“I am happy to participate with Qachuu Aloom because it is a place to sell seed and because I feel a sense of community when I participate in workshops.”
Fabiana is from the village of Pahoj, Guatemala, where she raises her two children and maintains a small farm.
She used a $200 Garden’s Edge microloan to purchase a cow, 6 chickens, and 10 chicks. More importantly, though, she is able to support her family with the money she earns from these animals. She sold the cow for beef and continues to sell the eggs from her chickens. Fabiana also sells vegetable seed that she saves from her garden to Qachuu Aloom to earn additional income for her family. She grows corn, beans, and squash, which her father taught her to plant and grow. Her mother taught her to use these and other ingredients to make traditional Maya dishes like pinol, beans, tamales, rice with milk, white beans, and coffee.
This regular income allows Fabiana to buy clothes, shoes, notebooks, and soap for her family. Supporting her family is critical to Fabiana, whose biggest fear is that her children will have to go to work on coastal plantations. Thanks in part to her microloan – but also to her commitment and hard work – both of her children are in school and healthy, and her gardens are growing.
Like many Maya families, Fabiana’s life has been deeply impacted by the civil war that raged for decades in her country:
“My childhood was hard because we were in hiding during the civil war and suffered from extreme hunger. When we first went into hiding, we lost my little brother. We were at the market in Rabinal when the soldiers came to our house in the village. My brother was at home and was taken by soldiers; a neighbor found him thrown on the ground and it took us 8 days before we were reunited.”
Fabiana also spoke about the changes that she has seen in the environment and in her community in recent years:
“I’ve seen the climate change in Rabinal in my lifetime. It’s hotter now than it used to be, there are less trees, there is less water in the rivers, and it doesn’t rain as much. People didn’t use plastic, they would use banana leaves to carry their food. There is so much more trash now. It’s getting harder to raise our children because now there is so much gang violence that we have to worry about, but I would never want to leave because this is where my ancestors are from.”
We have been working with Qachuu Aloom for over a decade and in that time we have met so many wonderful people. We have heard many of their stories over the years, but we want to share them! Qachuu Aloom staff, volunteers, and our scholarship students are working on compiling their stories for our blog, so keep checking back for more stories like this one.