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TEL. (222) 173 39 72
San Jerónimo Tecuanipan
Puebla.
manuelpalma32@hotmail.com
HISTORY
Casita de Barro was inspired by our work with Mexican migrants in the United States of America. Our experiences there made us decide to concentrate on the origin of the migration phenomen. This decision took us in 2008 to San Jerónimo Tecuanipan, a rural village at the foot of the volcano Popocatépetl with two million of inhabitants and an educational level that equals that of the sixth year of primary school, and where six out of ten families have at least one member of their family living in the United States.
Unlike other social programs, which tend to be paternalistic, we have opted to not start any project without first knowing the rhythm and nature of the village that hosts us. We built our own little adobe house in the local, traditional style and started to explore ways of sustainable and simple living. Soon after our arrival, the people of Tecuanipan started calling us Casita de Barro (little adobe house), a name we embraced because it represents our aspiration to become a place that demonstrates sustainable living techniques. We want to invite the local families to apply simple and ecological techniques that revalue de local traditional knowledge, and help create a higher life quality. We are convinced that sustainability can be an instrument for social justice.
The region of Tecuanipan is classified far below the national poverty line, and even below the extreme poverty line (CONevAL, 2010). That is why we propose permaculture as a practical way to better life quality. Producing and consuming their own crops, and revaluing local farming techniques gives the families of Tecuanipan more autonomy and augments food security.
NICANCALLI, A RURAL SCHOOL
The educational action that began in 2009 when a young man asked for help with his homework, transcended, over the course of a decade, into an environmental education program that continued to address the school needs of the community. However, in order to serve a broader range of children, local schools opened the doors to a comprehensive ecology program.
The trust of mothers and fathers and local teachers has allowed us to build the basis of a long-term educational effort that proposes turning the child's gaze towards his territory. Inspired by the popular education model, we generate projects such as a school garden and a forest nursery, as well as continuous field visits, both to community projects and visits to key spaces in the territory.
At the same time, Casita de Barro´s headquarters integrated agroecological and agroforestry crops that are proposed as a living teaching-learning space open to the community that houses us. Thus, young people and adults in the region learn and teach by preparing fertilizers and applying various pest control systems while exploring the possibilities of processing their crops with simple conservation methods that, at the same time, generate added value to the product of their land.