We established contact with the authorities of Tumbes, facilitated by the ‘Apisco Lautaro de Lama’ Association, that provides help to a remote mountain town named Casitas. We had the opportunity to meet with Rodrigo Merino Astudillo, mayor of Casitas, who helped us identify the school we will be working with: ‘Institucion Educativa No. 080 Petra Vargas de Ordoñes’. He introduced us to the school’s principal, Mr. Oscar Ortiz Lupu, who confirmed that this is the region with more economical problems in Tumbes due to the droughts and floods that isolated them.
Action Plan
The school and the foundation have formed a committee with representatives of the parents’ association, teachers, students, the principal and the director of the Apisco de Lama Association to check and control the development of these projects.
The poultry and the orchard already a reality!! Using the available infrastructure and with help from the students, we built a poultry farm and an orchard and provide the school with all the necessary tools and products to start both projects at the same time. This initiative allowed the school to sign an agreement with the authorities. They immediately began to give technical training to the teachers as well as workshops to students. These projects have been created to be financially sustainable and are running successfully for over a year! These are the photos of the first 2 crops of chickens!!! and the new orchard!!! Thank you!!!
Reforestation of trees in the area that are in danger of extinction
With the help of students and teachers, transplant and reforest some species of trees, such as the beautiful Guayacan, palo Santo, Ceibo, etc.
There are 44 trees species, 47 species of shrub, 61 species of terrestrial herbaceous, 12 herbaceous, 6 parasites, 7 arborescent Cacti, 7 Bromeliaceous and 12 epiphyte among them 4 varieties of orchids. Equatorial Dry Forest is represented by the algarrobo, hualtaco, palo santo, polo polo, charán, madero negro or guayacán, ceibo, ebony, palo de balsa, pechiche and laurel among others.
Poultry Project
We were showed that they have built a space to make a mini shed with a capacity of 150 double purpose eggs and chicken's meat, implemented with recycled feeders and drinkers worked by the students.
The aim of the project is to train the students technically and prepare them to encourage the raising of poultry for their families and as a source of income for their needs.
There is a high rate of malnutrition due to the lack of meat and protein in the region that has coming suffering the natural lashes of the last drought that lasted 4 years.
Needs: 150 chickens and food for 4 months
Rural Orchard Project
We have started a pilot project of orchard with implemented arable land in order to be able to teach planting as in a laboratory, with different species of alimentary plants like: tomato, good grass, cabbage, green banana, beans etc. They did not get good seeds since the former region authorities gave them some and they were dry.
The purpose of this project is to technically train, in this laboratory, the students, and to be able to give them an understanding of their environment and technical training on the management of the grafts and the planting of food that are necessary for their feeding and to raise awareness of technology in planting and the care of plants.
Needs: Seeds, wire for perimeter fence
Following our dream of helping people in need in our country of origin, we identified our strengths as professionals and the opportunities to leverage HOFFTRADE SAC as our business partner. The location we chose to start is Tumbes, Peru.
Located near the border with Ecuador, Tumbes has a population of 111,595 people as of 2015. This region has been abandoned for decades in the areas of health, education and investment. High levels of corruption, and extremely low economic resources provided by the centralized government in Lima have proved detrimental to the development of the region.
Accomplishments