Pasajeros con destino: Nochistlan

I recently returned from a whirlwind visit to Nochistlan, a ranching city in southern Zacatecas.  My fellow fulbright researchers and I were invited by the president of FedZac to visit a few migrant projects in the city, experience the ranching culture, and stay with his family. Fedzac is an umbrella organization that represents all the federations of migrant clubs of Zacatecan migrants living in the US.  

3x1 Paving Project in Zoquite

A migrant club, called a 'Hometown Association' is a charitable organization of migrants from the same hometown that organizes cultural events and participates in development projects back home, often through 3x1 para Migrantes.  Nochistlan has one of the highest concentration of 3x1 projects, a unique government program that triples migrants' community investments.  I will write about 3x1 more extensively sometime soon, but it is a very unique program that encourages investment and has realized paving of roads, new museums, schools, electricity, drainage projects - all financed by migrants in the US, the local government, the 

state government, and the federal government (that's why they call it 3 for 1). 

David Jimenez, Basco (M4D), Leila (INAFI),
Daniella, Me, Aaron, Manuel (Fedzac)

Along with my two fellow Fulbright researchers here, we were traveling with two acquaintances we met at the recent migration and development conference, the People's Global Action on Migration Development, and Human Rights, which we attended in Mexico City. One of them, Leila Rispens-Noel, is a very knowledgeable and helpful contact for the future of my project.  She is the Senior Advisor of INAFI, an international organization supporting 'alternative finance' institutions.  Leila is herself a migrant from the Philippines to the Netherlands, and participates actively in development in the Philippines through her own 'hometown association'. She is the president of a group called Wimler Partnership for Social Progress, the foundation she set up to help her hometown and nearby places in Mindanao.  Leila has done a lot of work in migration and microfinance, and is advising a very interesting research project in the European Union.  The 3 year project, Harnessing the Potentials of Migration for Development: Linking Microfinance Institutions and Immigrant Associations,  is equipping microfinance banks to act as money transfer companies for migrant remittances (money they send back to their home country), supporting new remittance-microfinance projects between Europe and Africa.  She was very encouraging about my research here on the possibilities of designing a migrant-funded and migrant-owned microfinance bank in Zacatecas.  Basco, another new friend from the migration conference, is also a Filipino living permanently in the Netherlands, who is working full time in migration and development.  He has worked on women's economic empowerment projects in the Philippines using remittances and is working on improving diaspora organization in the Netherlands, a topic very related to my undergraduate thesis at the University of Arizona. Basco also plays a mean game of billiards, as I found out in Nochistlan, and dances with Michael Jackson moves.  He was a favorite of all the grandchildren at the Jimenez house. 

Our hosts were the parents of Efrain Jimenez, the president of FedZac.  They are a hard-working, well respected family in the community and opened up their house and table to us.  There were some interesting cultural experiences for me as Nochistlan is a much more rural, family-centered community as to what I've experienced up until now in Mexico. The Jimenez family is very large, first of all, as the father, called with the respectful title 'Don', has several brothers and sisters, and he and Efrain's mom themselves have 12 children.  Don Jimenez and his Sra. Jimenez had a clock on the wall with a picture of each child on the hour.  The sense of family inclusion and tradition is very strong there. Every morning, grandchildren would stop by the house to greet their grandparents, the grandchildren kissing them on the hand and then receiving a blessing and a cookie. 

Jimenez ranch in Nochistlan

The father was a very successful cattle trader and increased his business until he was able to purchase over a 1000 acres of land. The land is now divided between the 6 sons, the girls inheriting money from sold land rather than the land itself.  Efrain explained that the tradition is to keep the land in ownership of the men so sons-in-law won't cause strife when ranching on the land. 

In addition to getting to know the Jimenez family, I also ate homemade menudo for breakfast, shot down avocados from a tree with a rifle, drank more mezcal (tequila) than I probably will for the rest of my life, and developed a new love for banda and mariachi music.  When in Zacatecas...

I've uploaded an album of pictures to my facebook profile.  You can see our visit to a migrant funded mezcal factory, a visit to a community museum built with 3x1 funds, some great ranch views and culture, and a few pictures of me playing fiddle for a big family dinner! I played a few fiddle tunes, sang turkey in the straw, and Cotton Eye Joe because they requested a country song. That was the only one I could think of (thanks dad) :)   

                                                                                                   My facebook album of Nochistlan, Zacatecas (available to all). 

And here's a short video of Leather Britches in Mexico. Enjoy