What is your initiative?
My initiative addresses growing concerns around water security and youth engagement in San Simón by centering the community’s vision for their future and collectively building upon it. This journey will ultimately be grounded in Lenca wisdom and communal knowledge. Through increased collective care, participation in water governance, and practices that honour our relationships with water and the Cácahuatique mountain, we’re building a future grounded in relationality, memory, and action.
What is your connection to your chosen community?
San Simón is the rural community where my father was born and raised before fleeing during the civil war in the 80s. Through this initiative, I hope to reconnect with our roots by contributing to lasting and meaningful efforts around water protection and organizing in the community. My father was raised by my abuelitos with love, care, and a deep sense of solidarity with fellow campesinos. I carry these same values within me, and they will guide how I show up in this work.