Community Life:
- Chiraxaj is four miles north of the municipal seat of Santa Apolonia and is home to 65 families.
- The components of its name are “Chi,” meaning “place,” and “Raxaj,” meaning “horse tail,” so “Chiraxaj” means “place of the horsetail plants” in the Kaqchikel language.
- The village was founded in 1932.
- The primary productive activity in the village is agriculture. Corn and beans are the main crops, but they also grow potatoes, sweet peas, carrots, strawberries, cauliflower, broccoli and cabbage.
- There is a school in the community, with grades from pre-primary to sixth and a total of 52 children attending.
- 50 percent of the population is Catholic and 50 percent is evangelical.
- Even if accessible during the whole year, almost 100 percent of their roads are unpaved.
Our Partnership:
We partnered with Chiraxaj from July of 2017 through June of 2019 to complete the following programs:
- Community Mobilization and Empowerment: Complete
- Nutrition: Complete
- Water, Sanitation & Hygiene: Complete. The potable water system, sanitary latrines, gray water filters, and efficient stoves were finished in April of 2018.
- Food Security (Sustainable Agriculture): Complete
- Family Planning: Complete
- Disaster Risk Reduction: Complete
See more about how we work in our partner communities
