Project Description
WHERE |
| LAS TAZAS community live in the OCOSINGO region (near
San Cristobal de Las Casas), to the northeast of the state
of CHIAPAS, in MEXICO.
It takes 5 hours to reach the village -85 km of dirt track,
forest and crossing the river Jatatè in canoe. The
roads and rivers can’t be used during the rainy seasons (from
May to October).
The community was founded in 1958 by a group of women and
men that left the “finca”, where they were exploited, to occupy
the uninhabited land.
The LAS TAZAS inhabitants are all indigenous «tzeltales».
They are one of the 28 groups that currently form the Maya
people. In the village there are about 350 families, about
8 per family, where their conditions are extremely precarious:
- The access to the community is difficult
the houses are simple huts made of wood and mud, with no
water or electricity
- There are no doctors or hospitals
- The educational system is almost non-existent.
- The agriculture is in danger due to the erosion that
impoverishes the land
WHO
In San Cristobal de Las Casas works Karin Ananda Begè,
who is in charge of the administrative management of the project.
Every monthshe visits the community to maintain the connection
with the outside.
In addition to this, there is a network of people from different
nationalities that collaborate with the project, raising funds
and materials. Legambiente, through the group of Lenola (LT),
and our restaurant has joined this network with various initiatives. |
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| La scuola elementare in
costruzione...com'è oggi
The newly
opened school
click for large image |
WHAT
With this project we want to address two problems:
• The educational development of the native children.
• The financial autonomy of the community.
Educational development
The idea is to follow the educational model adopted in other
native communities: LEARN DOING IT.
After building in 2002 a kindergarten with the collection
of 7.100 Euros, we would like to continue the improvement
of the scholastic structures with the construction of the
village’s primary school.
The money collected will be used as well to train the teachers
that will work with the children, and to leave a well organized
structure in the hands of the community. In addition to the
normal didactic activity it will be important to increase
the children’s self-esteem, because, after centuries of oppression,
they do not feel «equal» to the whites. The school
will take this opportunity to teach the children the more
elementary hygienic norms, in light of the high percentage
of child mortality for intestinal infections.
Within June 2004 the construction of the village’s primary
school will be ended
The hinge point of the project plans, within 2 years, the
creation of a financial autonomy, that allow the community
independence from external structures. In particular the project
wants to collect funds for:
- Purchase of cattle to constitute a breeding ( the natives
are excellent breeders, having been their occupation for centuries
in the white people’s great lands).
- Purchase, in 2 years, a truck to bring the animals to the
Ocosingo’s cattle market, entering in a commercial circuit
that give financial autonomy to the community. The access
to the market can be used also to sell the craft women’s products
(tortillas, bread, embroidery, ecc.) |
| HOW
MUCH
"The adoption of a cow", costing 200 Euros, can
be done in 2 ways:
- giving your contribution, no matter how small. (we plan
to buy 60) You can use the c/c n. 50/11628 in the name of
Legambiente Lenola, Banca Popolare
di Fondi, Cod ABI 5296 CAB 74010
- giving the sum of 200 Euros (perhaps together with other
friends of yours); in this case you will be able to choose
the name of the cow and you will receive the "cow adoption
certificate" corresponding to your cow
For more information regarding how to contribute to this
project, contact our restaurant or the Legambiente group of
Lenola.
While the number of cows grow, in this 2 years, we will carry
out various initiatives with the restaurant and the Legambiente
group of Lenola to collect the money to buy a truck; you will
know about those initiatives through our web sites.
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Obviously all the subscribers to our mailing-list
will be constantly kept up to date with all the projects and
subscriptions.
The project will be managed by the Community Assembly and
all the donations (money or material) will be acknowledged
by receipts of the community authority. They will comunicate
the work progress and economic balance of every activity.
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MY VISIT
I visited the community in November 2002. I saw the kindergarten
built with the collection, and I had the opportunity to meet
all the children (it was a big celebration for them and also
for me), but above all I met the community leaders, and I
spoke of the futures plan to achieve together. I met the "educational
leaders" (Enrico, Pedro, Olegario, Vicente, Marcelino
e Nicolas, Celia, Emilia e Lorenza). The children asked me
questions of all sort (even embarrassing!), but it was very
exciting. Also the official meeting with the community leaders
was “amazing”. We spoke in Italian translated to Spanish and
then translated in their dialect... We discussed their political
reality and the difficulty in maintaining a decent independence,
but we all agreed that we have to aim at the cultural development
of the children, creating at the same time the economic conditions
to be self-sufficient in the community management. Finally
we insisted that some of the eldest boys could learn to use
the computer, also to be directly in contact with us and with
the volunteers through e-mail.
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