Everyone Helps

One of the biggest aspects of the Backpack Project is the level of community involvement and engagement.  The mothers, fathers, grandmothers, teachers, and all of the community members rallied around their children and become active agents of change by ensuring their children can participate in the program and volunteering to ensure that the program is a success.

In the recent project in Ayacucho  entire families assisted the project. 

 

woodEvery child brought from what they could. The vast majority of children brought wood which was utilized for cooking.

 

cuttingFathers and men from the community would cut the wood to ensure that it was usable for the wood powered stoves

 

.cookingMothers and women from the community would utilize the wood with local ingredients to provide healthy and delicious meals for the children and volunteers. Often the idea of farm fresh food is touted throughout the US, definitely in this project everything served was planted and grown in the local area with organic methods.

 

energyProviding all of the children the necessary energy to participate in the classes, to learn and have fun.

 

 

As we are starting the process of analyzing the full outputs and outcomes from the project it is hard to put a value on just how big a role the community plays and this effort is critical. Over the coming weeks we will also highlight the Project Coordinators and volunteers so you can meet the people on the ground ensuring the success of the project.