EXPLANATION OF THE SCHOOL PROJECT – WHY A SCHOOL?

We support a non-profit ONG (or NGO) created in 2005, a school for to teach poor farmers in the semi-arid northeast of Brazil to improve their lives by raising organic foods.

Plenty fruit trees, water and a huge area for the raised gardens, chickens, aquaponics and a mandalla. The investment is about twice as much but production and potential certainly makes it worth it. We would have enough space to implant several systems in order to offer alternatives of production - mandallas, aquaponics, and raised beds. Also we have space to build a modern chicken house.

First try and understand the plight of the poor rural farmers in the semi-arid northeast. They are very poor and try to survive under unbelievable conditions.

With the education and training which we could provide at the school things could change for the better improving their life, their health,and income.

With irrigation and technology properly applied simple farms financed under this program produce quality food which improves their health and income,

Mandallas and aquaponics

Basically the school which will teach organic agriculture and work with Brazil’s incentive program for family agriculture which is in the process of implementing. Volunteers and students will work side by side building, creating gardens, and planting. The course itself is a 21 day crash course. Some volunteers might work in the farm office helping us plan the course … some might be actually tending the garden. The government program also offers to finance individual projects for the students themselves and some volunteers might work on these with our field techs.

In order to meet the basic requirements for the program we must show the minimum … gardens plotted and initial planting done, proper facility for caring for animals such as the chicken coop, dorm house clean and equipped (i.e. kitchen for meals, sufficient beds, bathroom with shower, laundry).

The bank and a representative of the Ministry of Agriculture will inspect the farm school and issue a certification which will be included as part of the final project. Also included shall be a local market study for produced products which can be supplied year around (i.e. fresh vegetables, chickens and eggs, and plant seedlings – ‘mudas’).

To qualify for this program we need to prove we are a qualified non profit properly registered and show accounts of donor or sponsor support (an NGO or ONG as it is called in Brazil) and special consideration is given if a large percentage of support (and volunteers) are foreign (from outside Brazil) with matching donations from Brazilians also.

As the gardens progress 90% of the meals will be farm produced from the school property itself … in fact 1/3 of the production will be for the students and even some for their families. As many are not accustomed to the benefits of a balanced diet the students part of the course will be introduced to proper preparation of these new vegetables. Students themselves will assist in preparation.

Students will be taken to visit other local projects and farms. They will also do shows at local public schools throughout the community. At least once a week students will take produce to local farmers markets to learn marketing.

An interesting program we observed at the school where we trained in Cuite was to introduce creation of gardens in local rural schools to further introduce idea of growing healthy food … and this has been an amazing success as many students were enthusiastic. I remember interviewing a young girl when asked ‘did she enjoy planting’ and she told us that her dream was to try to buy a small property to feed her own family.

Some students have never even learned to read and write. The course is rather short (just 21 days) but others and volunteers will form study groups in the evenings to at least teach some basics and to perk up their interest in other government education programs available.

Once the course is completed the staff will help students prepare their own project for improving their own property and will supply continuing field support for a year or so. In some cases we will give them seedlings (mudas) and chickens to help them start.

As of the first of the year 2013 I paid all local outstanding debts .... . Starting the New year clean … at least locally.

Since 2005 our tour agency Andetur has supported the ONGs efforts.

At this point we need to raise cash through donations to buy materials and pay some outside specialized labor but many things we can do ourselves. As we appealing to donors from countries all over the world we use FUNDRAZR (on site menu), a PayPal utility servicethat allows us to accept donations in almost any currency using credit or bank cards or even electronic bank checks (direct transfer).