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 it succeeded. I have had some of my best moments in Peru eating a small fish and rice lunch with the school kids there.
Last Friday night after torrential rains a mudslide pushed down the valley and in the middle of the night clogged the water entry into one of the pools. Before Leo could fix the problem 5,000 of our 15,000 young fish died. It is a huge setback for us. Yannick and the aquaculture expert David Sendero were up in Patacancha today and we have an assemblea with the whole community tomorrow. Two steps forward, one step back.