Friends Assisting Mexican Amigos
GRACIANO SANCHEZ BECOMING A SELF-SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITY
Helping Ranch Graciano Sanchez:
Situation:
The people of Graciano Sanchez had land, insufficient access to water, and no electricity. Single-room homes were built from scavenged materials.
Solution:
FAMA-provided water system from a local river well. With water, new tools, access to medication, and their land, they could grow food to feed themselves and supply needed food products to their villages and the town of El Tuito. A school is also being built with FAMA's help.
Results:
In September 2019, Hurricane Lorena followed by Tropical Storm Narda wiped out the first water system project funded by FAMA. Also their only access, a bridge 5 km away was destroyed. This left the residents isolated, sick and many homeless.
Now, FAMA is providing Graciano Sanchez with a complete water system to serve the community with its 70 housing parcels.
Rancho Graciano Sanchez is a small village located in Cabo Corrientes, Jalisco that did not have a means of environmental or economical growth. They had land parcels where they built single room homes from scavenged materials. FAMA is helping the families to become self-sustainable by teaching them to become organic farmers, which aligns with the FAMA mission of supporting efforts for economic self-sustainability and personal growth.
In January of 2016, Mike and Patricia met with the President of Cabo Corrientes and his staff, and the Rotary President Nacho to discuss a possible village for FAMA assistance. At the meeting we were given the names of a few villages that would qualify for help. Mike visted three of the villages and chose to work with Graciano Sanchez.
Graciano Sanchez, remote and about 2 hours south of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico is an "ejido" where collective communal land parcels are given to individuals as a holding for farming. While looking for a new project, a local tax collector knew of this ejido where poor families could establish residence.
The key for me was that he stated that this was the only community in his large tax base that always paid their taxes in full and on time. Graciano has insufficient access to water and no electricity. The men of the village leave on Monday for work as laborers returning on Saturdays. The women take care of just about everything in the ranchito.
Our first effort was to work with the local government and the residents to begin farming using a new, FAMA-provided water system from a local river well. With water, new tools and their land, they would be able to feed themselves along with supplying needed food products to their villages and the town of El Tuito.
A simple one-station water system funded by FAMA and constructed by the residents was under construction, but not for long. In September 2019, Hurricane Lorena followed by Tropical Storm Narda wiped out this first water system project funded by FAMA. Also their only access, a bridge 5 km away was destroyed. This left the residents isolated, sick and many homeless. The land around Graciano Sanchez was covered with debris, contaminated water and dead animals. We find it incredible that these folks do not give up and move. But the residents could not afford to live elsewhere.