We have finished the building for the kitchen and dining room for the children, now in October the furniture is finished, and the pots, dishes, cups, forks, spoons etc, will be purchased to complete our project. The official opening will include a delicious celebration lunch. And as promised the swings will be fixed and painted for that day.
As for our environmental project, Planting for a Tomorrow, parents and children have been working very hard at the nurseries; today we have 30,000 bags with their seedlings. The shade trees nurseries are being prepared already, as the germination of seeds took place in late September. Children are visiting the nursery by groups with their parents. They teach the children what are their doing, and what benefits this project brings for them, the community and the environment. And of course, our technician is present to explain more detailed issues about coffee growing.
What next?
With the upcoming harvesting season, children will make visits to coffee plantations, and surrounding virgin forest, to compare biodiversity, flora and wild life, between the two environments.
When visiting coffee plantations, children will experience with their parents, how to pick coffee correctly, regarding ripeness, treatment to the coffee trees to keep the plantations in good shape, healthy and productive.
Children will visit as well wet and dry mills on the area, and learn how the coffee is processed, watching the main steps. Pulping, Fermenting, Washing, Drying, Storage, Hulling, Grading, sorting and bagging for export.
Following the program of planting for tomorrow, children will make nurseries of trees of precious wood, like mahogany, a native tree of the area. When ready to be transplanted, they will be sold to people interested in reforestation. The money collected, will be invested in children needs.
The main purpose of this project would be to create a conscience on the people living in rural areas, of the importance of environment preservation, how coffee grown under shade can help to maintain a sustainable economic activity for the community, keeping an appropriate environment for biodiversity, and well being for human population, through carbon sequestration and oxygen production.