San Pedrito’s Situation - When We First Arrived

Rejected by a surrounding population of Mestizos, they are marginalized and discriminated because of their skin color, language and cultural differences.  They have nowhere to go for help and resources.  They must learn to make do with what they have but lack the skills to ensure their community’s future.

Physical Challenges

In over twenty years of working primarily with landless refugee communities in Central America, San Pedrito ranked among the poorest villages in Agros history.  Only long term holistic development based on sustainable solutions can ultimately help San Pedrito climb out of their poverty.  However, when we first started this partnership, San Pedrito existed well below the subsistence level.  When we first visited the village, their most immediate challenges were.

These challenges generated great tension in the village as competition over limited resources tore at the very community and family fabric that is their strength.  The situation was dire.  However, the story of San Pedrito is evolving rapidly with Agros' partnership.  The village is looking very different these days, with running water, their first successful crop yields, and even new adobe homes.

Social Challenges

San Pedrito's physical challenges are symptoms or results of much greater social and regional problems that can only be solved by long term reconcilition.  Their greatest challenges are:

The social-economic-political situation in the state of Chiapas is very complex. To begin with, the Mayan people are composed of many different ethnic groups, including Tzotzil, to which the people of San Pedrito belong.  These groups all have different languages, dialects, cultures, habits and political alignments.  Their religious beliefs vary greatly - Catholics, Presbyterians, Pentecostals, Adventists, and most recently, Muslims. Unfortunately, these religious differences have been used as excuses or facades for the complex underlying social-economic-political tensions in the region.

The feudal land systems, institutionalized discrimination of indigenous people, and economic slavery in the region are the real problems.  However, the many differences between these groups have been used by political and economic interests to foster fear and dissension between indigenous peoples and fan the flames of intolerance.  The politics have thus been very violent and polarizing as evidenced by the Marxist secessionist movements of the Zapatistas in the early 1990s, the Acteal Massacre in 1997, and the Chamula persecutions of the last three decades.

It is many of these challenges that forced the people of San Pedrito to leave their homeland.  And it is still these challenges that prevent these people from fully realizing their potential. These challenges combined with the physical day-to-day challenges are a continual strain on the social fabric of San Pedrito.  Fortunately, we are making much progress on these fronts starting with the nearby communities.

Water

The state of Chiapas is generally very lush.  Water is one of its greatest resources.  So much so that over 70% of its power is hydroelectrically generated.  However, water rights often remain in the hands of the few, and even foreign companies are now competing for these resources.  This exposes the indigenous rural communities to abuses and shortages.

San Pedrito’s water situation was for many years extreme.  While the surrounding area is rich in water resources, their particular land is not.  The water table is buried deep below solid rock which is difficult and expensive to drill through.  The soil above this rock does not retain water at all.  Their wet season is long and heavy but the water only manages to run right off and erode the existing soil.

The only available water was until recently a seasonal stream which completely dries up during the final months of the dry season.  When the stream does run during the rainy season, it is barely enough to meet their needs.  The village women had to hike down several hundred meters and then hike back up hill with 10 gallon plastic containers, often pregnant and carrying infants in one arm.

During the dry season, the only water source was a river which runs approximately 2.5 km. away.  However, they have no water rights to this river and the river runs next to a Mestizo town, Cristobal Obregon, where they are not welcome.  Before the successful completion of their new water system they were forced to walk down together in a large group in order to avoid harassment.  Woman and children were harassed, splashed, insulted and intimidated should they go down by themselves or in smaller groups.

A sustainable water system was the very first project we took on as we could not hope to accomplish much with that as a foundation for crops, food, hygiene, health, construction, and so on.  Click here for to learn about the Water Project.

Food and Crops

San Pedrito’s crops include corn, squash, and beans. They grow corn because that is a traditional crop they are accustomed to in their original homeland.  However, it is very costly to grow, and not a good staple as it tends to run through the human digestive system to quickly.  Beans are a very good staple, but until recently, as with any other crop they grow, the yields were so low, and crop failures so frequent due to drought, that Agros had to provide emergency relief.  With their first successful harvest in Autumn 2006, this is now changing.

Tomatoes, peanuts and citrus are other crops that would eventually do well on this land and are ideal for this climate and geography.  Certain vegetables could also do well in with proper soil development.  These people know only corn and coffee and must now learn how to work with these crops.  But they are learning.

For so long they had to hunt armadillos and snakes in the nearby woods for meat. They once had only enough chickens to produce eggs for an occassional source of protein.  But they now have enough chickens for eggs on a daily basis and meat once a week.

They have tried raising livestock other than chickens.  The government once provided them pigs, and even goats at one point, but like any other project that provides no training or introduces animals that require high care or costly feeding, these programs all failed.  Click here to learn about related projects.

Shelter and Illness

There are currently not enough shelters for the 14 families of San Pedrito.  They are very small, usually no larger than 15' x 15', housing up to ten people.  They are made of wood because they don’t have the water to build permanent adobe or cement block structures.  Because quality wood is scarce, gaps between board and sticks are large. The shelters are very weak and often either catch fire or collapse with the high winds. At least one house is blown down by the wind every year.

During the wet season, the rain drives horizontally right through these gaps.  During the dry season the wind and sand cut right through everything.  The incidence of pneumonia, arthritis and other illnesses is thus high among children and adults alike. 

They attempt to cover these gaps with plastic bags and liners.  The attempt is futile, as there is not enough to cover all the gaps and the plastic itself is very thin.  At first glance, the plastic is often mistaken by outsiders as squalor.  However, these are proud people.  While water for hygiene is lacking, and basic resources for construction are missing, they do everything they can to maintain these shacks with pride and dignity.

The homes are constructed of very dry wood and material is lacking for proper stoves and ventilation.  Thus, the open fires essential for their cooking and heating present enormous danger and cost to San Pedrito.  Homes regularly catch fire as winds cut through and catch the burning embers.  The smoke from the fires fills the houses to the point where breathing is very difficult and painful, and sight is limited.  This further contributes to respiratory and optical illnesses.  Word is burned very inefficiently. At 5 tons of wood annually per family, on average, the surrounding forest in the hillsides is being denuded thus increasing the danger of a lethal mudslide in the not to distant future.

The houses and village are all set at the top of several ravines.  The area is barren and has no trees.  There is no shelter from the scorching heat during the summer.  However, the greatest challenge is the severe erosion introduced by daily human traffic, heavy rains and winds.

However, with the new water system and with profits from their first successful crops, they are now beginning to replace these wooden structures with solid adobe to that keep them warm and dry in the evenings and cool during the day. Click here to learn about related projects.

Lack of Basic Services

San Pedrito, while in a remote location is nevertheless not too distant from a town approximately 3 kilometers away.  This town has a clinic, schools, electricity and basic services every person is entitled to.  However, for so long San Pedrito did not have access to any of these. 

Only now with Agros' partnership is this beginning to slowly change. San Pedrito's application for electricity was recently approved. It will be some time before constuction will commence, and it will be years before other services are approved and eventually provided.

Even if these were to be made available today, they would be too costly for San Pedrito.  The Agros program thus focuses on economically enabling its communities over the long term to be able to aquire and sustain such services.  For now we are working to introduce naturally avaialable and sustainable sources of energy.

For so long the people of San Pedrito were discriminated by the nearby town and thus could send their children to these schools nor go to the clinic for medical care.  However, the town is starting to open up to them, and medical care is becoming accessible, in particular for life threatening emergencies.  Unfortunately, care is still unaffordable.

Even with the new openness, the school situation will continue to be a problem until this village becomes fluent in Spanish.  Until then, Tzotzil teachers will have to be brought into the village.  Bilingual Spanish/Tzotzil teachers are rare; particularly teachers that can work in a one school room setting with multiple age groups, and that would  be willing to live in such a harsh environment.  But, we are making much progress, and the primary school aged children are well into their 3rd full semester. Click here to learn about the new school system.