Twitz Awal

As part of my work in San Juan Atitán, I have formed a small organization called Twitz Awal (pronounced “tweets ah-wall”). Twitz Awal is a Mam Mayan phrase that refers to the flowering part of a cultivated plant. After the intensive labor of preparing the soil, sowing seeds, removing weeds, and fending off animals, Mam farmers watch their crops intently for the first twitz. When the twitz bud, flower, and begin to grow into corn, beans, squash, or fruit, a Mam farmer excitedly tells their family and neighbors "At twitz!" "There are twitz!", as they are the first sign of the harvest to come.

I chose this name with my Sanjuanero collaborators because we aim to support those aspects of Mam Mayan livelihood where hope, beauty, work, well-being, and provision are bound up together as they are in a maize tassel, bean flower, or squash blossom. Unfortunately, many poor Mam Mayan families are not able to enjoy the produce of their land as they have been forced to sell what little land they own in order to pay for life-saving medical procedures, the education of their children, or simply food and clothing. Twitz Awal exists to support poor Mam Mayan families through direct cash transfers that allows them to pay off medical debt, invest in their children's education, or buy food and clothing.