Mayan Cottage industries and helping girls stay in school

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I have made no secret of my ambitions here in the Yucatan that I'm trying to empower these Mayan people to rise up from their extreme poverty and make a good income.  It is an unfortunate by-product of poverty that one of the first "luxuries" to be discarded is education.  In my eyes, education is the ultimate and best steppingstone out of poverty.

In the Yucatan, children can go to school for free thru the 8th grade.  9th-12 though cost money.  It cost about 1,500 pesos per semester, which is about $75.00 USD.  That doesn't sound expensive, but in the pueblo where the average monthly income is only the equivalent of about $125.00 per month for a family, it is a fortune and unaffordable for many.   Hence, they drop out after the 8th grade, and the boys go to the field to work, or go to Merida for construction jobs.  The girls start looking for a boy to marry or get them pregnant and then marry.  Often times in the reverse order.

There are barely any job opportunities in the pueblo for boys/men and practically zero for the women.  I have found though a way around this to help the girls/women make some money.  They can garden and grow plants for me in sort of a cottage industry.

The young girl in the video is a sweet young girl of 15.  (Click here for video)
Her name is Suleima.   She has a twin sister and is living in a broken home where the father has left to live with another woman, and the mother is sick and unable to work, and needs medical treatment.   In what is a great act of sacrifice, since it was not possible for both girls to go to school, and barely possible for even one, Suleima offered to drop out so her sister could attend.   Suleima has come with my Mayan teacher to the ranch a few times, just because she has nothing to do during the day.  She is bright, cheerful, happy, and eager to learn, which is why she likes to spend time with Shirley, my teacher.  Shirley is the one who told me her story.

I have come up with an idea for a cottage industry for Suleima and Shirley spoke with her and the girl has seized the opportunity.  

I am raising coconut trees from palms for shade for my asparagus plants and also to sell in the future to coconut plantation planters. I currently have about 1,000 trees growing and want to build that up to about 10,000.  I have been buying the coconuts from a local man, bringing them to the ranch and putting them in mud to sprout them.   I pay 5 pesos a piece for the coconuts which is about 25 cents a piece.  You just put them on the ground and get it really muddy and wet.  

Every day your water to keep the ground muddy.  In a week or two or three, the coconuts have a little sprout break thru (as you can see in the video).   In about 4 or 5 more weeks, it will grow up to about 70 cm.  You can see in the video we took her a tall one, so she'd be able to see what the goal is.  

For the past 8 months I've been doing this and when they get to 70 cm (about 28 inches) we take them off the ground and put in large planting bags, where they'll stay for a couple of years to grow.  In my case, I put them next to the asparagus plants and they offer some shade during the hottest months of the year March thru June.

With Suleima now, I'll let her do all the preliminary work.  She will buy the starting coconuts (with money I advanced her).  I sent my guys to her house with the dirt and manure and rocks to build the bed.   She will water them and care for them and when they are 70cm tall, I'll go and get them to plant in bags, and give her 15 pesos for them.  10 pesos profit.  That's only about 50 cents USD but she's raising them 100 at a time.  So, after she raises up 100, I'll give her 1,500 pesos.  She'll buy another 100 and keep 1,000 pesos.  When she does that twice she has enough for a semester of school plus a bit extra.

Suleima was so excited about it, now her sister wants to do it also, so they can give the tuition money to their mother and both girls earn their own.

I am as proud as a peacock of their ambition.   It's truly a win-win situation.  I get my coconuts ready to plant and mature.  I have my men available for other work instead of watering and nurturing coconut, and these two girls get to have an education.  Maybe one of them will be a great educator someday, or scientist, or inventor.  Who can know?  But at least they have the chance to reach their potential and not end up just being a 15-year-old mommy.








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