Sustainable Nutrition for 823+ Families in Peru

In an effort to become more efficient at helping families to lift themselves out of poverty, Feed The World has now joined forces with CHOICE Humanitarian. CHOICE (The Center for Humanitarian Outreach and Inter-Cultural Exchange) has a self developing community model that will add strength to the Feed The World small scale agriculture model (SSAM). As we teach families how to raise a variety of crops and animals they become nutritionally self sufficient and economically stable. By adding the CHOICE Humanitrian model we can help these families unite as communities. They are able to pool their resources, combine with government agencies, and improve the infrastructure of the communities. CHOICE projects include schools, medical clinics, water systems, latrines, cooking stoves, etc. We are excited to add these two programs together.

What has happened recently? Our technicians have braved the long bus rides to Pacaipampa and have almost completed the first year of training. We have enlisted the help of six local technicians funded by the local government. The Feed The World technicians from our office in Peru train the local technicians who then do the day to day mentoring of the families. We are working with five communities in the Pacaipampa region with 20 -30 families in each community.

Our technicians recently taught our small scale agriculture model (SSAM) to students in the technical school at Chulucanas. These classes better prepare the students to go out as extension agents and help the rural poor in ways that work for them. The  SSAM is focused on the rural, small scale farmer that does not have access to equipment and resources that larger farmers do. These extension agents carry appropriate training to the rural poor.

The region of Frias has requested that we return for a second round and work with another 300 families. We have very good relationships with the local government and the people themselves, so we are very excited to see how quickly the families will respond. We are also anxious to implement the CHOICE self-developing community model in the areas where we have worked.

The mayor of Tambo Grande heard about our program and has contracted with us to train 300 families in his district. We have been training local technicians employed by the government to mentor the families.It is exciting to see the response that we have had. This project will continue for at least a year with the possibility of being a continual program. In addition, we are working with the mayor to develop economic opportunies for his citizens.

Recently our in country director, Oscar Vilela has been contacted by the mayors of La Arena and El Faigue that want to partner with us. They will cover most of the costs of the program. We are really excited about working with these other communities. The mayor of Guanamaca has requested that in addition to our SSAM that we help them on a water project that will provide water to 250 families. As you can see there is great demand for our program in Peru. Oscar pleads for help with transportation. Our one truck is old and often in the reapir shop so our staff has to depend on public transportion. Donations for a better truck would be very much appreciated.

We want to thank all of those that have donated to our program. We still have a long way to go and ask that you will help tell our story to others. Our goal is to eliminate extreme poverty by teaching and encouraging the rural poor to lift themselves out of poverty. Come join us!!!