Help Needed in Lake Chapala Villages to Improve Living Standards

 

Recently, I received an email from Dr Todd as follows:

•  "Marie, many thanks for your long time support of the kind of projects we try to work with the people. What needs to you personally see in a village or in villages in general about the lake (Chapala)? 
  

I wanted to share my response to him, and below that have posted the rest of Todd's email to me highlighting what he is currently working on. He is an amazing man, so full of knowledge and expertise, that he willingly shares for free for the benefit of all in the Lake Chapala area.Todd also works with the officials of the local villages of Ajijic, Chapala, San Juan Cosala, San Antonio, Jocotopec and many many more to help with their water treatment plants, testing for pollution and toxity in Lake Chapala and tirelessly works on a myriad of other projects, many to help women and children.

Some months later she asked how much did a computer cost. Ray asked her why she wanted to know. She said I want to learn English and computer skills so I can work for Focus. We were very touched. We gave her an older laptop and signed her up for computer lessons, and poco a poco she is learning. She brings her English/Spanish little book and has it laying around whichever room she is working in and looks at it often. She asked me how to spell and pronounce certain words.

She is in her mid 30's, has three children, and works for us full time - 6 days a week. She is the bigger bread winner of the family and carries a lot of responsibility. And still she wants to work harder, so she can improve her family's conditions. She has a fantastic positive attitude and a huge work ethic. But mostly she has hope and is pursuing her goals. We help with the kids school books and supplies and other issues, but she takes full responsibility for her own destiny, which is wonderful to see."

Here is the rest of Dr Todd Stong's email message:

Over the years the humble have wished more for jobs than anything, in particular for their husbands and sons that they not be forced to leave their homes.  Too many beautiful mountain villages have seen up to 50% of their people move away in the last decade.

Shared imagination can do wonders in this nation.  In the meantime the least we can give the people is HOPE.  While hope may not feed for decades it can nourish the despondent for years until real solutions emerge. In the meantime there is happiness and contentment for many. I love that idea quite a bit for I too have judged somethings hopeless, but was proven wrong by people who said yes.

Be I in the poorest of Africa or in the nearby hills, all over the world we have this sad migration from farm soils that could nurture to cities without a soul that consume the spirit of the innocent. We must reverse this migration that the land be restored to fruitfulness both in people and sustenance for those who have known only the city. Food for the world is waiting to come from the soil of these abandoned lands. Population must return with the knowledge of how to give it birth. My present work with water based agriculture, often soil-less, organic farming offers 25 times the food per like area in a field and does so at a seventh the water and a third the fertilizer. I must send you some photos of the amazing beauty of abundant, taste filled fruit climbing to the sun.

(Note: Todd is building Greenhouses. "The basic appeal is production of 25 times as much food as possible on a like area in an open field, 1/7 need for water, 1/3 need for fertilizer/12 month production, certified organic in all aspects which sells for 50-100% more than chemically grown field produced genetic develop to work with achine picking and processing which ends up missing most of the flavor. Once our 12 houses are running I expect to move this technology into Mexico to create jobs for rural villages, especially in the Lake Chapala area.") 

Think of 1600 kg of food coming each week from a 1700 M2 area. That is over 1kg of food/M2 of area each week. That is a hectare, 10000 M2, can produce over 10000 kg of food each week even if that hectare be a desert or a rock. That is possible if we combine rightly the sun, water and the air. Consider that near 95% of the dried mass of a plant actually comes from the air combined with water via the miracle of the sun. It is the carbon dioxide in the air that is the key source of life on earth.  It is this gas that constitutes just 0.03% of the air that feeds us all. Indeed much can be said about the other 5% of nutrients (i.e. nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium) that does come out of the earth. Google a gardener like Gary L. Kline who in simple terms makes much of this most clear. Note the current cry by some that we have too much CO2 on the earth. All of life is a balance.

Best of days to you and your staff.

Todd

Dr. Todd D. Stong
Licensed Professional Engineer