Bill Woods
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PRESENTATION OUTLINE
BILL WOODS
BACKGROUND
- Born in Houston, Texas
- Born on September 14,1931
- Attended Maryknoll College
- Assigned to work in the Barillas
Bill opened a wood-carving cooperative for 25 poor Indian families and a clinic where he often served his parishioners as their doctor for minor ailments and even when necessary, for more serious problems.
Indians needed their own land and plenty of it. It was at that time that the Guatemalan government began a program allowing poor peasants to settle in the hospitable Ixcan
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Bill wanted to develop a colonization program in the Ixcan, serviced by small airplanes, whereby Indians would be flown into the inaccessible jungle where they could carve out farms for themselves and have their own land.
In 1965 Bill learned to fly and purchased 100 square miles of land between the Ixcan and Xalbal rivers for his colonization project.
HELPING THE IXCAN
- Approximately 2000 families had been settled in the jungle, forming five towns.
- Five schools were built and staffed with thirteen teachers. The project employed two full-time agronomists.
- Over 1000 head of cattle were owned and pastured by the five cooperatives.
HELPING THE IXCAN
- Each of the five cooperatives had its own clinic run by fifteen certified paramedics and two nurses.
- They added shops and grew there own food on the land.
- They added chapels and churches to help them become better Christians.
FALL OF COLONIZATION PROJECT
- Due to the rise of the oil prices in the early 1970s, the Guatemalan government made ready to auction off drilling rights to the highest bidders.
