By German Reyes |
Yahurabila (Honduras) (EFE).- For a long time, the Miskito indigenous fishermen of Yahurabila earned little and even lost, after each task, due to problems with electricity to preserve the fish they caught in the Caratasca lagoon. But, solar energy and various sustainability projects arrived to transform the situation of that impoverished and remote Caribbean region of Honduras.
The panorama began to change for the members of the Association of Jellyfish and Scale Fishermen of Caratasca, in the department of Gracias a Dios, with the installation, last March, of a system of solar panels with their respective batteries, a space to clean fish and a cold room for its conservation.
Kenia Bismarck Guerrero, secretary of the association, remembers that before they only had freezers that worked with an electric generator, which implied a high cost due to fuel consumption and, in some cases, due to unforeseen lack of fluid, they even lost a much of the product.
“Now we have our collection center and the work tools that we have acquired through Ayuda en Acción,” explained Bernaldo Tropp Bismarck, one of the association’s directors, to EFE, noting that soon they will be able to have a perimeter fence , a water tank with a filter and a small dock in the lagoon.
Artisanal, strategic fishing
In the Caratasca area, the Spanish NGO Ayuda en Acción implements the “Project Improving the Livelihoods of the Miskito Indigenous Peoples”, which since 2021 has supported the World Bank through financing provided by the Japan Social Development Fund and benefits to thousands of inhabitants of the department of Gracias a Dios, the second largest in Honduras and one of the poorest regions of the country.
The department of Gracias a Dios, a territory largely known as the Mosquitia, about 17,000 square kilometers and bordering Nicaragua, is home to four of the country’s indigenous and Afro-descendant peoples (Tawacas, Pechs, Garífunas and Miskitos).
In that region, access is difficult: many of its communities can only be reached by air or by navigating the sea and the rivers that cross it, due to the swampy terrain.
Under these conditions, a large part of its inhabitants subsist on artisanal fishing, so the solar energy solution represents a relief for many fishing families.
The acquisition of panels has guaranteed, for example, to the members of the Association of Jellyfish and Scale Fishermen of Caratasca, 18 women and 19 men, an efficient cold system to freeze the product they catch, buy every day or sell in their area of influence in Gracias a Dios.
An “indoor” market
The World Bank project also supports the Association of Agricultural Producers and Artisans of the Honduran Muskitia, in Puerto Lempira, the head of Gracias a Dios.
This association brings together some 600 people, including members and partners, from 16 communities, says its president, Nelhy Sudia Daniel.
Before getting to know Ayuda en Acción, the members of the association brought their products to be able to sell them in an improvised market where they suffered from the inclemencies of the sun and rain.
But with the support received, the association created a Business Development Center through which they created an indoor market to sell basic grains, fruits, vegetables, and oils, among other products.
Due to the growth they have had, they are currently building a second wing of the market, with individual spaces for the sale of fish, shellfish, meat and dairy products, says Daniel.
Women lead integral orchards and gastronomy
Life is also improving in the Salto village, jurisdiction of Mocorón, in the center of Gracias a Dios, with a comprehensive vegetable garden project that, in its first phase, which ended on May 25 with a Miskito fair, included gastronomic training of excellent cooks.
The project is coordinated by Norma Isabel Love, director of the Norma I Love Association, chosen by Ayuda en Acción, in Mocorón.
They have also built a chicken coop next to their house with five hens and a rooster for the favored women in the village, so that they can consume their own eggs and can also raise more birds to improve their diet and even sell.
Regarding the projects, the director of Ayuda en Acción in Tegucigalpa, Roberto Bussi, indicated that each one is “managed by the community, which reflects a level of appropriation and empowerment of the social and economic base of the communities.”
Bussi stressed that it is a project in which “the role of women is very marked and where two thirds are women who have managed to appropriate the processes of community, family and economic development.”