition project! Here are three that stand out.

First, this year the local team will be partnering with a local elementary school to carry out height, weight, and hemoglobin testing of kids from 6 to 12 years old. We have been monitoring the 0-6 age range population for the past two years, and this year we have an opportunity to expand our attention to a wider range of kids. Us being us, we´ve decided to assume the challenge!

Second, also at this local elementary school we will be having clasees two times per month on healthy diets and the value of producing our own food. The school garden will be finished in the first trimester of 2020. We have the goal incorporate three native vegetable species in this garden to benefit the nutrition of the students. This combination of the school garden, nutrtion information, and height weight measurement will help us gear our accompaniment toward the real and most pressing needs of the families in this area. We can´t wait!

Third, we will be holding the second annual gastronomic fair in 2020, in which the families we work with prepare a healty recipe using the principles learned from the nutritionist. This recipe is then shared at a pot luck type event with other families in the community. The event was a huge sucess in 2019, with families showing enthusiasm to create a creative recipe, work with Amextra to get the materials they need, and then to present and share their healthy creation with others.

While the current state of nutrtion in the region is grim, we are inspired by the small, incremental changes we´ve seen this year. Stay with us to see how the school project and other nutrition advances go in 2020!

Wishing you a great holiday season,

Stephanie

The Los Altos teams discussing next years plans

Spending time outside to think clearly about goals

Presenting their plan to the group

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