March 11th to 14th

Rancho Temimiloyan, Xico Veracruz Mexico.

Tuesday March 10th

10 Am-7 PM Workshop: building and running sweat lodges.

All are welcome

Dance and this event are an offering to our Mother Earth…a thank you for all the goodness which she brings us including life itself.

In April, 2008, in Xico, Veracruz we sowed the seed of prayer for the healing of Mother Earth.  The Dance of the Earth will take place every year, and it will join with other Dances with the same objective taking place at the same time in various locations in Mexico.

The time is right for the healing of human beings.  Through our own healing we will open the infinite possibilities of the universe for the healing of our planet.

Shamans work with the energy of the sun, channeling it to the causes of illness in order to achieve an authentic healing.

Dance

Sacred dance has been practiced by traditional people since time immemorial to mark important cosmic events, to inspire the evolution of human beings and to establish harmony between human beings and the universe.

The dance movements echo movements of the cosmos and are designed to open lines of energy from with the purpose of healing people in mind, body and spirit, and at the same time that we heal our beloved planet as well.

Temazcal

Our origin is in the womb of Mother Earth.

The temazcal is one of the first ceremonies which were given to human beings, one of the first ceremonies which we (lived) at the moment of taking form, taking strength in life.

It is based on the blessing and purification of the human being.  Through the sacred liquid which is water and through the heat of the grandparent rocks, we receive the breath of life.

Healing

The Shaman’s cure provides cosmic energy, the energy of God for restoring to health the physical, mental, and spiritual essences of humans.

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Join us in the Dance of the Earth, you who are healers who come from different places in Mexico, you who give their services to the community and to visitors to our event.

Throuoghout the year, healers from the región provide services in Xico at the Xicote Farmers Market,  Hidalgo 214, Sundays from 11 am to 3 pm.  Donations are voluntary.

Drum and song

Drums and sacred songs accompany the dance for four days, harmonizing with the sound of our hearts united in a prayer for peace.

Daily Activities

Greetings and song for the sun at sundown.

Dance of the Earth

Healing

10 am a 5 pm

Temazcales

6 a 10 am y 5 a 10 pm

Goodbyes and thanks to the Sun.

In Xico, the wastewater of more than 13000 inhabitants is discharged directly into our rivers without any  treatment whatsoever. Thus, our contaminated rivers are no longer a resource to be taken advantage of, but a threat to whomever goes near them.

The River Pextlan, or Matlacobatl, receives the discharge of some 5000 inhabitants. The wastewater from the town of Xico, the slaughterhouse and waste water from coffee processing plants, all flow directly into  a Ramsar site, a wetland area prioritized for conservation because of its importance in the preservation of cloud forest species.

The growing tourist industry is furious in the face of the contamination of the resources which bless our town: the rivers and crystalline waterfalls which now return as stinking sewage from their passage through the town

It is past time that the authorities answer the people’s demands by investing in the construction and operation of treatment plants to clean our city’s waters.

As we already have a treatment plan at the entrance of the town which has never been operational because of technical problems, we now demand up-to-date technology, designed and built by a local business with more than 15 years of experience, with plants constructed and operating at minimum cost (to make it operational).

The implementation of a Program for the Management of Waste Water requires the participation of all Xico’s citizens in water conservation programs.  They must also deal with the problem of the failure to pay for water.  Citizen participation is essential in the planning and decision making in the administration of the water and sanitation systems.

We insist that local authorities seek a solution to the problem of the contamination of our rivers through a program of water management which includes the installation and operation of plants designed for the treatment of residual waters.[/lang_en]

The Xicote: Mercado Ecológico is a cultural project whose  purpose is to show the community of Xico that the solutions to problems of health and poverty lie in its own hands.  Our intention is to promote the production in Xico of organic products and to bring consumers the opportunity to support their community and at the same time contribute to their own good health: they will be able to invest their money in a sustainable development project and to supply a part of food they eat each week at the same time.

The Mercado is sponsored by the Escuela de Ciencias Ecológicas, ECO A.C., an NGO founded in November, 2004 for the purpose of working for the conservation of natural resources in the region of Cofre de Perote.  Conservation requires the implementation of sustainable production systems.  As well as saving natural resources, sustainable practices provide a decent income for those who follow them.

The  project promotes the production of organic food crops on a local scale for the local market.  A cultural project, the Xicote  is a local response to the problem of globalization.

Open from 11 to 3 every Sunday at Hidalgo #214

Producers’ Markets in Mexico

Although globalization of the production and distribution of our food permits us to get any product at any time of the year, it exacts a very high cost for small producers, the environment, and rural communities.  Each year during the past century, the producer received less for his products than he had the year before.  In 1910, the producer received around 40% of the price of the product to the consumer, but in 2000, he received less than 10%.

Around the world, communities and producers have begun to organize in order to find alternatives to globalization.  Farmers’ markets are a very visible example of how producers can recover the money taken from them by transnational food businesses (agribusinesses).  Farmers’ markets are also the best way to support local producers.  In 1970 In the United States there were 300 local markets, today there are 3100.  In England the first one opened in 1997 and today there are more than 300.

In Mexico the Mexican Network of farmers’ and Ecological Markets is an independent NGO, made up of producers, academics,  and consumers, both rural and urban who seek to promote organic agriculture, fair trade and responsible consumption.  So far, organic markets have also been established in Jalisco, Oaxaca, other parts of Veracruz, Tlaxcala, Mexico State, Michoacán, Baja California Sur and Puebla.  To find out more, go to: www.chapingo.com.mx/ciestaam/to or email  tianguisorganico@yahoo.com.mx.

Certification

To obtain certification, each organization has to follow and respect a few specific rules:

• To maintain biodiversity: by conserving the characteristics and natural equilibrium, protecting: river beds, water quality, carbon sinks, endemic flora and fauna.
• No synthetic chemicals: no pesticides, herbicides, GMOs, hormones or antibiotics.
• To treat animals humanely.
• To use organic fertilizers for crops.
• To avoid the use of sewage water.
• To seek ecological equilibrium and a socially just system of production. The producer should work in a healthy environment with a better system for the distribution of wealth.

Who we are

Arnulfo “El Chino” Gómez inherited his coffee farm in the folds of the small volcanic hill called Acamalín from his grandfather.  Even during the years when IMNECAFE (links?) was most powerful, the land continued to be worked traditionally, without chemical fertilizers, herbicides, or pesticides.  The land today goes beyond organic.  It is a sanctuary of biodiversity with more than thirteen types of shade tree.  The earth is covered with a blanket of leaves and organic material some 30 centimeters deep.  The coffee trees are fertilized with caterpillar compost made from  the feces of the worms (butterfly larva) produced from eating the leaves of the shade trees.  In addition, the coffee itself is processed with the use of almost no petroleum products since Chino carries the newly-cut coffee on his back to his house where he removes the pulp by hand.  After fermenting, it is sundried and then husked by hand, toasted over a fire, ground in a mill by hand and offered to you at the Mercado Ecologico Xicote.

Lucia Colotl comes down from Matlalapa, the highest part of the county, bringing native corn tortillas, calla lilies, farm-fresh eggs and fruit in season.  You have to try the tortillas.  There is no comparison to tortillas prepared with commercial masa.  The farm eggs come from chickens who live happily in their yards with their rooster and their companions, eat native maize free of agrochemicals and GMOs.  The fruits and vegetables she brings vary from month to month according to the season and include among other things avocados and potatoes and pears and plums.

Eggs of the highest quality, produced by happy, healthy chickens in yards or running free, produced with love by….Mujeres con Huevos.

Our Project

Mujeres con Huevos is a sustainable development project which seeks to support the lives of rural women who lack income:  Women organizing to collect enough eggs so they can supply bigger and more distant markets; women  inviting the urban consumer to enjoy a   healthy and very nutritious product while at the same time protecting the environment.

Because the deterioration of the environment is intimately related to rural poverty and because discrimination against women has contributed to this poverty. Women participating in Mujeres con Huevos  both earn money from the project and and have a role in decision-making.

How We Work

To begin a project, the women of a community organize into a group.  As a group, the women buy eggs from the individual members and learn how to produce more and better eggs.  Every group of women has a committee which is in charge of inspecting the eggs as they are received and of supervising  the production  system.

To produce good eggs requires healthy hens,  and to do this, it’s  necessary to understand and respect their nature : hens live in coops rather than in cages because  they need a space where they can scratch and a rooster to keep them company.  Their feed is free of animal products, animal wastes, hormones, additives and GMO’s

The hens wander freely either in the chicken coop or free.  They eat locally produced and milled whole grains, plus grass and insects which they find themselves.

Quality control

Strict quality control means we can assure the consumer that the egg is fresh and of the best quality. Each woman marks her eggs with her group’s number and her personal number so they can be traced back to their origin.

The size of the egg varies depending on the age and size of the hen. The eggs have different colors and shades because all the hens are different.  The variety of colors shows the great diversity of the hens which Mujeres con Huevos own.

Our women’s eggs compared to agroindustry  eggs

Our food is the sustenance of our daily life: we are what we eat. Our eating habits have a major impact on our community and on our environment: on the rural landscape, on the survival of tradition and of our

planet’s biodiversity.

It is impossible to ignore the connection between the plate and the planet.

Our simplest decisions and actions, those we make every day as consumers, when added to those of millions of people like us, decide whether nature will be protected or destroyed.

Resumen Ejecutivo:

La creciente población a nivel mundial y la modernización del estilo de vida implica la producción de cada vez mayores volúmenes de aguas residuales los cuales actualmente contaminan una buena parte de las aguas superficiales de nuestro planeta. En México se tratan solo un 36.1% de las aguas que se usan y en Veracruz solamente un 11.4%, no obstante de que en nuestro estado se concentra 33% del agua dulce de México. Construir infraestructura y organismos operativos funcionales es de los grandes retos de nuestros tiempos. Superar los bajos niveles de eficiencia de los sistemas de manejo y tratamiento de aguas residuales requiere la mejora de las capacidades técnicas y organizativas de las poblaciones y los gobiernos locales, así como de una seria revisión de los mecanismos de corrupción que plagan la construcción de obra pública.

Se evaluaron tres diferentes procesos sociales para la gestión de plantas de tratamiento que resultaron en la construcción de tres diferentes tecnologías de tratamiento de aguas residuales las cabeceras municipales de Espinal, Tatahuicapan y la comunidad de Tajín del municipio de Papantla en el estado de Veracruz. Se analizó el papel de las organizaciones comunitarias, las autoridades locales y los funcionarios con la gestión de obras de saneamiento y se comparó esto con los costos de construcción y operación de las plantas así como su eficiencia de tratamiento.

Resumen de Plantas de Tratamiento de Aguas Residuales Evaluadas

Resumen de costos de construcción y operación

El propósito de la contraloría social es influir en la política publica así que se presentaron estos resultados en un desayuno al cual se invitó ampliamente a autoridades estatales, municipales, y miembros de la prensa. El desayuno fue escasamente atendido sin embargo se logró establecer los siguientes acuerdos para empezar a crear plantas de tratamiento y sistemas operativos funcionales:

Los comités de obra deben de recibir el proyecto ejecutivo y los planos de las obras, su periodo de vigilancia debe de incluir el concurso de la obra y el periodo de la fianza de vicios ocultos.

Es necesario construir un dialogo entre CONAGUA, CDI, SEDESOL, CAEV, SEDESMA, y Presidentes Municipales para formular propuestas de cómo construir plantas de tratamiento económicas y eficientes que se operan.

Se debe de vigilar por medio de un organismo independiente la operación de todas las plantas de tratamiento de aguas residuales en el estado.

No se pudo dialogar con las autoridades sobre el papel de la población local en el proceso de planeación, y selección de tecnología, el consenso fue que el papel de la población local debe de limitarse a asumir los costos de operación de lo que las autoridades decidan construir.

Los reglamentos y los planes de desarrollo plantean involucrar a la población en el manejo y conservación de sus recursos naturales pero en la práctica cuando una comunidad quiere participar en la planeación y ejecución de obras de tratamiento de aguas residuales la autoridad les dice que no saben y no tienen voz, solamente el ingeniero sabe lo que necesitan. Para resolver el problema de la contaminación de los río con aguas residuales domésticas es necesario a través de una nueva forma de relación entre la comunidad atendida, el organismo operador, las autoridades y la empresa privada establecer un proceso participativo, con responsabilidades bien definidas, a través del cual se construirán nuevos modelos exitosos de manejo de aguas residuales y se logrará que las inversiones públicas se traduzcan en mejores servicios para los habitantes del estado.

Escuela de Ciencias Ecológicas A.C.

Hidalgo 214

Xico Ver. 91240

Tele: 228 129 8059