Category Archives: Alternative incomes

Tilapia tank project provides sustainable food source

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Members of the Rotary Club of Lake in the Hills (district 6440) were just down to implement an ambitious food security and sustainability project to benefit the students of Ak’ Tenamit’s Father Tom Moran Education Center and, in the long-term, their communities. They worked alongside students and teachers from the agricultural department to build two 4′ x 24′ tilapia tanks that will not only supplement students’ meals but serve as a practical classroom where students will gain experience maintaining a project that can provide income and food for their communities. In the coming months, students and staff hope to build an additional tank using their new skills and the materials Rotarians provided.

Preparing the area where the tanks were built

Filling the two side-by-side tanks with water

The tanks are a great fit for our students and their communities because tilapia is a nutritious fish, easy to care for, and the tank design is extremely sustainable.  The pumps in the pond filter water from the fish tanks up into a series of gravel beds in which a variety of plants and vegetables will be grown. The waste from the fish serves as a fertilizer for the plants and these plants filter the water before it returns to the fish tank.

Students don't waste time passing gravel

Filling the gravel beds

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Graduate advises village elders

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We’d like to tell you about two graduates who work double duty serving their community.  This week let’s meet Walter Xol Contreras.  He graduated from Ak’ Tenamit with a degree in Sustainable Tourism and works full-time coordinating Ak’ Tenamit’s HIV awareness programs.  Walter lives at our staff boarding facility during the week and returns home to his village, Plan Grande Tatín, on the weekends to volunteer with Tatín’s community’s tourism project, Centro Ecoturistico la Cueva del Tigre (The Tiger’s Cave Eco-tourism Center).  He also represents Plan Grande Tatin in front of the municipality.

He advises project leaders and leads workshops about administration, customer service, guiding, and conservation.  Under his guidance, the Eco-tourism Center will soon open a restaurant to cater to visitors and offer bicycle tours as part of the tour package.  Profits will be invested back into the community to improve the primary school and maintain infrastructure.  He is also the Secretary of CATCI, an organization that oversees and supports community tourism projects in the Rio Dulce area.  Walter emphasizes that,

“I do not want to be a leader or be superior; only an adviser and serve as the right hand of the community.”

The skills Walter learned at Ak’ Tenamit also prepared him to serve as the link between his village and the municipality.  At Ak’ Tenamit he learned to speak Spanish, write proposals and budgets, and work within local legal frameworks.  When his village’s primary school needed a new roof, he successfully petitioned the mayor to provide materials for the roof.  Village elders called upon him to draft the proposal and budget and approach the mayor.  Why?  Because they do not speak Spanish, know how to draft proposals, or use a computer, all of which were essential skills for approaching the municipality.  Walter has also been instrumental in empowering women in his community and now half of the community’s board of directors are women.

Walter illustrates the goal of Ak’ Tenamit’s education approach: to empower young people to foster self-sustaining growth in their own communities.

Restaurant training strengthens local tourism initiatives

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Ak’ Tenamit is working with communities in Rio Dulce to help them develop themselves into small tourism destinations.  Several riverside communities have opened restaurants and cafes to attract hungry tourists as they boat down the Rio Dulce.  This undertaking is more difficult than it sounds.  Many in these communities have never been tourists, eaten in a restaurant or tasted recipes that aren’t typical of their region so you have to admire their willingness to take on a challenge!

Student practices chopping technique during training

Thanks to the chef at Ak’ Tenamit’s restaurant, Bugamama, these businesses are now  better equipped to run a successful restaurant and tap into the local tourism market.  He recently led a restaurant training for members of several communities.  They learned food preparation and plating techniques, how to use different cooking utensils, and new, tourist-friendly recipes.   Most importantly, however, students learned about food safety and hygiene- something that is always in the back of tourists’ minds!  For many students, it was the first time they had ever tried pizza, pasta, or been served at a table and they all commented that “they felt more prepared to serve their guests” after receiving the training.  Another student noted that he enjoyed learning the new recipes so that he could offer something for every taste.  This workshop complemented a money management training that Ak’ Tenamit organized to teach upstart tourism projects how to budget and manage finances.

Developing alternative sources of income, like restaurants, is critical for these communities because the majority of those living in these villages are subsistence farmers who earn less than $2 per day selling corn, fish, beans, and produce.  These crops are often the families’ only source of income and their primary source of food.  A single flood or drought can quickly wipe out an entire year’s harvest and leave families without food or income.  These tourism initiatives do not replace traditional income sources but they provide additional income and act as a safety net that prevents families from sinking into deeper poverty if the lose their harvest.