Kids in Quesería

Quesería is located high on the slopes of the Colima Volcano. The surrounding hills, composed of ancient volcanic soils, provide ideal conditions for growing sugar cane and a large sugar refinery is located in the town of Quesería.

The men who cut the sugar cane that feeds the refinery are indigenous people from the state of Guerrero to the south. They are recruited by and work for several different cabos, "bosses" or labor contractors. The contractors provide housing for the families of the cane cutters in barracks at the Quesería migrant labor camp. The housing consists of one concrete room per family, with an attached lean-to for a kitchen. The women usually cook on wood fires. The families speak either Nahuatl or Zapoteca indigenous languages among themselves, and the children must learn Spanish before they can attend public school.

Efforts to improve education and health standards at the migrant labor camp in Quesería began in 1997. Over the years, Project Amigo has built two classrooms, a kitchen, children's bathrooms, and hired three teachers. Playground equipment, a protective fence around the school grounds, and a roof over the veranda of the school have been added with funds from Rotary Foundation matching grants and donations from individuals and Rotary Clubs.

Project Amigo’s children's services are designed to encourage them to stay in school to improve their futures and help them break out of the cycle of poverty that has trapped their families for generations.

Your donations help keep these efforts alive!