Esperanza Chel and Horno Chel

The time had arrived to head back up the mountain and visits our project villages in the route to Caba. We, the Ixil committee of TRE decided to include two new villages in this route. Of the seven villages we would visit four are newly established communities. I think an explanation of why these new villages are forming and the importance of this movement is needed. Poverty in the Ixil region as well as in all of Guatemala is directly tied to land rights which were taken away from the indigenous people at the time of the Spanish conquest. Over the years land titles have changed hand but have never reverted back to the native population. In the 1940’s there was a ray of hope as a platform to redistribute unused land was put forth by the government. Unfortunately it was squashed and thirty-five years of civil conflict and oppression followed. Finally in 96 a peace accord was signed which included the ability for native populations to reclaim land that was not being used and held in large plots usually by non-local owners. The communities of Esperanza Chel and Horno Chel are a great example of  these communities. After years of waiting the goverment has starting opening homestead communities that allow landless farmers to have a ray of hope.

  

Why do we go into the mountains to visit these communities? The answer is easy, because of the great need. It is that simple. When it is possible to help meet basic needs of water, food, and clothing with such little investment of finances and with such strong community support to work together how could we not go. In this blog we visit two of the communities Horno Chel and Esperanza Chel. The majority of the habitants have relocated from the Chel area. They have never owned even an acre of land yet are subsistence farmers who would pay rent of up to half of the harvest from a crop to the landowner on whose land the farmed. Now for the first time in their lives they have legal access to up to 35 acres of land. Can you imagine what new opportunity that means for their families and future.  Esperaza Chel-  it is aptly named “The Hope of Chel” These communities have no potable water, no school, no electricity, no road yet they have hope for the future. It is with great joy TRE enters into a commitment to help these communities and offer you our sponsors the opportunity to help share in their hope. The opening photo is of a girl at the hand dug collection well for the community of Horno Chel, 22 families share this well. The spring that feeds this well is clean and only a five minute walk from the village but they don’t have a collection tank to protect it. It would only cost $2,500 to build a collection system with a hand pump. I know there is someone who could just write a check or gather five friends to contribute $500 each and give this village the materials needed to protect their water. It seems so simple.

                     Well let’s get on with the journey and see these villages.

  The day we left was raining and cold and quickly brought back memories. Our coffer Manuel was REALLY amazing as we worked our way up the mountain. I need to video this trip sometime because my words could not give it justice. After two and a half hours we reached the summit and were meet by men from both villages who had been waiting to receive us. I did not ask how long they had been waiting but we were over two hours late in leaving Chel. It is a great feeling to be so well received. The piping and four of our gunny sacks will continue with the truck to Los Encuentros but we gathered up seeds and general aid to carry into the villages.

  The trail to the village made me feel right at home as this is normal life here. Mud and rain. What is amazing is how much celebration and laughter accompanied us.

 Here we are entering the village Horno Chel. Almost all the homes have a roof made of Pox leaves. It takes almost 100 plants to harvest enough leaves for a five meter by seven meter home.

Warming up by the fire. Roofs with out walls are used for public meetings and shelter during a workday.

             A new sweater and toy animal provided by Miracles in Action.

 I know the picture looks sad but there is a cultural preference not to smile for a photo. When women laught many cover their mouths. I think it is out of embarrassment over their teeth which often are in sad states of decay.The other day I handed out toothbrushes, which are a rare comodity here, and one of the girls brushed her teeth for over half an hour. She was so excited to have her own toothbrush and the feeling of clean teeth.

 Here are some of the community members. This is defiantly a working camp as the men try to prepare the community to better house their families. The village was founded in April 2013 and is so raw you can see clear through most of the houses. We had a good meeting after which we distributed seeds and hats, ponchos and sweaters. With night approaching we quickly headed down the trail to Esperaza Chel

  The night broke clear and cold in Esperanza. In the morning I watched the setting of the full moon while waiting for the first rays of the sun to warm us.

  As always I have an escort where ever I go. The cildren thought it was halarious when I called them Patush- ducks, for following me around in a file. A stranger would cause a stir in these villages but a gringo is defiantly good entertainment.

  This boy sits by his family’s water collection system. It is easy to see how scarce water can become. It is common to pass a container of dirt water around before a meal so everyone can wash their hands.

                                                A nice morning smile

The fathers who started this village came here in November 2012.Why would a father bring his family into a situation like this? No water, no school, new fields to clear and plant, no houses.

Here are the men who have done this as we meet and listen to their needs and explain how and when we can help.

  For me and for them it is clear why they have come here. I think this picture shows their hope pretty well. Imagine for the first time in your life  you as a farmer  have land to plant.  You don’t have to pay ½ your wages in rent, you don’t have to walk an hour or more to the field, and there is room for your children to have their own land and homes. This is Esperanza Chel, the hope of the village of Chel. The brown field in front of his house is full of new corn plants!

  Their farming practices are good. Here they are leaving a ground cover that protects from the sun and rain while decomposing for a future crop. We will come back with bean seeds so they can plant bush beans alongside the corn which will fix nitrigen into the soil.

This man is keeping the fields clean enough that the crop planted benefits from all the resources on the site using a machete and hooked stick called a gancha.

  Time to celebrate and share some aid. Here we are carring out five gunny sacks of aid.

While Andres organized the general aid I got our seed factory going with some local help. We bagged and labeled seeds for the community.

 

                                                                        Forming the aid line

Andres is reaching into the sack to see what surprise will be next. All the hats in the picture were knitted in the states.

                                                   Hats and stuffed animals for every child.

These little gifts that seem small to us are not small gift here.  Ninety percent of these children have never had a stuffed animal so this is a day to remember

 A gift of a sweater or coat is really appreciated.  Two days latter we entered another village in which almost all the clothes were rags.

                    A photo of thankfulness and amazement at his good fortune

Bagging and labeling seeds. We have divided the village into two groups with a center leader responsible for each group. On our next trip we will bring in seed storage containers for a seed bank, more seeds and the material to build green house. In March we will start hosting open house sessions at our nursery in Xesally and leaders from all the villages will come to learn and share ideas.

Although there is a lot of potential in a hat full of seed our garden program has much deeper roots as we are training and working with the people to reach the long range goal of seed self sufficiency and sustainable agricultural practices

                                                                Happy Children

                                                    The founding fathers of Esperanza Chel

Back to work. Before we had left the village the men were back clearing field and the women working around the home. Here one is using the washing machine.

A rain water collection tank made of wood and plastic. There are micro organism that degrades the plastic in six months so this tank needs constant maintenance and is open to any containment. The adobe structure beside the tank is a steam bath house.

So here is the village as we left it. It is dependant on rain water for drinking but has great land potenial.

Some of the men lead us to the village spring on the way out. The trail in front of us is cleared and planted on both sides for the next twenty minutes of walking.

The spring lies in the bottom of a funnel. This land feature is common but does not allow for the development of gravity fed water systems. The spring in this case does not have enough flow in the dry season anyway. We are studying a rain water collection system that we put in at another village. After the dry season we can evaluate what the cost would be per house to place concrete holding tanks with a water filter system at each home. We put Esperance Chel on the list of communities that would benefit from this type of system.

On the other hand the spring at Horno Chel flows under this little bridge to a hand dug holding tank. This spring gives a good constant flow, is close to the village and would only need proper protection to function well for the community.

It is one of those simple needs that from the perspective and resources of the village will have to wait a long time. From my perspective, knowing the resource we have in the states I wonder why. Join us and make a difference!