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AIR’s expert
technicians either are invited by community leaders to teach Sustainable
Farming, or they approach community residents speaking their Mayan languages
and ask if they would like to begin a five-year training program in the
farmers’ own fields. Weekly training sessions begin to improve their
crops—without dangerous chemicals.
The residents themselves decide which
farmer’s field will be mapped first; where the tree nurseries will go; the
schedule for maintaining the tree seedlings; whether to begin a micro-business
and other key decisions.
The AIR Technician visits
weekly and together with residents they construct a tree nursery and plant tree
seeds in small bags. The residents have
a schedule for caring for the growing tree.
Meanwhile, the AIR technician works with each farmer to map out and
terrace their crops and teaches the entire group how to make organic products
to sell, such as shampoo and cough medicines.
In the summer months—the rainy
season—small groups of volunteers arrive from the US to help the residents get
the tree seedlings in the ground. Tens
of thousands of tree seedlings will be planted by hand on mountain slopes—and
they grow quickly!
If
funds are available, fuel-efficient stoves will be built for the participating
residents. The group will decide who
should receive a stove and in what order—this is not AIR’s decision nor the
volunteers’ because the residents know which families have worked the hardest
in the tree nursery and are the most needy.
AIR succeeds where other
training and reforestation programs fail because technicians train and
implement in a community for five years, and continue monthly or bi-monthly
visits thereafter. AIR’s philosophy
is to empower rural families to continue sustainable farming and reforestation
long after the AIR technicians leave.
They form relationships with farmers and relinquish key decisions to the
residents themselves from the first day.
They also stay long enough for residents to experience the benefits of
sustainable farming.
After 22 years, we have clear evidence of maintained
projects because mountainsides are now covered with trees instead of barren;
crops are healthier and diverse; and many communities still have tree nurseries
and some have turned their nurseries into income-generating micro-businesses.
Another way AIR maintains the lessons and projects is
through school programs: environmental
curriculum; school nurseries and gardens; scholarships. Reaching the residents at a young age with
the lessons of sustainable farming and reforestation reinforces the community
projects for the next generation.