Junax Lodging Center, recovering from the ravages of the pandemic, proudly and hopefully closes this 2022 by resuming links and receiving international volunteers again for the support and struggle of the indigenous and rural communities in Chiapas.
We close the year 2022 in community with our fellow Chiapanecos, celebrating the richness of their cultures and the perpetuation of their millenary traditions. This represents an invaluable experience for the volunteers who come to Junax, since with this approach and coexistence, we can have a better understanding of the way they live, enjoy, organize, and celebrate in the region.
The profile of the volunteers who pass through our lodging center have diverse fields of study through which they join different NGOs and Civil Associations with multidisciplinary missions where they contribute to the communities. At the same time, they learn the wisdom of our people and communities to share with their hometowns, thus giving international visibility and transcendence to the diverse projects of self-management, sustainability and traditional practices that are carried out in the region.
Some testimonies and projects carried out by Junax volunteers:
Development
Two colleagues, originally from the Basque Country, have been in charge of the review, approval and follow-up of development projects in rural communities. One of these projects was the construction of tanks with bio-filters for the supply of drinking water. In the same way, a population study was carried out, where houses without sanitary equipment were selected and dry toilets or latrines have been installed.
Agrarian
A colleague in the process of a post-doctoral thesis of Italian origin is currently conducting a field research on the dichotomy between scientific knowledge and local indigenous knowledge in the context of plant epidemics, in this case, the outbreak of "roya", a naturally occurring pest caused by climate change that affects coffee plantations in Chiapas, Oaxaca and Veracruz. This research seeks to legitimize local knowledge and indigenous practices in the face of this type of epidemic, which represents a threat to the crops and consequently affects coffee production.
Gender equality
Our colleague, of German origin, in collaboration with a local organization, gives eco-feminism workshops focused on women's empowerment through practical and emotional themes that give women the tools for self-care and independence. A critical comparison is made between feminism in Germany and in Mexico, seeing the latter as a social movement with greater scalability and possibilities of making a real constructive change; due to the repression, anger and generalized sexism to which many women in Mexico, and particularly in Chiapas, are exposed.
Humanitarian
Our partner of Mexican origin, a recurrent volunteer in a civil association, comes to Junax a couple of times a year to contribute to the children and youth of San Cristobal de las Casas who are depressed by their realities at home and on the streets. Through educational and didactic programs, our partner and the association are responsible for improving the living conditions and making a positive impact in the lives of these children and youth.
The Junax community will continue this year 2023, with great determination and passion, its mission to inform, link and host volunteers from all over the world, encouraging the accompaniment of research projects, cultural preservation of our communities and support networks within the Chiapas communities.
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