SchoolsEstela RomeroNovember 19, 2019

"José María Morelos", elementary.

SchoolsEstela RomeroNovember 19, 2019

SCHOOL VISIT.-

Dear friends, the background of the lead photo here, may give you an impression of the way our local communities and their families live at the surroundings of the Sanctuaries of the Monarch butterflies, these latter located at the very peak of the very far back mountains in the photo. Before Monarch Sanctuaries were discovered, over 30 years ago, families, lived from agriculture, the prominent mining activity dominating the region for over six decades (silver and copper project), and logging. Maiz crops, cattle, sheep and poultry raising, were all mainly for family consumption; our rather cold climate and the extremely steep conditions of our productive land limited other possibilities; the existance of the mining activity generating from ten thousand employments in the 30’s, down to over one thousand employments by the 80’s in the region providing a weekly fairly decent salary in almost every family and a once in a while income on the forestal activity, did never really encourage other kinds of economic development in the region, and actually created certain dependancy and passive life and spirit in the local society. Children in these locations used to hardly end elementary school, one elementary school at every other neighbouring community would exist and very rarely a family could send their oldest child down to town in Angangueo to attend middle school level, so most children would stay at the communtiy , involve after 12 to the working routines in the family, and would finally marry rather too early around 16-18. The only main and rocky and steep trail then where only donkeys and horses would come and go kept these families somehow isolated from the nearest town 6-8 kilometers away, or from the nearest city 30 km away. By the mid 80’s, the mining activity closed in the region, our education system provided not only a couple of elementary schools per community, but decreed as mandatory a middle school and for some years now, also a high school per community nowadays, being, historically, public education for free for every child in our country up to University. Monarch Sanctuaries were discovered right at the closing of the mining activity and tourism brought a span of possibilities for life in the region, paved roads, owned-run little businesses, services, indipendance and creativity for many families to encourage themselves to showing the attractions of our own culture, traditions, and talents to the whole world, being our moms and sisters main actors in this new dynamics of life in the location thanks to the tourism developed by the Monarchs. All families now in the region, for a couple of generations now, transformed their lives from their grand-parents exploting their natural resources for making a living, to a whole community effort now totally focused on praising and preserving their local ecosystem as the real guarantee to a promising future awoken by the phenomenon of the Monarch butterflies. Children at this school received their Ambassador Monarchs with great excitment while they belong to this new era of a totally new life in the community due to Monarchs presence in their forests, not imagining how it would be like now if Monarchs had never chosen our mountains to overwinter here!.