Wawa Illari
Peru
The highlight for 2018 remains SD Canada’s involvement in Wawa Illari, a project that addresses the problem of proper brain development in children 0 – 3 through nutrition, healthcare, psychosocial and community supports to children in Pachacamac, Peru. Funded by a Government of Canada grant (Grand Challenges, Saving Brains program), this innovative project brings together three projects in the Susila Dharma global network, International Child Development
Programme (ICDP – Norway/UK), Asociación Vivir (Ecuador), and A Child’s Garden of Peace (USA) to meet this challenge. SD Canada is the Canadian NGO supporting this initiative.
Illène Pevec, (Child’s Garden of Peace) says, “Our entire working team is in Subud and it has been a fabulous experience to date.” Illène’s role in the project is implementing a kitchen and community garden initiative, which supports families to grow their own fresh vegetables and fruit. Illène has been training community health educators (promotoras), to help families with their home vegetable garden boxes. Illène is planning to go back to the field this Fall when she hopes to lead a tree planting campaign, and also to carry out a count of vegetables growing in each household.
"We promised to plant a tree for every family and a few at each preschool. We already planted 2 fruit trees at the Niña Maria preschool last November. The San Juan preschool is in a barren moonscape except for the new community garden we put in directly in front of it. I want to put two large container gardens on the patio of that preschool. We would make them out of shipping pallets. The biggest cost would be hauling in soil. The growing season in Peru is year round and is best in fall, winter and spring due to brutal solar radiation in summer but the patio is covered and we already have installed a water spigot and hose there. The teachers were keen for this to happen to green their site."
She continues: “The trees will not impact children’s health during this research period because they need time to produce fruit but they will impact the families in the future as they provide shade, fruit and hope. Studies done at public housing in Chicago with very poor African American families showed that a tree by the front door provided hope. A view with a tree outside a window lowered violence. Trees have such a deep connection in our human evolution to signify safety and water and food.”
Our grand challenge: Sign up to help Illène and her team plant fruit trees! $20 funds a tree! And it gets you membership in SD Canada.
“Thanks to all for the support that I always feel coming from the people in SD Canada and the members who donate. It is more than dollars that I receive from you. It feels when I am working that you are all supporting these efforts and all the people engaged in them.”