Category Archives: Americas

FUEGOS

by

‘Food for Change’ in Ecuador

We are happy to introduce FUEGOS, one of our newest Susila Dharma projects. Its name stands for Fundación para los Emprendimientos Gastronómicos y las Oportunidades Sostenibles in Spanish (English: Foundation for Gastronomical Entrepreneurship and Sustainable Opportunities). FUEGOS aims to bring about positive social, economic and health change via several exciting and innovative projects, all centered around food.

Michelle Fried working with a family to prepare healthy meals

The coastal province of Manabí boasts prodigious biodiversity and a rich culinary tradition, yet 70% of the population lives below the poverty line. “Everyone in Ecuador thinks that food from Manabí is the best in the country,” says Michelle O. Fried, Project Director and co-founder of FUEGOS. Traditional Manabí cuisine, rich in fiber and micro-nutrients, also offers many health benefits. However, local dishes have been displaced by a modern diet high in processed carbohydrates and fats. Diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer are common, as are obesity and even malnutrition, though many Ecuadorians are unaware of any connection between diet and health.

In 2016, a devastating earthquake struck this already very poor region. Close to 700 people were killed and 100,000 were left homeless. Many still live in tents today. The earthquake exacerbated pre-existing problems such as water shortages, unemployment and crime. Youth and women have been particularly hard hit by the lack of economic opportunities. Despite all these challenges, FUEGOS seeks to harness the potential of food to become a driving force for social transformation.

Restaurant and Food & Hospitality School


FUEGOS is in the process of establishing a Restaurant and Food & Hospitality School in San Vicente, a small fishing town in northern Manabí close to the epicenter of the 2016 earthquake. The school will train impoverished youth (prioritizing women) in cooking, nutrition, entrepreneurship and hospitality, as well as sustainable farming and fishing. The restaurant will serve as an internship opportunity, while strengthening the local population’s cultural identity through the recovery of regional cuisine. The goal: to equip students with knowledge and skills to work in the culinary sector and establish their own businesses — strengthening local economies, empowering the area’s most vulnerable youth, improving nutrition and health, and reigniting appreciation of local foods.

Community-based Family Homestay Program


In order to fulfill the school’s aim of serving impoverished women and youth from the zone of the devastating earthquake, lodging for out-of-town students must be provided. FUEGOS has developed a Family Homestay Program in which local families will be trained to host visitors. Students coming from afar will thus have a place to stay. Once families have become experienced in receiving students in their homes, arrangements will be made for them to also host paying international students and tourists. The Family Homestay Program has the real potential to eventually make FUEGOS a self-sustaining project.

Family Gardens


At the start of 2020, everything was in place for a Spring launch of the Restaurant and Food & Hospitality School and Family Homestay Program. Then the Covid-19 pandemic hit. Plans had to be put on hold, but the FUEGOS team did not wait idly. Instead, they researched, planned, and networked with the local San Vicente community to devise a brand new component to the project: Family Gardens. Families from different areas of town were selected and trained to improve existing home gardens — and family diets — and learn about the connection between food, health, and the environment. Since summer 2020, a core group of families has been building raised beds, planting traditional seedlings, making compost, and more. Their gardens will soon become “demonstrative gardens” that can be used in training others in the community about successful urban gardening. Additional benefits:

• Many Gardens Project families have turned out to be good candidates for the Homestay Program. Relationships between FUEGOS and the local community are growing stronger.
• One of the new gardens is located at the Restaurant and Food & Hospitality School. When the school opens (hopefully soon!) the garden is expected to provide enough fresh, local produce to eliminate the need to buy produce from other areas, full of agro-toxins.
• Families are feeling empowered and excited by their gardens’ increased yields. They are having fun swapping traditional culinary preparations made from homegrown produce. Michelle shares this story:

Zeus Giler is FUEGOS ́ local agronomist, helping families in San Vicente create gardens that will feed them. Zeus is young, handsome, bright and humble. He is from a poor family but moved out of the hills to study agronomy in a two year course. He loves sharing his knowledge and is an inspiration to the community of San Vicente. He is part of the national agro ecological network where his uncle, an expert in community theatre has been a central figure. Zeus lives about two hours from San Vicente up in the hills. Completely before he even had hopes of any remuneration he decided to come to San Vicente to get to meet in person (all previous contacts had been virtual) the families and other members of the Family Gardens and Kitchens team. As he arrived in San Vicente he texted me saying he had brought a winter squash preparation made by his great grandmother. As a group we had been talking about the nutritional value of foods that perhaps were no longer appreciated in Manabí and the team told me about winter squash, how it had such low prestige that it was mainly given to pigs. Well, after learning that it is very high in antioxidants that up our defenses to ward off Covid-19, Zeus apparently had decided to ask his great grandmother to prepare a traditional recipe, made with squash as well as a variety of white corn which is becoming extinct. She had cooked it over a fire in a traditional oven, two hours away in the mountains, then he brought it to the gathering in the Pacific where some people are still living in tents! He shared the scrumptious dish with the Families team, none of whom had ever heard of or tasted it before. They wrote to me that it was really good… How delicious and fun — this healthy food community.

The Restaurant and Food & Hospitality School, as well as the Family Homestay Program, are poised to start up by mid-2021. In the meantime, ties between FUEGOS and the local community are strengthening, and families are already reaping the benefits of improved harvests and newfound knowledge of local cuisine. From Michelle: “I look forward to helping [the group] appreciate many local vegetables and fruits that have become almost extinct… We can help people have a business that is based on their own culture which will raise their self-esteem… It’s an overwhelming situation that we have taken on. I can only justify it by knowing how extremely good the food is there – and that’s the thing I love!”

Visit FUEGOS’ website here and co-founder Michelle O. Fried’s website here.

Donate

Sequoia Community Center

by

Sequoia Community Center, in the California Sierra foothills, is a collaboration between Amelia Williams and Sulfiati Harris and the local community and government. They have been impressed by the good-hearted generosity of the local community to help others.

April (center) with project directors Amelia Williams and Sulfiati Harris

April is one who has made a huge difference in providing food for those in need. She had a hard childhood and always hoped someone would see what was going on and ask her if she needed help. This offer never happened. Because of this, she decided to be different and help others when she could. So now she goes out of her way to see and help people who are down and out.

As part of the Tulare County Covid-19 response, the Sequoia Community Center was invited to become a distribution site for food from a Food Link partnership. But it was clear that there were people in this impoverished area who were unable to access this food and for various reasons and outreach is complicated. So April came to the rescue. Now, twice a month, April (who has a full schedule as a house cleaner) drives to the community center, loads up her van, and then redistributes food to those she knows can really use it. Living in a remote and substandard habitat, they let her in on the condition that she comes alone. She is one of very few people whom they trust. April is moved by her recipients’ deep gratitude every time she arrives. She is available to help towards further recovery from drug addiction or others issues, but she does not push. For now, April simply meets people where they are and helps them get enough to eat, no strings attached.


Even while so many programs at Sequoia Community Center have had to be suspended, the benefits and caring spirit of the project most definitely continue on.


www.SequoiaCommunityCenter.org

Donate

School Supply Giveaway Day in Tijuana

by

Imagine having to choose between sending your child to school and providing basic necessities for your family. Sadly, this is the reality for many parents at back-to-school season. Required school supplies and uniforms must be purchased in order for children to attend school. Families with multiple children are especially burdened by the financial demands that come with a new school year. 

Tijuana Family Outreach Project, founded and directed by Mikail Collins of Subud San Diego organizes monthly gatherings for financially struggling families that have no other community support or services. School Supply Giveaway Day has become one of their most highly attended events. At the annual gathering, gifts of backpacks filled with school supplies are presented, a meal is served, and bonds of friendship are strengthened among neighbors. Muchas gracias to Tijuana Family Outreach Project for organizing these monthly gatherings filled with camaraderie and caring, enabling families to receive much-needed charity while maintaining their dignity.

Susila Dharma USA board member Diego Salgado visited this year’s School Supply Giveaway Day and met many local families. Following are testimonies of gratitude from some of the parents in attendance:

“There are many kids who do not attend school because their parents don’t have the means of sending them to school. Even though there are public schools, the parents are still not able to provide for their kids. They’re not able to buy their kids a uniform or shoes. God has provided the sponsors with a magnificent and noble heart. Maybe for the sponsors this is just a simple event but for a lot of us parents and the kids this all comes as a blessing. It is a very big help.” (Griselda, mother of two)

“A pencil or a notebook helps tremendously as many times parents do not have money to buy their kids supplies. I have been in situations in the past where I was not able to buy my kids school supplies. I am currently studying law so this makes us be 3 students at home. So, a backpack is a big blessing. Not only on the physical level but also on an emotional and a spiritual level as well. As a single mother I feel very blessed for my kids to be a part of Casa Matita.” (Griselda, mother of two)

“Seeing the kids smile is the biggest satisfaction… People come from as far as Rosarito and Tecate to attend… Parents usually make a family outing of that one day a month they visit. They also receive donated clothes and shoes, which are laid out before them to take as needed.” (Alma, volunteer and mother of three)

“Casa Matita always offers us support and backpacks for the kids and with several events throughout the year. We have been here for the Day of the Child and for Christmas, where gifts are handed out and a nice meal is prepared. The gatherings are very heartfelt.” (Gladys, mother of three)”

Donate

Tijuana Family Outreach Project

by

The Tijuana Family Outreach Project is managed and staffed by Subud San Diego volunteers. The project supports children and their families from El Florido, a low-resource area on the outskirts of Tijuana, Mexico. Called Los Ladrilleros (The Brickmakers), most of the residents live in shacks and work in the local brick plant. Although the children attend the local school, there are very few resources for them.

The project provides community integration for many families who would otherwise be isolated, and offers opportunities for families to receive resources to improve their lives and build relationships with neighbors.

The ongoing projects include:

  • School Supply Giveaway Day,
  • Day of the Child celebration,
  • Easter celebration,
  • Christmas celebration,
…as well as monthly lunches with life-skills workshops facilitated by volunteer psychologists and social workers from a nearby university (past topics: domestic violence prevention, positive parenting). Recently, the project be for extra income.

Donate