When we first visited the community of San Isidro in late 2019, they did not have a working well or chickens or animals of any kind. Most of the men in the community travelled to earn a living as farmworkers. When those jobs weren’t available or (as during the pandemic) travel was not possible, hunger threatened.
There was, however, the fragile beginning of a community association. Community members had formed this organization after the floods of 2017 drove them from their homes. Even back then, they knew that the only way to recover from the catasptrophe and get ahead was by working together.
To see this same community today in the video below—the very same people we met back in 2019—is truly heart-warming. See (and hear) for yourself what life in San Isidro is like today. Learn what this generous and determined community has accomplished and how our partner Centro Esperanza helped them get there. As a Heart-Links supporter, you, too, helped make this happen. So thank you!
Video titles read as follows:
- Centro Esperanza, Chiclayo, with support from Heart-Links, Canada, has since 2019 carried out the project “Promoting the Development of Rural Families, Victims of El Niño, in San Isidro, Illimo.”
- During 3 years, they received training in organic farming and raising small animal and now they are moving ahead communally.
- 23 families were affected by the rains but through this project, they were able to recover, and today they are members of the association Community Enterprise for Sustainable Development (ECODAE).
- They learned to make organic fertilizers and bioinsecticides and to prevent disease in their animals. Now they are growing organic passion fruit and papaya as well as raising organic chickens and pelibüey sheep.
- As part of the project, they received workshops about social skills, the roles assigned to men and women, marketing strategies, and other topics.