SERES Spotlight

Ingrid Lares Guatemala

Ingrid Lares is a 25-year-old indigenous woman from Tecpán Guatemala. She began her journey as a young leader in SERES in 2021, attending the Activate Community Congress in its remote version, made up of seven modules of two hours each, and responding to the need for physical distancing due to COVID-19. She joined the network of ambassadors in December of that year, from which she has participated in various SERES training spaces and representations.

She has been an SERES fellow since April 2022. She has developed and executed seven projects during 2022 in which she addresses issues of prevention of sexual abuse in children, children's rights, road safety education, citizenship training with a group of women, access to drinking water for a sector of their community, and road access with the construction of a bridge. She helped 490 people and had 1,449 people participate in her workshops and events in three communities in Tecpán Guatemala.

One of her projects was to give access to drinking water in Chajalajya, with the objective of facilitating community actions to pipe spring water to a common tank to be distributed in Sector 5 in the community of Chajalajya in the municipality of Tecpán Guatemala, with a population of 105 members. She had 20 people participate in improving the drinking water pipeline in said community, given its poor condition and the health impacts on those who receive the water.

During her analysis, this problem was diagnosed at the sectoral level of the community. Due to the lack of access to water, this situation was prioritized since the community members presented health and hygiene problems, among other problems that were highlighted by this urgent need.

Impact achieved

18 young women, the daughters of families that benefit from drinking water, were trained to know how to care for and use drinking water.
Twenty families have directly benefited.
Partnerships with Adicla, COCODES, and local leaders
Leveraged in-kind support of around Q9,000.00 from the partnerships, apart from the labor provided by the beneficiary families.

The community commented:

"I am very grateful for the opportunity you gave me because, from my own experience, it is very tiring sometimes to have to set aside more time to go and bring the water, and because of the place where we are going to bring the water, it is very risky. We try to take advantage of the resources that you provide and understand why water is essential for our health and our system.”

"I learned how the water is consumed and realized that water is very important." - Adriana Lopic

"During the activities, I noticed how my daughter was participating in these spaces and how she was engaged. My family also liked the participation, the workshops from the institutions, and how she (Ingrid) helped with the tubes since we realized that it was not that easy for her, but we greatly admire her bravery and the way she persevered. Now my daughter is very interested in supporting and getting more involved." - Juana Socop

In her words, "During these projects, I realized the different attitudes of people from the communities, in which they have the expectation that when they are supported with a project, it must cover one hundred percent of the costs; they want everything easy; and all the beneficiaries have to invest the same amount of time in the project. They do not realize that there are people who do not have the same abilities to join, and I realized that there were people who limited the opportunities for other people. I was about to give up and no longer carry out the project, but I decided to take advantage of this resource. I decided to move forward to see, and I put myself to the test because I knew I could do it, and the greatest satisfaction was to see the smiles of those ladies. Despite all the adversities at the time, it was the most beautiful satisfaction I could experience."

Ingrid has two more projects to generate community economic opportunities through the creation of a chicken farm and another youth group dedicated to making chocolate, which will be the suppliers for her personal initiative, the restaurant La Olla de Tixten, which has won a small seed fund to grow.

Sergio Ceron El Salvador

Sergio Cerón is a 33-year-old youth who lives in the El Aceituno community in the municipality of Suchitoto, El Salvador. El Aceituno is a rural community that currently has 216 inhabitants, according to the last community census. The community has a clinic, a communal house, a library, and a space for community production, as well as a soccer field.

Today the community is very organized; it has a library committee, an ADESCO, a pastoral committee (Catholic), a health committee with a promoter to attend to controls and basic diseases, and El Aceituno has been characterized as a safe place, a space where everyone knows each other and supports each other to move forward as a community. It is surrounded by nature and a small river, and most of the people are dedicated to agriculture, growing grains and vegetables for local consumption.

Sergio was born in El Aceituno and has lived all his life in the same place. He is the first of four siblings and has lived with his grandparents, but they passed away a few years ago, and for now he lives alone. He has been an organized young man and has been involved for as long as he can remember in improving his environment. He is passionate about environmental issues and how they relate to his profession, agronomic engineering.

In 2007, he graduated from high school and stopped studying due to economic limitations. It was not until 2016 that he was able to start his university studies through the scholarship support that he had won for the good community work that he had developed for several years.

For many years, his routine was working in the fields and returning home without realizing the community's needs, but when he shared with more people in various processes, he began to question why there were no spaces for development in the community. The meetings were held under the trees, and this was where his dream of building a communal house began, and how his leadership within ADESCO began; he became the youngest president of the entire municipality of Suchitoto at that time.

"They invited me to an assembly; it was under a tree, and there they elected the presidency of ADESCO; they proposed me and a 63-year-old man; but I was moved and impacted because I had won the hearts of the members with their votes, and from there the progress and development of the community in conjunction with ADESCO began."

Sergio's uncles were the first people to support him in his leadership and involvement. In 2018, he participated for the first time with SERES in an entrepreneurship workshop, where he met young people from Guatemala and other departments of El Salvador. It was there that he realized there were other ways of leading and taking actions in other spaces.

Today, the projects that make him feel most proud are the construction of the communal house, drinking water service, electricity, a clinic house, and a library equipped with computers. Some of the leadership positions that Sergio has held are: presidency of the community council; secretary and treasurer of the water system for several communities; partner of Asociación Progreso, a municipal organization; trustee of a youth organization at the municipal level; member of the community library committee; and SERES fellow and ambassador.

Sergio is an empathetic, participatory young man who likes to listen to people. He is currently the owner of two businesses: one is honey bee production, and the other is a broiler chicken farm, which he sells in the community. His vision for the venture is to increase chicken production and supply a portion of the municipal market, and with the bees, he hopes to develop its own brand of honey to increase sales.

Sergio's vision in 5 years is to see a community with a soccer field, build a church, have a technical garden where products can be harvested throughout the year, as well as have a community-level enterprise so that young people have sources of income without leaving their town.

He wants to see community ecotourism, where in addition to offering the community experience, recreational services, lodging services, direct harvesting of fresh products, and the sale of local foods can also be offered.

Organizationally, he wants to transition from being solely an ADESCO advisor to allowing other young people to take on that role and other community leadership roles.

Young Female Local Leaders: Inspiring Stories

Mary Alas

"I am inspired by the vision of a different world, full of life, where everyone does positive things to help our environment, nature, and society. I am a leader in education, church, and youth groups in my community Las Delicias, El Salvador. I am also part of the SERES Ambassador Network and I support these spaces because I believe that change is possible if each one of us does our part. If I want to see positive changes, I know that I must start with myself, taking action. I want to contribute to transforming my country and the world."

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Ema López

“It's been a busy and action-packed entry into the SERES youth network for Ema, a young Maya indigenous woman from San Miguel de Uspantán, El Quiché, Guatemala. She rapidly advanced through the SERES leadership processes, attending all of our programs, and becoming a SERES local ambassador. Ema and the other SERES leaders of Uspantán are from various smaller communities throughout the municipality and have focused their efforts on reforestation, environmental education, and healthy stores/food sources. The dynamic processes and skills which she's learned in SERES have helped her to engage young people and the community in various activities. Ema has many ideas for its future projects in order to improve the sustainability and well-being of their community. Ema continues to work for her and others. She has a dream to establish a clinic for natural medicine in her community.“

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Greisy Benitez

In the heart of Suchitoto, 20-year-old Greisy Benitez is making her mark in Las Américas, a community that stands out for its unity and focus on personal growth.
The impact of SERES in Greisy is undeniable: the organization expanded its horizons, overcame her fears and helped her discover her best version. Now, radiate confidence and determination on her path to impactful and positive leadership.

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Voices of Empowerment: Youth Testimonials

"It has helped me a lot in being a good leader, as young people we only see our own world, SERES helped me see that there are more people around and how I can generate changes, to become the leader I am now, and have greater knowledge and strategies."

Rafael Menchú
"In SERES I had a great experience that invited me to leave my comfort zone and be part of the group, I feel very proud of the achievements and projects that we have done with the community youth group, we were able to stop the use of bags and we have reforested different green areas and the authorities have helped us to achieve it"

Ana Lares
"The processes of SERES prompted me to take small actions at the beginning that I am now taking at the community level. It has helped me to be a leader for youth, and thanks to them, I have learned a lot and have helped others to grow."

Lucia Medina
"The greatest impact of the processes in SERES is leading and supporting people, SERES is my second home because when I need something they always give me the support I need. I want to thank each one of them because they reach so many young people, it's an organization that helps you lead and carry out these projects and opens many doors for you."

Jairo Perez