By Suzanne de Berge | President
Chocolá is on the slopes of the volcanoes that range along the south and west coast of Guatemala, so it gets a lot of rain throughout the year, but the especially rainy season runs from about mid-May to about mid-November.
Last year, this season brought abnormally heavy and prolongued rains which severely damaged our participants' household gardens. Well-prepared soil was washed away and many plants were beaten down beyond rescue or simply drowned. It took weeks for gardens to be re-planted and the plants to grow big enough to contribute their nutrition to family meals.
This year however, even though there were some serious tropical storms, THE FAMILIES WERE READY! Seeds for a Future staff helped them build toldos -- protective structures -- over their gardens. Many sizes and types of bamboo flourish throught the Chocolá region, so excellent construction material was readily available. Pilones de Antigua, one of the largest seedling producers in Central America, generously donated large quantities of a special type of plastic from their greenhouses.
Each family's garden is different in shape and size, custom-built to fit the space available. We are very proud of the cooperative work between our team and the participating families; they had to be very creative "engineers" to construct toldos that would do the job!
Another technical issue that had to be solved was that the covers could not be left in place permanently, because when it was not raining, too much heat would build up underneath and burn the plants. The toldos had to be designed so that the women participants could put the cover on when it rained, yet remove it when it was sunny.
THE RESULT? This year, families have had an uninterrupted supply of delicious and nutritious greens and other favorite vegetables such as chilies, celery, onions and beets.
New families are added each month as others "graduate" from the program. With your continuing support, we will be able to add much-needed protein components, such as rabbits and laying hens.
THANK YOU for your past support of this vital program to help families have sufficient, nutritious food for healthy lives!
PLEASE INCLUDE SEEDS FOR THE FUTURE'S ON-GOING FIGHT AGAINST MALNUTRITION IN YOUR HOLIDAY AND YEAR-END GIVING!
By US | President
By Suzanne de Berge | President
Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can receive an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.
Support this important cause by creating a personalized fundraising page.
Start a Fundraiser
