CoffeeTalk | Organic School Gardens/Summer Camps

In the rural cof?fee pro?duc?ing com?mu?ni?ties where Pueblo a?Pueblo works, the chil?dren spend most of their free time work?ing in the fields along?side their par?ents har?vest?ing cof?fee, avo?ca?dos, and other local pro?duce for com?mer?cial enter?prises. But when the har?vest is over, many fam?i?lies strug?gle to sur?vive los meses fla?cos, the thin months. In these small-farm com?mu?ni?ties around Lake Atitlan in the Guatemalan high?lands, food secu?rity and mal?nu?tri?tion are of grave con?cern. Pueblo a?Pueblo?s Organic School Garden project is sup?port?ing these fam?i?lies by pro?vid?ing the essen?tial tools and knowl?edge nec?es?sary to prac?tice sus?tain?able, small-scale food pro?duc?tion. From the school gar?den, chil?dren and teach?ers are learn?ing about organic gar?den?ing and tak?ing this valu?able knowl?edge home to their fam?i?lies and par?ents, encour?ag?ing the re-establishment of fam?ily gar?den?ing plots and self-sustaining food pro?duc?tion at home and in their communities.

Pueblo a?Pueblo has been work?ing with local com?mu?ni?ties to imple?ment the Organic School Garden Project in mul?ti?ple pub?lic ele?men?tary schools, where the gar?dens com?ple?ment a?school lunch pro?gram for all stu?dents. Together, these pro?grams form an inte?grated approach to school health and nutri?tion that is pro?vid?ing 1,152 chil?dren with gar?den?ing and nutri?tion edu?ca?tion and daily nutri?tious meals. Through our pro?gram, ele?men?tary school chil?dren are get?ting their hands dirty and explor?ing themes like gar?den main?te?nance, com?post?ing, and nutri?tion along?side ener?getic staff from the local vil?lages. In each of Pueblo a?Pueblo?s gar?dens, worm com?post bins, rain?wa?ter catch?ment sys?tems, and other gar?den?ing tech?nolo?gies keep the chil?dren engaged. They are learn?ing about cul?ti?vat?ing, car?ing for, har?vest?ing, con?sum?ing, and com?post?ing their own gar?den pro?duce. This, together with a?school meal, is keep?ing them food secure.

To sup?port this effort, Pueblo a?Pueblo?s sum?mer gar?den camp is giv?ing chil?dren an addi?tional oppor?tu?nity to remain engaged and well fed through?out the year. While par?tic?i?pat?ing in arts and crafts and learn?ing about envi?ron?men?tal stew?ard?ship and nutri?tion, chil?dren per?son?al?ize their school gar?den space. Camp ben?e?fits also incen?tivize par?ents to send their chil?dren to the gar?den activ?i?ties instead of out to the fields to work dur?ing the cof?fee harvest.

In Guatemala, school teach?ers often have very lim?ited teach?ing resources and the qual?ity of edu?ca?tion in rural schools is a?con?stant strug?gle. The Organic School Garden Program cre?ates an excit?ing out?door learn?ing space for teach?ers and stu?dents. Through hands on learn?ing, teach?ers and stu?dents are able to teach lessons on sub?jects, rang?ing from math and sci?ence to art and his?tory out?side of the class?room in their Pueblo a?Pueblo School Garden. Teachers receive teacher train?ing through?out the year about top?ics like health, nutri?tion, envi?ron?ment, and the use of the gar?den as a?ped?a?gog?i?cal resource. These train?ing work?shops help build teacher skills and fur?ther ensure the sus?tain?abil?ity of the program.

Organic school gar?dens ben?e?fit chil?dren in cof?fee grow?ing com?mu?ni?ties in the high?lands of Guatemala. Although the main focus of this pro?gram is indige?nous ele?men?tary school age chil?dren, the teach?ers, school direc?tors, par?ents, and com?mu?ni?ties whose daily activ?i?ties involve the growth and har?vest of cof?fee also ben?e?fit from the school gar?den project. The project is hav?ing a?direct impact on 1,500 indige?nous chil?dren whose fam?i?lies depend upon the cof?fee trade for their liveli?hoods. An addi?tional 1,500 will ben?e?fit indi?rectly through teacher train?ing pro?grams at their schools. In the com?ing year, Pueblo a?Pueblo will expand the Organic School Garden Project and teacher train?ing, pro?vid?ing new cof?fee com?mu?ni?ties with the tools they need to enable future gen?er?a?tions to be healthy and food secure.

For more infor?ma?tion about Pueblo a?Pueblo?s projects or to make an online dona?tion, please visit our web?site at www.puebloapueblo.org. As the project grows to more schools, we will need resources, in par?tic?u?lar, to fund school lunches for more chil?dren. Pueblo a?Pueblo also wants to fund schol?ar?ships to enable qual?i?fied chil?dren to com?plete ele?men?tary school and receive the ben?e?fits of our com?pre?hen?sive food secu?rity and nutri?tion projects. If you?re a?busi?ness, pro?mote Pueblo a?Pueblo through co-branded prod?ucts, or donate a?por?tion of your?sales.

Source: http://www.coffeetalk.com/july12-pueblo-a-pueblo/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=july12-pueblo-a-pueblo

new york knicks president day lin j.r. smith espn jeremy lin sleigh bells meek