While on a Seres community outreach trip in El Salvador recently, I had the very humbling experience of meeting someone truly inspirational and motivating. A 22yr old campesino (subsistence farmer) from a small community outside of Suchitoto, he is working to educate his community about climate change and sustainable living. His story of how he came on this path struck me in the simplicity of it, and has motivated me to try and replicate it in other communities where Seres works.
His name is Antonio, and this is his story:
Antonio shelling corn at the demonstration centre
I met Antonio one morning on a visit to the demonstration site of El Instituto de Permacultura de El Salvador (IPES) – an astounding project that has over 10 years of success in teaching healthier, more environmentally sound agricultural practices to subsistence farming communities. I spent the morning shelling corn with Antonio and Tomas – a volunteer campesino who runs the demonstration site and is Antonio’s permaculture mentor. Sitting between them, stripping the dried corn down to the husk and sharing a plate of organically grown calabaza (pumpkin), I listened to them talk about what it was about IPES and permaculture that drew them to the project.
Since the 1950′s, the agricultural practices amongst subsistence farmers throughout Central America have been heavily chemical dependent, and there are many industrial agricultural chemicals in use in these parts that have long been banned in other parts of the world. The use of these chemicals creates not only economic challenges for these farmers, but is also damaging for both the health of their families and the health of their surrounding ecosystems. However after 50yrs of marketing by the chemical companies, coupled with civil wars in many of the countries, a large proportion of traditional farming practices have been lost and the current methods are the only ones they know. As Tomas talks about his passion for permaculture and how it has enabled him to better care for his family, his neighbours and his community, I see Antonio listening as attentively as I am.
The morning wears on, and the discussion progresses on to the work that I am doing with Seres. Soon, we are talking about the different types of appropriate technology that could be used on the site and before long the corn husk in my hand is replaced by a marker, and the baskets of kernels are pushed away, replaced by the ever present whiteboard that I carry with me: on which designs and sketches are rapidly appearing. I am amazed by the eagerness with which my new friends are participating in the discussion: with question after question being fired at me in a way that would thrill any teacher. Suddenly, I have a thrilling moment of realization: this is it! This is Seres!
Tomas demonstrating the compost pile
Standing there, being able to share my knowledge freely and openly with people that need it, appreciate it and will use it to help themselves and their communities. That is one of the fundamental goals of Seres!
It is with a shock that I realize it is after lunchtime, and I have spent over 4 hours here on the demonstration site. It is time to get back on the road, so with promises of a return trip with solar dehydrator and biodigestor designs I head back to the car. Antonio is also heading home for the day and – curious to get to know a little more about this young man – I offer to give him a lift into the nearby town. In town, we sit down and grab lunch at a small comedor, and I ask Antonio to tell me more about himself. At 22 yrs of age, Antonio is from a small subsistence farming community outside of Suchitoto. In addition to studying at the Institute each week, he has also organized a group of young men from his community to attend a monthly permaculture training course. This group of boys is from the youth environment group within Antonio’s community – something that when I first heard it, I thought I had misunderstood. It is now my turn to ask questions, and I probe a little more.
Tomas and the permaculture banana circle
Antonio’s passion and dream is to work within the field of sustainable development, teaching communities such as his own about climate change and ways of living more sustainable: such as through permaculture, and technology like the biodigestor that we had spent the entire car ride talking about. He started the group in his community a few years ago, getting youth involved in caring for their environment, and working on projects such as local clean-up and recycling programs. It’s an amazing story, but still the question loomed: How? How was it that a young man from a poor farming community in El Salvador found the inspiration and motivation to do this? The answer, when he told me, left me lost for words.
When Antonio was 19, a friend took him to go and see Al Gore’s movie: An Inconvenient Truth and from that moment, Antonio was dedicated to doing what he could to stop climate change and the damaging environmental practices that were taking place around him. Little by little, he started taking his friends to see the movie and talking with them about it, becoming a climate change educator without even realizing it. The youth environment group was the result of these efforts, a group that has been steadily growing since its inception 3 years ago.
When I heard Antonio’s story, I suddenly realized what an effective tool we had at our disposal. In places where people have very little exposure to films and movies (and the politics of the United States is irrelevant) this movie has had a profound effect. Even if Antonio was the only person that this movie reached, it has served its purpose. But how do we take this opportunity and see how many more people we can reach?
On the long drive back from El Salvador to Guatemala, I could not stop thinking about Antonio or his story. I felt truly inspired by this young man, and humbled that I had the opportunity to hear his story. The simplicity of his moment of realization kept on coming back to me, and I kept thinking about all the families and communities that I meet through Seres. People that don’t have a TV, and would welcome a night off to sit in the local church or community centre and watch a movie. And it that movie happened to have an environmental education focus as well…so much the better!
As I drove home, I realized that I have a wonderful opportunity to keep Antonio’s Story going, and it would take no more than a projector, a white sheet and some eager people. I decided that is what I would do, and we are currently seeking sponsors to help us raise the money to cover these costs. The budget is small, but the impact is huge…and we have already made plans with Antonio that the communites near him will be some of the first that we visit: where he will have a chance to shine and show his passion.
We are trying to reach $1000 – which is just $50 from 20 people inspired by this story. If you can give $5, $10 or even get your friends together to contribue $50, you will be helping us to make a great positive change, for life.
Thank you for time, and allowing me to share Antonio’s Story with you: I hope it was as inspiring for you as it was for me.
Corrina
I have known Corrina since she started work fresh from University; her idealism has hardly faded at all! When Corrina asked me to consider joining the Project Seres Executive Committee, I was honoured to be considered worthy, and thrilled to have the chance to make a difference in people’s lives. I find Corrina’s ambition to succeed totally inspirational, so I’m very happy to be asked to bring my love of the outdoors plus my business, project management, and engineering skills to the Executive Committee to support Project Seres.