​JoinTrees has formed a partnership with the Guatemalan non-profit FUNDAMARCOS, legalized 1996. The Baja Verapaz Sustainable Agriculture and Health Education Program of FUNDAMARCOS has taken on the commitment to plant 20,000 forest trees in cooperation with Mennonite Men-JoinTrees. Because of this program's excellent track record of working in reforestation, a regional government nursery will provide 10,000 small trees (2+ feet tall) for the project.

To arrive at the goal of planting 20,000 trees, the Baja Verapaz Program has recruited two families who will each grow 5,000 trees from seed in tree nurseries on their farms. These two families have been selected for their leadership in their communities, which will be essential for organizing the members of their communities to actually carry the small trees to the mountainsides, dig the holes, and plant the trees at the beginning of the rainy season, a busy time for farmers but important for the long-term success of the transplanted trees.

The following stories describe one of these couples. Join Trees pays for all the motivation, organization, and instruction involved between a tree seed and getting 20,000 small trees planted on the hillsides of Cubulco, a deforested mountainous region of Guatemala. It also pays the transportation costs of taking trees from the government nursery and distributing them in many remote villages.

Armando Tomás, Baja Verapaz Program director, interviewed Miguel and Manuela for these personal stories. Click the link below to read more about Manuela and Miguel

Manuela Avila Velasquez

Miguel Rodriguez Hernandez