Reasons to stay

When asked where he wants to live when he grows up, 12-year-old Alejandro of a rural village in Mexico answers immediately: Mexico.

Many communities similar to Alejandro's have become ghost towns because of continuous immigration to the United States. Most kids like Alejandro dream of crossing the border to find better paying jobs.

Our group of 16 American teachers visited Alejandro's town of Huejotal last week as part of our two-week tour of Mexico.

Although much of the Huejotal population has already packed up and left, those that remain of the older generation hope their grandchildren, like Alejandro, will stay. For that to happen, however, they know there must be a good reason. Huejotal has joined with La Fundacion Produce Puebla to generate econonic growth in the community. And they've put the younger generation in charge.

"With the kids the idea is to teach them to be independent and that they don't want to immigrate, that they study here and that they make business here," said Mauricio Mora, a representative from Fundacion Produce.

Alejandro is president of the egg committee. He and other boys in his class -- Adolfo, 11; Bernardo, 12; Adeodato, 12; and Armando, 12 -- make up the committee, which is in charge of vaccinating hens in the community and selling surplus eggs, among other duties. Some of their classmates oversee sausage production. Others are in charge of the gardens.

Fundacion Produce provides financing and other support to poor, rural communities in the state of Puebla. Huejotal was chosen as a beneficiary of the organization's support partially through a connection with Monica Perera, who has spent eight years in the village working on various research projects.

Monica works as a bridge between funders and the community. In her role, she builds trust with the donors so that they have faith that their money will be used well by the community. Likewise, through her, the community is able to trust that the organization with follow through with its support.

Walking through the community, it is evident that the project has been successful. Armando, quiet but confident in front of our group of tourists with so many cameras, showed off his chicken coop and explained his daily duties in caring for the hens. Others pulled packages of hot dogs and lunch meat from a cooler and explained how they made it themselves using hens that no longer lay eggs. We also visited one family's garden, full of vegetables all grown free of pesticides. Each family in the town is respondible for its own egg, sausage and vegetable production. The food provides 100 percent of each participating family's food supply.

"There is a lot of migration, and it seems that there is not a lot of opportunity, but what we have found is that if you have a project and you stay long enough for the people to trust in the project, people here want to stay here and make their lives in Mexico and not have to go away," Perera said.

"All of the work has been done by the community," she said. "The spirit of the community, the passion, the love that they have and the way they have embraced the projects, the recognition is for them."

There are 4,500 communites in the state of Puebla . La Fundacion Produce started 3 years ago and has reached 200 families in 11 communities. They receive funds from the Mexican government and from private corportations such as Wal-Mart. Each farm costs about $350.

For me the visit to Huejotal was a highlight. The small town was peaceful and warm, and I felt like I could stay there forever. The people there greeted us with a homemade lunch. The pride they felt in their community was obvious, offering a view of Mexico much different from the one so often depicted.

In ten years from now, I'd love to go back to see if Alejandro, Armando, and the crew have their own local, successful business. My guess is that they will.

To see more pictures of our visit to Huejotal, go to my earlier post.