$5.00 each
Yes! I would like to help provide seedling trees to villagers in Aguacate!
The Q’eqchi’ Maya community of Aguacate, in southern Toledo District, lives in the region with the highest poverty rate in Belize. While the national poverty rate is 52%, Toledo’s rate is well above 60%, and most families rely on subsistence farming, small cacao plots, and seasonal labor. These economic challenges directly affect child nutrition. Nationally, 15% of children under five are stunted, and UNICEF has identified Toledo’s Indigenous villages as among the most nutritionally vulnerable in the country. Low dietary diversity, limited access to protein, and seasonal food insecurity place children at especially high risk.
For generations, Maya families have lived in close relationship with the forest. Their livelihoods, food systems, medicines, and cultural traditions have long been rooted in forest stewardship. Working in the forest is not only familiar — it is culturally meaningful, a continuation of ancestral knowledge and a way of life that honors the land. Restoring degraded areas and re‑establishing productive forest landscapes aligns deeply with the community’s identity and values.
Fulton Creek Evangelical Friends Church in Richwood, Ohio is partnering with the villagers to establish community agroforestry plots on their communal lands — and importantly, these plots will be created on degraded pasture land that the community is working to restore. Each agroforestry plot is 1 hectare (2.5 acres) and requires approximately 1,600 trees to establish a productive mix of fruit trees, timber species, and native forest plants. When combined with household garden vegetables, a single 1‑hectare agroforestry plot can fully support a family, providing a stable source of nutritious food, supplemental income, and long‑term ecological restoration.
The land is already secured by the community; what they need now are the trees. A donation of just $5.00 per tree helps us purchase and plant the species that will feed families, strengthen local incomes, and heal the land for generations. All monies collected will be used solely to establish and maintain these agroforestry plots in Aguacate, ensuring that every contribution directly supports the community’s long‑term wellbeing.
Even a small gift plants something real, lasting, and life‑giving in Aguacate.
If you would like more information, please contact me at 740-815-3230 or ekapraly@gmail.com.