TRANSVERSAL COMMUNITIES PROJECT
Objective:
In October 2022, we initiated the “Transverse Communities Project”, which seeks to integrate the communities of San Miguel Peras, Yaxe, San Antonio las Casas and the Anáhuac neighborhood in a transdisciplinary and sustainable manner with the objective of rooting an identity for each community and at the same time share certain cultural traits that will generate economic income from what each one produces.
Background:
Each of the communities specializes in different arts as follows:
- San Miguel Peras is a municipality that integrates 7 communities including the capital. Herbal medicine courses have been given in these communities, which has led people to start making products such as ointments, extracts, drops, soaps, and shampoos.
- Yaxe municipal, rainwater harvesting systems have been installed to provide the inhabitants of this municipality with better access to this liquid. The harvested water can be used to improve the production of vegetables that can later be marketed.
- The small rural nucleus of San Antonio las Casas is a community that is being integrated into the association's programs. Its inhabitants have dedicated themselves to the cultivation of the land, maguey production and harvesting. We have discovered that Pochote cotton can be transformed into a pillow and some other products such as paper with natural fibers. There is also the possibility of starting a reforestation program for the cactus that produces pitahayas.
- Colonia Anáhuac belongs to the municipality of Santa Cruz Xoxocotlán in the central valleys of the state. It is a colony founded by people who migrated from different communities to the city.
In the three foreign communities there is a common activity: the embroidery of cloth napkins. Each community has its own artisan touch.
Project Description
Consolidate productive activities in the communities of San Miguel Peras and Yaxe, product of the programs that have been implemented and promote potential productive activities in the community of San Antonio las Casas such as: the promotion of the cultivation of maguey to produce mezcal, elaboration of labels, creation of a logo and brand of mezcal, teaching a basic sewing workshop and textile painting workshop so that the beneficiaries of the community learn to make pillows that would be filled with pochote cotton and the embroidery of napkins, making cloth bags for shampoo, soaps and ointments that are made in the communities of San Miguel Peras. Promote reading and writing through storytelling workshops, and workshops on puppet theater through which legends and traditions can be revived and a culture of healthy eating and prevention can be fostered in children.
In Colonia Anáhuac, teach sewing and textile painting courses to promote the productive activity of the beneficiaries.
Create the Online Store as a platform for the promotion and sale of the products that each community elaborates and that have the characteristic of sustainability, the promotion of employment and the exchange between communities.
With water harvesting systems, the producers of Yaxe will be able to promote their vegetables and, by embroidering napkins, they will also be able to make blouses with handmade designs. The Community of Las Casas will offer pillows, and most likely other bedding products such as sheets, pillowcases, bathroom furniture folders, etc. They may even be given a textile painting workshop to decorate the pieces they make from what they have learned in the sewing workshop. In the community of the houses they have begun to make alebrijes, a product of cultural syncretism. The alebrije technique is very versatile and different products can be made, both decorative and utilitarian.