The community of Tlamacazapa (estimated pop. 6,150) is located high in the dry and rocky mountains of central Mexico, near the border between Guerrero and Morelos States. The indigenous Nautl (Now-wah) villagers relocated to this rocky mountaintop some 500 years ago to escape enslavement and forced labour in the silver mines by the Spanish. The ancient art form of weaving baskets constitutes virtually the only means of income in this community. Once the palm is gathered or purchased, it can take four days to weave a large basket; it will sell for a few dollars. Men and their sons sell the baskets on the streets throughout Mexico, often leaving the village for weeks or months at a time.

Most women are illiterate and rarely leave the village; their world is small. Many homes are headed by women, widowed or abandoned, leaving them and their children the poorest among the poor, living in small cornstalk houses with tarpaper roofs that allow wind and rain to pass through. Villagers' stories, especially those of women, are tragic: they speak of constant fatigue and illness, deaths of small children, beatings, husbands and brothers killed in drunken fights. Alcoholism among men is very common in this broken community, an addictive way of dealing with despair and a weak male image.

Villagers usually eat twice a day. They buy corn, grind it and make tortillas over an open fire, rapidly stripping the surrounding forests of available firewood. They will often add a weak "soup" of water, rice, onion and tomato to their meal. Occasionally, they will be able to afford a small amount of chicken or pork. The children are hungry or, paradoxically, have little appetite. Greater than 50% of them are undernourished (stunted and lacking micro nutrients) or seriously malnourished. Many women are anaemic due to poor diet, intestinal parasites and frequent pregnancies.

In the midst of this harsh reality, the development work of Atzin offers new possibilities for a better future.

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