Visiting Honduras – New Communities

This February, World Neighbours Canada (WNC) board members Gabriel Newman and Judy Gray along with WNC volunteer Peter Gray visited Honduras to see the work that was being done by our partners there, Vecinos Honduras. They will be sharing stories and information that they have gathered over the next few months. Write up by Gabriel Newman. Photos by Judy Gray.

The meeting is about to begin in El Chaparral.
The farmers group in El Chaparral.

In the community of El Chaparral, outside of the town of Langue, in what is known as the “dry corridor” of Honduras, we met with a group of farmers who recently started working with Vecinos Honduras.

 

One of the first steps is to create a map of their community highlighting the features, houses, strengths and weaknesses. They are showing us their map. The map will be upgraded as things change in the community. We interrupted them as they were digging a new well for the community. They were very happy to show us the locations of the water sources.

The map they created of their community.

This group of farmers have come together to work on a shared plot with the intention of experimenting with seed production. They are cross pollinating to create a bean that is even more productive in their particular ecological area. They recently won “best beans” at a local fair.

This strain of beans they have been working on is very abundant.

They want to continue improving production using natural and organic means. They also hope that they are able to save enough seeds to get them through the dry season, when many farmers run out of their own seeds to eat and have to buy at inflated prices. Their future plans involve buying more silos to store the seeds.

A silo for storing corn kernels.