Climate Action Mexico Project #50049

Teaching children in Chiapas how to grow forests

by Asociacion Cultural Na Bolom

Project Report | Jan 16, 2022
Nothing will stop us

By Patricia lopez | Project leader

Zinacantan group at Yo'onik

2021 was a huge challenge for us.

Not only the pandemic and the economics have made it harder, the insecurity on the roads in Chiapas made visits to the communities more dangerous and difficult. So it was necessary to adapt and find other ways to continue with the project. Schools are still closed, so we have been collaborating with adults and families in small groups.

We keep visiting the nurseries in Mitontic and Zinacantan. In Zinacantan. We work at the premises of the Yo'onik association that has an afterschool program for children.

The kids are so interested in learning new things, that even though the seeds are already growing into plants, they keep on bringing other species so we need to keep teaching them how to grow and take care of them.

At the same time we continue learning other techniques and improving the ones we already know. Thanks to volunteers with other expertises such as soil preparation, we are learning other ways to prepare a richer earth to plant our seeds.

We bought the materials to build another 4 nurseries in schools in the Lacandon Forest area, but unfortunately we don't know if we will be able to go and start the project as the schools are closed and the roads have been blocked constantly, so in the next days we will decide if we should pick campuses closer to San Cristobal. We are convinced that every action matters and even if we are not able to follow the plan exactly as we were hoping the most important thing for us is to keep working, but in a way that is safe and secure for our team and the communities during these troubled times of pandemic and violence.

We need to grow more money to continue this amazing project. We will highly appreciate if you can share our project with your friends.

Children preparing the soil to put the seeds

Using tetrapak to recycle

Filling the "bags"

We learn other techniques to improve soil quality

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Sep 29, 2021
Another step

By Patricia Lopez Sanchez | Project Leader

Seeds gathering

Dear donor:
We are very happy to inform you what we have been able to do thanks to yoyr help.

Eventhough pandemic changed the project's pace as the schools are not completely opened,  we were able to continue thanks to the parents who agreed to help and take their children, and thanks to your donations that have been used to visit the communities and set the area in Na Bolom to open a seeds bank.

We signed an agreement with the state highschools in order to start 4 nurseries and one bank seeds in the are of the lacandon forest, close to Montes Azules.

We opened the first seeds bank in our venue so we can start gathering seeds and teaching the visitors how to do it. The result is a growing interest from other communities to get involved.

We also renewed the nurserie at Zinacantan as it stayed closed for almost a year beacuse of the pandemic. We work there with the Organization Yo'onik who has an after school program for kids. The children are already attending so we are working with them. The seeds season is already starting so we have done the first campaign to collect seeds and will have more in the next months as every species has its season.

In Zinacantán Vicky decided to take the nursery in her hands and started teaching the children how to gather the seeds and keep them in order to start the germination project. While de nursery was closed she continued taking care of the plants and gave them to children to plant them in their parents' properties. We have been training her to continue with the project and helped her to grow it.

So this year we will have 3 Seeds banks working and 7 nurseries.

We have already finished the reforestation season and planted around 60,000 trees in the highlands of Chiapas. We are already working in the production for next year.

With your help we will be able to do more and continue working.

Learning how to germinate seeds

Preparing the area

Placing seeds in the germinator

Links:

Know more about Na Bolom's projects.

Attachments:

7 Attachments

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Jun 25, 2021
Together we can do more

By Patricia Lopez | Na Bolom's General Director

Receiving books for workshop

Teaching the children how to create and protect the forests is centred on recovering the tradition of caring for nature and producing wood to cover their needs. We work with different communities focusing on recovering their tradition and ancient knowledge of the love for mother nature. This project was born because the elders told us that their grandchildren don't know and don't want to know their traditions. They have forgotten the importance of the trees and mother nature. Deforestation has to do with this. We base our way of living on the use of wood.

Communities need wood for cooking and building, even for their crafts. We can not forbid them to use it, so we have to understand their needs and teach them how to continue their traditions and to find a balance to protect the woods. We work with the communities listening to their interests. In Mitontic, a tseltal community in the highlands of Chiapas, they produce coffee. They came to us asking for oak trees that they need for their coffee fields.

The first step in 2020 was the reforestation of the area with oak trees we produced in Na Bolom's nursery. Then the community agreed to enter the program and we built a nursery of their grounds in the first trimester of 2021 thanks to GlobalGiving accelerator. In the second trimester, we did some training and brought coffee experts to teach them how to improve their production and select better seeds. We also did the follow up of the oak trees.

Thanks to the collaboration of another NGO in Mexico City, Casa Gallina, we did a workshop with the kids and took some books in Spanish and tseltal that Casa Gallina edited to gift the children. During the workshop the kids did a reflection on the difference between life in the city and life in the countryside and the importance of the living creatures. They also learnt about the impact the trash has of their surroundings and what happens in your body when you eat junk food. In the end, they did some drawings showing why they like to live in their communities. The children told us they don't like the life in the city cause cities are too crowded and polluted.

The community built a second nursery where they are growing trees with the seeds they collected in the surroundings. They also participated in a workshop on the selection of the seeds. All the activities are organized with the participation of the kids and the parents.

The next step will be to teach them how to grow the plants and have the first production for next year reforestation.

The last weekend of June we will be building another trees nursery in Zinacantan.

Drawing life in the countryside

Visiting the first productions

Learning on how to improve the coffee's quality

Attachments:

June Newsletter (PDF)

5 Attachments

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