Agua Amarilla

So...What's been going on in Agua Amarilla? The short answer is a whole lot of stuff! Over the last 2.5 years we have helped many of the villagers to build homes, latrines, pilas (sinks), a school/community center, and an athletic field. We have just completed the last of the homes that we committed to help with. Oh yea, we also brought water 9.5 miles through the jungle which has radically changed life in the village. Caridad, the community president tells me every time I see him what a blessing the water system is to the community.

We are now in the process of working with the community to help to diversify their incomes. There are two farming cooperatives in the village of Agua Amarilla consisting of 18 families each. Not all of the members of the community belong to one of the farming co-ops, but most have the ability to join if they have the desire and farming backround. The co-ops currently grow pineapple, yucca, sweet potato, beans, and corn. These crops have low income potential, but are what the people know and are comfortable growing. With their financial condition and lack of reserves, the people are averse to taking risk because if there would be a crop failure it could mean financial disaster. In order to help them to overcome this obstacle we are in the process of helping them to create an experimental farm. They will then be able to try different things without the fear of facing financial ruin or starvation because they tried something unproven.

On the farm we are in the process of building a greenhouse of 17X20 feet which will enable the villagers to produce 12,ooo plants every month. We chose to start the greenhouse because if they direct seed the vegetables there is a very high mortality rate of the new plants. If the plants are started in the greenhouse and are set out after they are 3-4 inches tall, the success rate is much higher. The types of plants that will be grown are green peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, red onions, carrots, and beets. There will also be ornamental plants, and medicinal herbs produced. We are also encouraging them to explore the possibility of growing some permanent crops like maracuya (passion fruit), asparagus, possibly strawberries, raspberries and many other things. We have cooperated with Project Global Village in every aspect of the farm and are using one of their "Extension Agents" to work directly with the local people.

There is a group of 16 women who have expressed an interest in growing and marketing the ornamentals plants and medicinal herbs. We are very excited about this because in every income diversification project that I have ever heard about, when the women get involved there is a huge change in the lifestyle of the family.

The plan is to locate a "fruit stand" type store near the main highway between two of the largest cities in Honduras, San Pedro Sula and Tegucigalpa. This highway happens to be very near Agua Amarilla.

We will be installing two types of irrigation systems. One drip, and the other overhead sprinkler. Both types of systems lend themselves to different crops. Some don't do well with drip and others don't do well with overhead.

Right now we are working with a total land area of 1 manzana which is 1.68 acres. The land is available to expand this in the future if the community so desires and the experiment works.

This is just one of the many projects we are working on. We are in the final stages of the Pyramid of Hope in this community, and are in the process of phasing out of Agua Amarilla. We feel that we have had a successful program here and are although there is more that could be done, we feel that the people are ready to fly on their own. The one thing that we will offer after we get the program fully functional is Bio-Sand Water Filters. Stay tuned on that one!! And as always, we will be sensitive to the possibility of any "Samaritan Projects" that may come to our attention here and anywhere else.

Muchas gracias por todo el apoyo...hasta luego!

--Tom