Rotarians play part in keeping workers in Mexico
ARTICLE PRINTED IN THE ROUND ROCK LEADER ON 5/24/2006
ERIC WHITFIELD
Special to the Leader
Even with water and electricity hundreds of small remote villages, called ejidos, in Mexico struggle to survive. Working age men leave these ejidos for Mexico’s populated areas looking for jobs and when not successful try their luck at getting across the border to the U.S. Their families stay behind. Women, children and aged try to get by on a pittance from the Mexican government and the dollars sent to them.
This past weekend, five members of the Rotary Club of Round Rock-Sunrise visited a highly successful project in the desert and made plans to expand the success to other ejidos. The travelers were Project Leader Tino Hernandez and his wife Lucy, Claire Smith, a charter member of the young club, and Eric and Kris Whitfield, both club past presidents.
In 2004, the Rotary Club of Round Rock-Sunrise learned of a project their brother club in Saltillo, Coahuila was developing and offered to help.
Since then a pilot project has converted the ejido of Zacatera consisting of 254 inhabitants, about nine out of 10 are women and children, from a starving band who foraged for their daily food into a solution for populations in remote areas.
The project turned a quarter acre of desert into a community operated organic farm growing beets, radishes, cilantro, beans, corn, herbs and feed for chickens.
In conjunction with the Saltillo Rotarians and educators from what local Rotarians call “Saltillo A&M” the Zacatera community has been able to grow more than they can eat. The quality organic produce is highly marketable in nearby Saltillo.
This led to a whole new idea. Based on the success of the “Ejido Zacatera” the Sunrise Rotarians recruited the financial aid of five other Rotary Clubs, Round Rock (noon), Pflugerville, Taylor, Lakeway and Austin Downtown to chip in for a matching grant from Rotary International. The approved grant brought the total to over $29,000.
Tino Hernandez of the Round Rock-Sunrise club said, “These people had literally gotten to the point of living off desert plants like cactus and yuccas. A little bit is good for you but without protein and balanced nutrition this became a huge problem. We’ve been blessed to have nearby clubs get as excited as we are about the potential of this project to raise their quality of life and teach them to sell their products.”
The grant will provide enough seeds, tools and four used trucks to bring the project to eleven other ejidos in the desert southwest of Saltillo to farm. The food they will grow in excess of the needs of their ejido will be inspected by the Mexican government, certified organic and taken to Saltillo in the used trucks to supply restaurants.
Profits from the sale of the organic produce, and eventually livestock like chickens and goats, will go back to the ejidos with a small percentage to return to a development account the Rotarians are creating. That money will be used to repeat the process in other parts of Mexico.
The Zacatera farm is being moved to another side of the village and expanded to almost four acres this summer. Plans are also underway for chicken coops and pens for goats. The state of Coahuila has already committed $100,000 to Zacatera for inspection stations and labs to support the venture’s “organic” status.
So far 11 other states in Mexico and representatives from other countries have contacted the Saltillo Rotarians to learn how the project might be applied for their people.
Dr. Sergio Robles, last year’s president of the Rotary Club of Saltillo, said, “This is not the final answer to Mexico’s problems but it will go a long way to keep our men from looking for work in another country while restoring the physical health of our people and building the an economic structure based on capitalism for a successful society.”
Rotary is a worldwide organization of business and professional leaders that provides humanitarian service, encourages high ethical standards in all vocations, and helps build goodwill and peace in the world. Approximately 1.2 million Rotarians belong to more than 32,000 clubs in more than 200 countries and geographical areas.
The Rotary Club of Round Rock – Sunrise meets every Friday morning, 7 a.m., at the Round Rock Medical Center. For more information contact Eric Whitfield, at 689-1541 or epwhitfield@earthlink.net or PR Chair Kris Whitfield at 689-1541 or kris@checksmartusa.com.