Radio Tarahumara

by Ruth Mendum and Ray Weil

In the five villages that the team visited, a common pattern of problems was evident. Each village had specific limitations but in general the following recommendations apply to all the locations visited.

a. Because the soil pH was generally acidic, especially on the hillsides, it may be useful to save the ashes from home cooking fires and spread them lightly but evenly over the fields, especially those farthest from the houses and with the steepest slopes. It is important to avoid dumping all the ashes in one place where the soil will then become too alkaline while the rest of the field remains too acidic. Cooking fire ash that has been protected from rain also usually contains significant amounts of the plant nutrients phosphorus, sulfur, potassium, magnesium and calcium, but little nitrogen.
b. Maize cobs should be dumped into the corrals where the animals are kept to soak up urine and compost with manure. After the materials have decomposed, they can be beneficially applied to the crop fields. Moving the corrals from time to time as was practiced to some degree in one of the villages is a useful practice and helps spread the manure.

Like one more of our commitments, The Coordinación Estatal de la Tarahumara; in its arduous work to benefit to the indigenous people, 4 water purifiers were acquired, this was possible to the donation of NEW LIFE INTERNATIONAL organization, within the program “BRINGING SAFE TO A THRSTY WORLD”, being Mrs. Terry Bivens in charge of the donation.

Four purifiers were donned and installed on the following communities of the Sierra Tarahumara between July 14th and 16th 2006

The Komerachi Garira 2006, for the second year had many people present and also of the purchase of the several art crafts products, which the Coordinación Estatal de la Tarahumara (CET) realized some activities such as:
* Invitation to the artisans.
* Promotion and diffusion
* Installation of 33 exhibition tables
* Decoration of the place with fabrics, plants, banners, water and light.