ADMI’S corn mill

Voices and images: Mayan Ixil women of Chajul

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter Four: Association of Maya Ixil Women (ADMI) – New Dawn

1. ADMI'S corn mill

The women of the community are very happy to have this corn mill to grind the nixtamal (corn mash), which they carry on their heads, because the mill is in good condition and works when they need it. They themselves had the idea of establishing a corn mill because it was something the town needed. In 1992 there were only two or three mills that were working in town, so this service was needed.

This was very difficult for us because it was our women’s group’s first project and we didn’t have much previous experience. Before women did not do this sort of work. We didn’t have any funds either. We thought that we weren’t going to be able to do it, that perhaps it would be better if a man did the work. But the women themselves went to carry the lime and stones and wood needed to build the site for the mill.

Now that we are used to it, it’s easy to grind nixtamal. Moreover, we’ve provided a service to women with the mill. There are other mills, but when the electricity goes, the price for grinding the nixtamal goes up. The price at the mill that belongs to the Association, however, doesn’t go up the way it does at the other mills. The community has also benefitted. The Association’s mill may not make much profit, but it doesn’t lose much either. Rather, it exists to provide a service to the community.