Instructors

Rebecca Cutter – Co-Founder IMAP

Rebecca, born in Northern New York and trained as an educator in art and design traveled to Guatemala in 1996 where she dedicated two years to the development of the grassroots organization, Ija’tz. After receiving permaculture training she applied her skills and energy to the organization of women in natural resource management as the national coordinator of a solar oven project on the heavily deforested Pacific Coast of Guatemala. Rebecca helped found the Mesoamerican Permaculture Institute in 2000, served on the board for four years and now coordinates its Program for Institutional Strengthening. In May, 2005 she presented her thesis on women’s leadership, and graduated with a masters degree in Sustainable Development from the School For International Training, VT.

Ronaldo Lec Ajcot-Co-Founder IMAP

Ronaldo Lec Ajcot , a Maya Kaqchiqel, was born in 1971 in San Lucas Toliman Guatemala. In 1990 he was forced out of the country because of the violence of the civil war. In 1994 he received a BA in Cultural Anthropology with a minor in Peace Studies from the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota. In 1996, after returning to Guatemala, he hosted the first certified Permaculture Design Course in the region sponsored by Permacultura America Latina (PAL) as part of the search for alternative agriculture practice. He then adopted permaculture as a tool for the revitalization of local agricultural lands, culture and environment. In 1997 he hosted a permaculture course from which a community organization, the Associacon Ija’tz was formed to begin the regional restoration of land. This structure appropriated the experimental farm as their agro-ecological center and he continued as director of the program. In 1999 he resigned from the Associacon Ija’tz to devote himself to the creation of his vision for the Mayan people by creating the Mesoamerican Permaculture Institute (IMAP) where he is now director.

Juan Nelson Rojas

Juan was born in Sonsonate, El Salvador in 1958. After qualifying as an industrial electrician, he became involved in the trade union struggles of the 1980´s. Forced into exile by the brutal military regime, he spent 4 years in Mexico and then 8 years in Australia. It was there that he studied permaculture as a useful tool for the rebuilding of the country following the peace accords of 1992. He is currently working as a coordinator for the Mesoamerican Convergence on Sustainable Development and Permaculture. He will also be teaching permaculture courses throughout Mesoamerica for the entire year.

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