In late 2010, when Alma was approached by the community of Patacancha to help them implement a trout farm and a school lunch program based on trout, the community’s primary school had eight empty concrete pools that were in desperate need of repair. Today, the fully functioning trout farm provides two to three trout based […]
TUKSA BIBLIOTECA – PROJECT UPDATE April 3, 2014 The Tuksa Biblioteca Project is set to start on April 10th and all parties are putting the finishing touches on the preparations! The Municipality of Combapata signed the contract with the Alma Foundation officially outlining the responsibilities of each in regards to the project, and has already […]
Last week the Alma Foundation and the community of Tuksa officially inaugurated the Tuksa Biblioteca Project. The entire community turned out for the event, as well as the primary school’s two teachers, representatives from the District Municipality of Combapata, and elected leaders from neighboring communities. On the surface, it was a celebration to mark the beginning […]
A big boasting point for the Alma Foundation is the strong relationships we have with the communities we work in. I am often asked how we manage to maintain close ties with community members and also ensure that they themselves take on leadership roles in our projects; because although it appears that engaging a community that […]
This week, we’re thrilled to announce that former Program Director, Ian McGroarty, has re-joined us on the ground in Peru. Some thoughts from his first week… ************** My first week back on the ground with Alma has been inspiring. We currently have excellent projects that are providing opportunities for students to reach new heights both […]
In Canada, the first day of school is surrounded by such buzz and hype that it’s hard to ignore – even if you don’t have children. That tongue-in-cheek Staples commercial begins airing mid-summer and it seems that stores start stocking pencils and paper mere hours after the school doors are locked in June. And as children […]
I thought that it was necessary to write about my last visit to the Nutrition Program in the community of Marccuray. After various failed attempts to get a meeting going with all the members of the project (this mainly had to do with Marccuray being the most isolated community we work in, and with failure […]
Last month Chafika Eddine, a director at Global Change for Children (GC4C), visited the Patacancha Trout Farm and wrote about her experience: “Since its creation in 2008, the Global Change for Children Foundation (GC4C) has funded over 20 projects in four different countries. It is always so gratifying for any of us involved with GC4C […]
As we launched this project recently I thought it was about time to write a blog post about the community of Tucsa. And not only the community but, more specifically, their children. As I have traveled through countless communities here in Peru and Bolivia, after a while you start to realize how factors like climate, […]
I won’t deny that in this past week, I had a very hard time making the routine 1.5 hour hike up to our nutrition project in Marccuray. Usually I enjoy this hike quite a bit because the scenes are just beautiful. But this time I had an extra burden to carry up the steep hill: […]
We have worked 3 years to get the Patacancha school lunch program/trout farm to a point of self-sufficiency. It hasn’t been without its challenges: equipment failure, fish dying, community issues (families without children in the school being jealous of those with kids in the school and benefiting from the program etc, etc, etc) but ultimately […]
I got an early Christmas present last week as I witnessed for the first time of my life a true NATURAL LLAMA BIRTH, in the middle of my trip to our new project in Tucsa. It is summer down here in he Andes, although saying that just does not feel right because most days it […]
The Patabamba Academy Closeout. By Yannick Wende, Program Director And once again, time just flew by! I had barely realized how quick time went by and that we were already at the time in the year, where a project ends. In this case it was a bittersweet feeling to come to the day where this […]
Trout Farm Managers Birthday. It is not a common thing to go to a community and spend a birthday ceremony like the typical western birthday ceremonies that we so kindly prepare for our loved ones every time there is this special date around. Andean birthdays are celebrated in a much smaller scale, especially in economically […]
AVELINO HUAMAN POMA , Avelino is a 6 year old Patacancha native, over many times that I have visited Patacancha, I have seen him wandering around the trout farm, quiet but happy, just watching how the trout move and swim. I have spoken with him on some occasions, and asked him, what do you want […]
By Yannick Wende, Program Director Last week was a one of the most meaningful weeks in the Marccuray Nutrition program, as the very anticipated date of the arrival and delivery of the animals was finally about to happen. It took long months of hiking up and down the steep hillside to go and check how […]
By Yannick Wende, Program Director Last week I had the strongest epiphany at work thus far in my working experience with the Alma Foundation. There I was on one of my usual visits to our project in Marccuray, it was late afternoon and time for me to head back down the one hour hike to […]
October 2013 For the fourth consecutive year, a group of Alma supporters visited the Alma projects in Peru. Read More >>
By Alan Harman The expression “Give a man a fish, feed him for a day. Teach a man how to fish, feed him for life” is one of the many well-worn axioms of development that seems a little ridiculous in the Andean communities where we work. When we have determined that nutrition is a factor […]
By Alan Harman Ian McGroarty was our program director in Peru and only employee for the past 2 years. During that time he traveled 1,000s of kilometers on his motorbike and on foot to remote communities in and around the sacred valley. He spent countless nights sleeping on peoples’ floors, eating and drinking with them, […]