David Simmonds

It has been long-debated as to what drives so many Mexicans away from their homes to enter the United States. Some of the wackier U.S. groups maintain that they (the immigrants) want nothing less than to take back the land that they believe was stolen from them 160 years ago after signing the Treaty of Guadalupe, whereby they lost 55% of their land.

But I have talked with many, many Mexican immigrants and the vast majority make the trip for one reason: because they can’t make a living at home. The come to work. They would rather stay in their country, but they have families to care for, so they pile into small apartments and houses, or live in canyons, so that their families can survive. They work hard and send the money home. If you have traveled to many of the back-road, rural villages in Mexico you see the results, where entire towns have practically no able-bodied men. Wives with no husbands, kids without dads. It’s wrong, and it needs to change.

Without getting into a long discussion of why Mexico provides so little opportunity for so many of its people, suffice it to say that they need help apart from whatever government can provide. I have long wondered what I could do to address such a mammoth issue, and this is what I have come up with. Please check out my new non-profit, One Town At A Time www.onetownatatime.com

As you will see,  our mission is for small villages to become self-sustaining. One Town understands that not every problem needs expensive solutions or exhaustive, academic studies. Very often it is as simple as asking the people what they need most, and then focus on that one thing. Then just get it done. For example, the number one generator of money in 3rd world countries is tourism. Get gringos to visit and spend some dinero and, immediately, lives are improved.

So, please give the web site a look and know that we can use all the help we can get. All donations go to help the villages – we are all-volunteer and no one is paid. I really do believe that we can make a difference. Here is the Mission Statement:

The mission of One Town At A Time is to address the living conditions of poor villages in Mexico by providing families in these areas with tools for achieving sustainability. This is the ideal way to ameliorate the immigration pattern in the United States which currently encourages villagers to cross the border to earn money to send back to their families. By providing villagers with tools for addressing their poverty, they can remain in their villages, sustain a sense of family and community structure, and cultivate pride in their way of life. One Town At A Time shares and provides the technology that enhances the ability of villagers in Mexico to improve and expand their current farming, trade, and communication practices in a way that honors their rich cultural heritage and brings them closer to the global socioeconomic realm.
www.onetownatatime.com