Ten years ago FWOP took UNT graduate students to Apango. In 2019 the Apango Team in Jalisco was formed by Fernando Martinez and his family to assist Apango. Some 750 residents, many who pick avocados, are excited about the future. Fernando a recent graduate of Monterry Tech have created a plan after sitting down with residents- Proyecto Semilla. 2022 and 2023 have been exciting years!In May 2023 FWOP/Rotary team from Texas visited Apango. Team members visited households who built their own clean stoves. Combination of USA and Mexican dollars paid for materials. The plan is to slowly replace some 80 stoves that are not safe in Apango. Costs per stove in $200.In various locations in USA and in Mexico, FWOP is focused on creating Sustainable Communities. In 1949 E. F. Schumacher wrote book Small is Beautiful: Economics as if People Mattered. He calls for local indexes that focus on the quality of life in particular communities. It is surprising to see how he was arguing that the value of communities was more important than corporations. E. F. Schumacher – Wikipedia. In Apango we are focused upon the FWOP – four E model that relates well to Schumacher’s focus. Under Enterprise, the Apango Team is assisting the women’s craft group to make better products. Recently, three boxes of SWA leather arrived and many women are creating new products with the leather. Family egg/chicken and hog pilot projects are proposed. Under Environment, the Apango Team has secured $70,000 to paint 100 houses from DIF Jalisco. Of course, installing clean stoves is improving the environment inside the homes. Under Education, the creation of the Innovation Center at the local school will focus on education of children and adults. Understanding solar power, a solar street lamp will arrive soon to be installed at the school. Some families with limited access to electricity recently have received solar lamps to light up a room. A music teacher has been hired and various musical instrument will arrive in Apango soon. Under Empowerment, the Apango Team have been conducting planning meetings with citizens to decide on the color of the paint to be used in the village as well as what direction development should go.
