Mesa Rica Ladies

Rebecca lives in a tiny town in Mexico called Mesa Rica Dos.  Her husband works in the fields as a farmer, working 12 hours a day to earn about $5 daily.  Rebecca taught herself to sew as a young girl because she wanted to make clothes for her doll.  We learned about Rebecca through a friend who had started a ministry to the wives and moms in this poverty stricken town.   This year, we partnered with an organization called DriButts who gives reusable diapers in third- world countries.  The founders Micheal and Starla traveled to Mexico and they helped teach Rebecca how to sew the diapers.  Now, Rebecca and her friend Veronica will have an opportunity to sew the diapers to give out in her community, and they will have an opportunity to earn an income from making the diapers.   Together, we are empowering women in Mexico to sew quality diapers, providing them with the equipment, skills, and leadership to keep a small business going. Our plan is to keep these ladies sewing every month and provide the opportunity for growth. As we work to achieve our mission, we have identified a crucial need for a safe and comfortable workspace for our seamstresses in Mesa Rica. The current conditions in which they work are less than optimal, with high temperatures in the summer making it unbearable to work outside. Thus, we aim to construct an indoor workspace for them to continue their valuable work. In addition, this community lacks access to clean drinking water.  The women have to travel by foot for an hour, or up to 20 minutes by car to the nearest water purification center.  The Aloe Family would like to respond to this need by purchasing a piece of land with a building on it in the center of the community, and turning this land into a community entrepreneurship and learning center, with a water purification installation. The project's total cost is $20,000, including $4,000 for land, $13,000 for building materials, and $3,000 for labor, which supports our student apprenticeship program. This program provides high school students who lack family support with tutoring, school supply costs, and apprenticeship training in construction skills, enabling them to gain useful training and skills while earning money to save for college and transportation expenses.