In the mountains of south-eastern Mexico, although others call them "people of the rain," there is little rainfall in the highlands where the Apoala Mixtec people live. They struggle to eke out a living from the poor soil. Most families exhaust their limited food supplies long before the next harvest.

Tradition traces Apoala ancestry to a mythical tree, called stinuu, from which they believe Mixtec people descended. The same traditional stories credit spirits flying on the wind in four directions to establish the Mixtec civilization.

Most of these people have never had reason to need literacy and prefer to communicate orally.

Women carry the primary responsibility for Mixtec homes and families — they cut firewood, wash clothes far away in a creek, wake before the sun comes up to make tortillas for their families' daily sustenance, tend goats or sheep, take care of children and maintain their homes. Men plow the fields and tend their oxen. They habitually enjoy easy access to alcohol, which perpetuates dysfunctional relationships.

Neighboring groups often shun the Mixtec, who sense this prejudice and live under some degree of shame regarding their language and culture.

Scripture Prayers for the Mixteco, Apasco y Apoala in Mexico.