San Jose de la Zorra

Photographs by Dan Figueroa

In late march of 2010 the Rotary Club of San Jose North teamed up with Comunidad para Baja California to survey a site for a proposed medical clinic in Baja California. San Jose de la Zorra is a small village about one hour and a half northwest from the port city of Ensenadad, Mexico. Located in a valley known as Valle de Guadalupe, about 41 familes live in San Jose de la Zorra. The people of San Jose de la Zorra are known as the Kumeyaay (Kumiai in Spanish).



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The isolation of the Kumeyaay’s land, combined with the many years of being neglected as a community, has created a unique situation in which the Kumeyaay lack many of the basic necessities such as health, education, and infrastructure. Comunidad para Baja California, a Los Gatos based non-profit, works with the people to provide much needed assistance to these indigenous people.

The tribes of the Kumeyaay in Mexico include: Juntas de Neji, San Jose de la Zorra, San Antonio Necua, La Huerta, and Santa Catarina (Pai-Pai Kumiai).  Comunidad para Baja California works with all these tribes and helps provided them with basic necessities such as health (salud), education( beca) and infrastructure (infrastructura).

The Rotary Club of San Jose North was so impressed with Comunidads projects that they are in the process of supporting the construction of a medical clinic in the town of San Jose de la Zorra. This visit was to survey the proposed site for the clinic, and get to know the Kumeyaay people.

The Kumeyaay arrived in the Baja California region about 2,500 years ago. Their native lands stretched from Escondido, California just north of San Diego, all way south to Santo Tomas-50 kilometers south of Ensendad, Mexico. The Kumeyaay were a nomadic people who moved about in bands or clans in search of resources, typically in time with the seasons.

Spending the summer and fall months in the mountains, the Kumeyaay depended upon wild game and harvesting fruits and nuts.  The winter months were spent in the coastal valleys much like their current home, San Jose de la Zorra.

By the time the Spanish missions began to arrive, the Kumeyaay lands were being taken away and they were being rapidly reduced in population. By the 1900s their numbers had be systematically lowered from over 150,000 in 1845 to about 16,000 (Source:http://www.campo-nsn.gov/).

The persecution faced by these native Americans during the early part of the century forced the Kumeyaay to live more and more in the valleys and mountains; away from their native lands. When Mexico lost its territories in the north in 1848, the border was created and forever split the tribes in half. Eight reservations managed to survive in the San Diego area and four in Baja California.

Please visit the Comunidad para Baja California website to learn how you can help.