The three projects are all related with the infrastructure of the farms.   In our region now is the slack season for farming and the three farms are ready to go with the projects.  The three projects all will take 1-2 months. In early Feb. is the Chinese Lunar new year. After Chinese New Year the farms will be busy season again and they have to work on the spring-sowing works. The labor cost will also be more expensive by then. 

We strive to ensure a school learning environment that is conducive to safe and harmonious interaction amongst learners, parents and teachers. We strive to provide quality education in order to prepare all learners to be well balanced and fully equipped in their quest for adulthood and productive citizenship. In the process we will continue to optimise our learners’ skills, abilities and individual talents while broadening their perspectives. It is our aim to strive for continued teaching excellence and to ensure an environment of appreciated discipline and order. Finally we will always strive to maintain a policy of optimising our school’s financial resources, continually upgrading our facilities and ensuring meaningful child and parent involvement.

The Institute for Nature and Society of Oaxaca (INSO) is an NGO with over 24 years of experience supporting community based social initiatives and ecological conservation in the state of Oaxaca. For the past 12 years, water has been the unifying element of our projects; our focus is on reducing water scarcity and improving wellbeing in the Central Valleys of Oaxaca through appropriate alternative technologies (rainwater harvesting, alternative sanitation systems, etc.), regeneration of micro-watersheds, permaculture, and collective political action. Our organization’s mission, and vision for the future, is embodied by our permaculture farm known as ‘El Pedregal’ or ‘the Rocky place’. These three hectares located in a small canyon on the southern slopes of the Sierra Juarez have served as our home and a living experiment for the past 7 years. Getting its name from the poor soil conditions due to years of unsustainable grazing and cultivation, INSO, together with a family from the community of San Andrés Huayapam, have rescued and revived this once dying land to a vibrant and productive multifunctional landscape. Apart from serving as a demonstration site for hundreds of visitors a year, El Pedregal has regenerated the micro-watershed giving new life to a previously dry spring as well as the local flora and fauna. We dream of a green belt around the valley of Oaxaca which produces organic food for the growing urban areas, helps us adapt and mitigate the worst effects of climate change, maintains ecosystem services such as clean water in sufficient quantities, as well as natural habitats to preserve the incredible biodiversity of Oaxaca. We believe El Pedregal should serve as an example for all of the micro-watersheds in the central Central Valleys in order to guarantee water and well-being for future generations. We hope to be able to continue the work we began 7 years ago with El Pedregal, and continue to inspire the next generation of environmentalists and farmers to take part in a holistic vision for the Central Valleys in which our water, food, and environmental needs are met in a sustainable manner with local communities leading way. Your donation will help us to enable this dream, and if you would like more information regarding our organization please check out www.insoaxaca.org