Support Grassroots Earthquake Recovery in Mexico

Dear supporter,

Today marks the second anniversary to the 7.1 earthquake that shook the center and south of Mexico; the second earthquake that hit our country in 2017. Thanks to your support, we've been supporting 24 groups of women in their process of rebuilding their communities.

To mark this second anniversary, we partnered with Ambulante's recovery fund, Levantemos Mexico, and created this beautiful collection of stories so that you could meet some of the women behind the project. This collection of testimonies is for you, to thank you for trusting us and the different organizations in leading Mexico's recovery. We hope this allows you to get to know the amazing women behind all the activities a little better.

We hope you enjoy it!

Links:

• Collection of stories

Dear supporters,

It’s been over a year since our grantee partners received their grant and they have been carrying out excellent work in their communities. These are some examples:

• The women in Mujeres de la Tierra y el Sol have begun building their new community center in Tepapayeca, Puebla. Their old one fell down with the earthquake and they have been working hard to prepare all the materials. Their new center will be built with bahareque, a traditional and natural method that combines earth, straw and bamboo sticks; all materials that can be found in the community. The center will provide them with a meeting space and a production space for the natural products they produce. These include creams, jams, lip balms, seasonings and others.
• The women in 06600 Plataforma Vecinal y Observatorio de la Colonia Juarez, working in downtown Mexico City, have already carried out two of their workshop series to help women overcome the fear of the earthquake and be better prepared for any eventuality. The workshops include first aid, self-defense, civil protection and self-care. They have already filled out all the spots for the third series that starts in September.
• The Mujeres Pescadoras del Manglar have already finished cleaning up two thirds of the canal that got covered up with the movement of the earthquake in Zapotalito, Oaxaca. This canal connects the lagoon where they used to fish with another one that’s connected to the ocean. After the earthquake, all the fish died and they hadn’t been able to earn a living. Their cleaning up process has already brought back some fish and shrimp species to their lagoon.
• The women in El Sueño de Huejotengo have finished their training in carpentry and masonry, fixing their houses and building their own furniture. They are now aiming towards becoming a cooperative that sells products from avocados, a fruit that abounds in the area. Their name will be Nepanyotl Cihuatl, which means “women working for women” in Nahuatl, the original language of the area.

We couldn’t be more proud of all our grantee partners have accomplished. And thank you again for believing in us and them to lead this recovery process. We will continue updating you on our progress.

P.S.: Remember that next week is GlobalGiving’s Little by Little campaign where all small donations will be matched up to $50. It would help us so much if you could help us spread the word among your friends and family so that women in the affected communities can continue their incredible work of rebuilding their communities.

Dear supporters,

More than a year and a half has passed since the earth shook and destroyed so many communities in central and southern Mexico. Thanks to the support of people like you, we’ve been able to support 24 groups of women working to rebuild their communities.

Along the way, we’ve learned a few things:

1. Most communities still do not know how to react to risks. Most places in Mexico lack security protocols on what to do in case of an earthquake or a volcano eruption. We are working with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to train our grantee organizations in risk-assessment: identify what their organizations and projects’ risks are and find ways to better prepare for future disasters. As Amparo, one of our grantee partners’ coordinator expressed, “If we have another earthquake, maybe the houses will fall again, but we need to react differently. We need to stand before life in a different way, knowing that yes, it can shake again, and we are in a risk zone, but we decided to stay. We now have the tools, the skills, to get up again because we are resilient women.” UNDP is providing these workshops by geographic region so that organizations can work together on risks they share. We’ve already carried out a workshop in Morelos and, during May, the four organizations in Puebla will receive the same training. We have also partnered with UN Women that is offering these types of workshops in Oaxaca so that our grantee partners in that area can assist.
2. People living in the affected communities still suffer from post-traumatic stress. Most of the community leaders started working right after the earthquake hit and did not stop to consider how the disaster affected them emotionally. We are providing our grantee organizations with self-care and emotional support workshops so they have the time and space to heal.
3. The earthquake mobilized many people into organizing and implementing community projects. 11 out of the 24 organizations that we support are new organizations that require a closer follow-up to their processes. We are closely working with them to provide them with all the necessary tools (administration, legal responsibilities, communications, fundraising, and others) to become a functioning and sustainable organization once this project ends.

Once again, thank you so much for your support and for contributing to Mexico’s recovery. We will continue updating you about the progress of these projects and are happy to answer any questions you may have.

Dear supporters,

At Fondo Semillas we are thrilled to share with you how the personalized accompaniment and strengthening plan is moving forward. At the beginning of the project, each grantee organization filled out a self-assessment where they determined which areas needed strengthening. Then, we had a phone call with each of them to set up their work plan, a possible date for our site visit and the type of strengthening workshop or opportunity we could provide them with.

Some of the strengthening workshops we have provided include:

• Alianza Cívica Pinotepa Nacional, one of our grantee organizations, received a two-day workshop in communications from La Sandía Digital, an agency that focuses on strengthening grassroots organizations in internal and external communications.
• Serapaz, a nonprofit that specializes in security protocols, met with the members of Escuela para Defensoras en Derechos Humanos y Ambientales. Benita Galeana A.C., another of our grantee organizations, to assess the situation of Guerrero, one of the most dangerous states in Mexico and where they work, and determine what measures they could take to continue their work there.
• Members of seven grantee organizations participated in a two-day strengthening workshop. Crea, a Mexican nonprofit that empowers women through economic entrepreneurship, provided a Monitoring and Evaluation training and Procura, a nonprofit that works to strengthen other nonprofits, gave a workshop in Strategic Planning.
• Casa x Casa x Morelos received a two-day workshop in institutional strengthening from Comaletzin, a nonprofit that aims to empower women leaders.

During the last months, we have also been connecting our grantee organizations with each other and with other specialized organizations such as the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Appleseed Mexico, Fundación Cántaro Azul and others. These opportunities allow them to gain new technical skills and continue growing their projects.

We have also been carrying out site visits where the women have told us a few things about the earthquake and their organizational process:

"When the earthquake hit, we were in shock. We looked everywhere and there were no houses or churches. The community was paralyzed and our municipal president did not know how to start. That's how we originated. We did not know each other very well from before, but we organized ourselves and started to move the community forward. "

     -       Anay, from Xochiteopan en Pie.

"In the aftermath of the earthquake, we learned that we do not have to wait for someone else to come, for men to be the ones to organize. We can also be the ones that dare to do things. Before, we did not know how or we did not think we could do it and now, together, we learned that as women we have a space within the organizational life of our town, that we should not be waiting for someone else to do it for us. Now we are daring to do things.”

      -       Yeni, from El Sueño de Huejotengo.

"We want to be able to build a community center that will become our meeting space and, in it, we can teach the next generation of girls the traditional loom and Nahuatl. We do not want to lose our culture and it is important to be able to transmit it to the whole community."

       -       Mireya, from Casa x Casa x Morelos

Thank you so much for your support. The rebuilding of Mexico continues at a strong pace thanks to people like you. We will continue updating you about the progress of these projects and are happy to answer any questions you may have.

Links:

• New project site!

Today is #GivingTuesday, a global day of giving that harnesses the collective power of individuals, communities and organizations to encourage philanthropy and to celebrate generosity worldwide. At Fondo Semillas, we are hoping this day will help us provide better support to the 25 grassroot groups we are already supporting that are rebuilding their communities after the two earthquakes that hit central and southern Mexico on September 2017. With these funds, we are bringing stregthening opportunities to the groups to support their projects and help them become more professionals in their work, such as communications and adminsitration workshops, risk-management trainings, monitoring and evaluation capacity development, and many others.

GlobalGiving is carrying out a matching funds campaign to all donations that come in through their platform today (or until funds run out). Besides, we are elegible for a 100% match through the Mexico Earthquake One-Year Anniversary Matching Campaign. Even though we are more than grateful for your past support, we would love for you to consider Fondo Semillas for your Giving Tuesday or end-of-year donation. And please tell your friends and family about our project.

Once again, we are so grateful for your trust in Fondo Semillas and your support of Mexico's rebuilding process. Together, we can help Mexico be strong again.