Stories of Hope
Doing Hope in... Mexico

Words: 
Alexia Lizarraga Quintero, Katie Hagley & Chris Rose

Photography: 
Aurora Rubio
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Good news from Mexico

Amos Trust’s Climate and Gender Fellowship aims to strengthen the work of young women climate activists in Mexico and Central America. We are providing training and seed funding for their projects, which seek to defend environmental territories and natural resources and empower women to participate in caring for and protecting these areas.

The programme is now well underway, bringing together 12 young women from Mexico and Central America. Amos staff member Alexia Lizarraga Quintero, herself from Mexico, heads up this work. 

Katie Hagley from Amos Trust was lucky enough to attend the introductory Zoom meeting earlier in the year, which took place entirely in Spanish. Katie writes, “It definitely tested my language skills! It was a joy to watch the women getting to know one another, sharing their ideas and the difficulties they face around climate and gender.

Doña Martha from the community of Molas explaining to Alexia Lizarraga from Amos Trust about the plants in her backyard garden
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The pilot climate fellowship group was brilliant, but with participants spread across the world, the logistical challenge of meeting together online at times that suited everyone, was difficult. We also had to grapple with language barriers and a broad range of experience and confidence. 

This time around, with activists based closer together in Mexico, Honduras, Panama, and Costa Rica, everyone can speak their first language and meeting times are more accessible with no one having to join in, in the middle of the night! All of this, and the overlap in their experiences, has made for an immediate sense of common ground, lots of laughter and a great sense of camaraderie from day one. 

Beyond the introductory meeting I joined, there have been 3 further training sessions on project design, implementation and monitoring and several participants have received private mentoring.

Eight of the women have already submitted their project proposals, and Amos finance manager Nive Hall is busy trying (and succeeding) to transfer the seed funding to those participants (which is not always an easy task) so that they can get their projects underway.

And now, even more excitingly as I write this, Amos Director Chris Rose and Alexia are travelling around Mexico, visiting 9 of the 12 projects.”

Visiting projects in Mexico
Alexia Lizarraga Quintero reflects on her visit 

In Mexico and other parts of Latin America, territory defenders refer to people — usually indigenous peoples, farmers, and local communities—who fight against extractive, agricultural, industrial, or development projects that threaten their lands, natural resources, and ways of life.

Visiting the projects of the Climate Fellowship participants and learning about their personal stories, struggles and dreams allowed me to better understand why we don’t just talk about environmental or climate defenders. Territory is not just about nature; it’s about culture, identity, autonomy and the well-being of interconnected and interdependent communities.

Alexia from Amos Trust, Alejandrina Pinto who is a participant in the Climate Fellowship, Aida Moguel from Universidad Marista and women from Molas involved in Alejandrina’s project
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Our journey led us to meet other women collaborating on the participants’ projects, such as Juanita and Nana Gracia, Purépecha indigenous women who, along with Erandi, work with the Emenda: Tiempo de Lluvia collective. They promote indigenous ancestral medicine through the production of native medicinal plants. We also met the women of the Movement for the Defence of the Forest and Water Basins of Tancítaro, who protect the forest from illegal logging carried out by organised crime in the Pico de Tancítaro, where there is an expansion of avocado monoculture affecting the community’s access to water.

“Sometimes it feels like a many-headed monster. You cut one, and ten more appear,” Erandi from the Emenda: Tiempo de Lluvia collective told us. This tour allowed us to see many of these heads that women and communities are trying to cut down, as the social injustice faced by indigenous communities seems to be a common factor.

One example is in the state of Yucatán in the capital, Mérida, people enjoy potable water 24/7, while in Molas, a community within the Cuxtal Reserve, they face severe water supply restrictions. Although Molas is within the region from which 50% of the water for Mérida is extracted, the community’s service is limited to two or three times a day for a few hours, and the water they receive is highly chlorinated.

Another example is the community of Santa María Chi, also near Mérida, where people are battling contamination from the San Gerardo pig farm, which has caused high levels of water pollution, making it unusable even for domestic activities. 

“The government and San Gerardo pollute,” says this sign found in Santa María Chi
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The fight for territory defence is not exclusive to Mexico. We also heard about the forced exile of those fighting for climate justice in Guatemala and the deep disappointment and anger among young people in Costa Rica as their government backtracks on its sustainable development programmes after having been a leader in this area for so long. 

“I am a migrant and a refugee because the situation in Central America is very dire, just like here. We share many stories of resistance and also of joy because I believe that’s what we are: hope and solidarity,” said Ana Lucía Ixchiu from Guatemala, a participant in the Climate Fellowship.

Amos Director Chris Rose reflects: “It is always a privilege to visit the people and places that Amos works with. It has been inspirational to travel with, and see the work that the young women are involved in. It also allowed me to learn more about Mexico and Central America and the myriad issues this region faces.

The young women’s passion is exciting as is their desire to learn from one another and to start to build effective networks as they find ways to deliver projects in their local communities, I’ve come back inspired and am really looking forward to seeing what the next steps will be.”

Alexia concludes: “I was struck by a question posed to us during a reflective activity organised by Guadalupe Banderas from Mexico — ‘Does it make sense to defend a place, even if we do not live in it?’ For me, born in Mexico but now living on the other side of the world, the answer remains yes, because the sense of belonging to a place is not limited to a border or a position on a map, just like our claim for social and environmental justice.

In the end, we are a planetary community, and the territory is the planet we inhabit. Just like the participants of the Climate and Gender Fellowship and all the women we met during our time in Mexico, we will continue to proclaim:

“Neither our bodies,
nor our lands,
are territory for conquest,
we are women against war,
against the extractivist model.”

We hope to continue sharing more stories of struggle and hope from these territory defenders through Stories of Hope.
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Mexico by Alexia Lizarraga Quintero 

Mexico, 
you are a wounded woman.  
They tear out your hair,  
drain your veins,  
extract your organs,  
and pierce your skin.

Mexico,  
navel of the world,  
the cord that keeps us  
united  
makes us one,  
I carry 
your cuts  
on my territory too.

Mexico,  
even with your wounds,  
you cradle me  
in your arms,  
from your chest blooms  
a colorful laugh  
when we meet
once again.
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Hope for our planet
This autumn, we are raising funds to support the 12 incredible women participating in the Climate and Gender Fellowship.

As we have heard, women in Mexico are on the frontlines of climate change — but they need your support to lead the fight for a sustainable future. The stakes are high and time is running out. You can help women break through the barriers of inequality to deliver real, lasting change for their communities and the environment.

We are delighted that, once again, we have been awarded £5,000 of match funding through the Big Give. This means that the first £5,000 of donations made between midday on October 10th and midday on October 17th will be doubled through Big Give’s Women and Girls match-funding campaign.

We are deeply grateful for your potential support. You can read more about our appeal here. Thank you.

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