UPDATE December 2022: The community is in a water and land crisis. Rainfall has come less and less as time passes. This year the crops did not grow to their full potential, which affects how much food my family (and others) have to eat throughout the year. Many of my family members do not have an income, they strictly live off the land. But if the land is lacking water, which gives life, than the wellbeing of the whole pueblo is at stake. Currently drinking water is bought in plastic containers, and a truck full of water comes just a couple times a month to sell water for showering, laundry, crops, livestock. The water is not free, even though lives depend on it.

Gofundme takes a fee from the donations, and I’ve unfortunately had to use some of this money for emergencies for myself and my family. There is about $1000 left, which I will be discussing with my family how to split it up to support those in need right now. But it is not just my family that needs support, it is multiple households full of those who continue their traditional ways of living, full of elders, full of children. Currently, any donations will be going to providing water. I will be returning to my family’s community here in southern Puebla mid January, and will be passing along funds either in cash or by directly buying water, or other necessities that are not accessible there. This depends on what the community wants and needs.

Thank you for your support and understanding.

Water is life.

hi!! I’m Tochtli, and I’m trying to support my community back in the pueblo my grandmother grew up in. We come from people who cultivate corn, weave palm leaves and cut marble stone.

It’s a beautiful small town, that lives mostly off the land, but due to land theft, exploitation of the aquifer and river, and the effects of colonization; we are running out of resources to survive. Everyone has to go into different towns to buy bottled water, since the river that was once full of fish and the aquifer got dried up for profit. There is no doctor in town, no high school, no library or community center. My relatives have gone through generations of severe poverty. Our community is resilient though, and has been able to continue living by supporting eachother.

This is why I pray for the protection of the land from further exploitation and creating a space for people to grow food, create art, share traditional knowledge and skills, ceremony, and possibly so much more!

(This photo is from 2018, this year the crops were very dry)

The Vision:

I’m asking you to help my community preserve our ancestral lands and find healthy ways to support the growth of the pueblo. My hopes for a community center is that it can serve as a place for community to grow food and medicine together, a colorful area for the youth to play and create, a sacred circle for ceremonies, and a space for people to comfortably give birth ❤️

I would also like to use funds to help fix up peoples homes and find ways to fill in the gaps of whats needed. Some families are well off because they have family members in the united states or in other states in mexico where jobs are more available and higher paying. But there are many households who do not have this privilege, who have been left behind. It has caused division in the community, especially since the pandemic started.

Sadly it’s getting harder to keep land. Some locals have sold their lots to outsiders because they desperately needed the money. There are elders in my family considering the same, despite my family having an agreement to rebuild the ejido, which translates to “Indian village”. If people keep coming to steal what little natural resources are left in the land, it will become an even dryer desert that holds little life. It is vital to work *with* the land, to rehabilitate plants that may become extinct, to give life to the soil, help pollinators, and bring balance where land has been disturbed. This is important because we need to provide a healthy planet for the future generations to come, otherwise this cycle of life will quickly come to an end.

If you own land that is not from where your ancestors have lived or walked for more than 500 years - give it back to the people it was stolen from. It’s good for the environment :) 

( A walk up the mountain that is full of palm trees, desert fruit trees, pochotes, cacti and sage)