Endemic Seeds Bank to empower women and girls

As you have noticed, the established funding objective has not been reached, despite this, we have continued with the work for the implementation of seed banks both in the Na Bolom facilities and in the communities in which we work. For now, we are raising funds to be able to take the project to the Lacandon jungle and give continuity to the seed bank in Naha. Despite everything, the seed bank project continues to advance slowly but steadily. The economic situation of the country resulting from the pandemic has changed the pace of work. However, we have focused our energies on supporting the Na Bolom team without which we could not continue. The seed collection season was also delayed due to changes in the weather, so from October, we were able to start activities.

Meanwhile, Na Bolom´s nursery and seed bank continue growing. It is thanks to those in charge of the project; Sergio, Victor and Pepe that we can keep moving forward. This quarter we worked in the communities of Zinacantán and Mitontic with boys and girls from the community. We gave a workshop on the relationship with nature.

We have realized that working with girls is not so easy; more men participate in this kind of activity, as girls support mothers in household activities or even making handicrafts. Likewise, in each community the situations are different, so we must adjust the project according to the needs of each place. In addition, the community schools have not yet returned to face-to-face classes, which is why it is difficult to access the small ones without the support of the families.

What's Next?

• Continue collecting seeds to proceed to germination.
• Visit the communities of the Lacandon jungle to install an additional seed bank with hot climate plants and follow up on the one that already exists in the Lacandon Community of Naha.
• Train the teachers of the high schools where the jungle seed banks will be installed.

For this, we must guarantee the salaries of employees and raise funds for travel expenses and transfers. We need to achieve our goal of $ 5,000 USD, otherwise, the project will suffer and progress will be slower and we risk spoiling the seeds that have already been collected. Thanks to you we can achieve it. We are counting on you!

Como han podido notar el objetivo establecido de fondos no se ha alcanzado, a pesar de ello, hemos continuado con los trabajos para la implementación de bancos de semillas tanto en las instalaciones de Na Bolom, como en las comunidades en las que trabajamos. Por ahora, estamos reuniendo fondos para poder llevar el proyecto a la selva lacandona y dar continuidad al banco de semillas en Naha. A pesar de todo, el proyecto de banco de semillas sigue avanzando a pasos lentos pero firmes. La situación económica del país resultado de la pandemia ha cambiado el ritmo de trabajo. Sin embargo, hemos centrado nuestras energías en apoyar al equipo de Na Bolom sin el cual no podríamos continuar. La temporada de recolección de semillas también se atrasó por los cambios de clima, por lo cual a partir del mes de octubre pudimos iniciar con las actividades.

Mientras tanto, el vivero de Na Bolom y el banco de semillas en nuestras instalaciones siguió creciendo. Es gracias a los encargados del proyecto; Sergio, Victor, Damaris y Pepe que podemos seguir avanzando. Este trimestre se trabajó en las comunidades de Zinacantán y Mitontic con niños y niñas de la comunidad. Impartimos un taller sobre la relación con la naturaleza.

Nos hemos dado cuenta de que trabajar con niñas no es tan fácil, son más los hombres que participan en este tipo de actividades pues las niñas apoyan a las madres en actividades del hogar o incluso con la fabricación de artesanías. Así mismo, en cada comunidad las situaciones son distintas, por lo cual debemos ajustar el proyecto según las necesidades de cada lugar. Además las escuelas de las comunidades aún no regresan a clases presenciales, por lo cual es difícil acceder a las pequeñas sin apoyo de los familaires.

¿Qué sigue?

• Continuar con la recolección de semillas para proceder a la germinación.
• Visitar las comunidades de la selva lacandona para instalar un banco de semillas adicional con plantas de clima caliente y dar seguimiento al que ya existe en la Comunidad lacandona de Naha.
• Capacitar a los maestros de las preparatorias donde se instalarán los bancos de semillas de la selva.

Para ello debemos garantizar los sueldos de los empleados y recaudar fondos para los viáticos y traslados. Necesitamos lograr nuestra meta de 5,000 dólares, de lo contrario el proyecto se verá afectado y el avance será más lento y corremos el riesgo de que las semillas que ya se recolectaron se echen a perder. Gracias a tí podremos lograrlo. ¡Contamos contigo!

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Jorge is a 19 years old boy from the Lacandon community of Naha. He is working for the project as a guide and as our contact with the community.
"When I was little my father taught how to recognize different kind of trees and the importance of taking care of the jungle. He also taught me that the ceiba was a sacred tree among our ancestors. Pregnant women used to give birth under the ceiba. Nowadays there is only one left."

Thanks to Jorge's help, we have started the endemic seeds project. He is helping us map the trees that are mature enough and will help take care of the seeds in the bank.

The second step was to find another group of children to come with Na Bolom's team and Jorge to look for the seeds. Working with the community is very slow. They have to set the pace and decide how things are going to be done. Each time we plan a visit we talk to the leader of the community and he invites everyone, then we have to wait to see who shows up.

In this second visit, we received ONE GIRL and the rest were boys. They went with Sergio, Na Bolom's team leader and Jorge, to look for the seeds and learnt how to choose the ones that are good for the seeds bank.

As schools are still closed, we cannot work with bigger groups because it is a volunteer job and children's, and parents must decide if they want to participate. We communicate with them through their authorities and respect all the time the way they organize.

You might think the work is very slow but to have long term results we need to make sure the communities involved choose to participate. 

So to make a difference for them and make the donations worth more, what we do in every visit to the community is we put two teams together. As the transportation cost is the same we take the seeds team and a team from our medical fund with volunteers to give, in this case, dental attention, to the members of the community. That way in every visit one team works with the kids to put together the seeds bank and the other team helps the volunteers (doctors, and dentists) to give attention to the communities.

We are very grateful for your donation, with your help we will be able to continue with this amazing project.

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