Current Efforts
5:31 pmDental Initiative
5:14 pmDonate
4:14 pmFunds raised to date: $4,525
Donations of any size, large or small, are greatly appreciated and will be put to good use.
Your donation of $30 can buy an entire flock of 10 chickens and 2 roosters for a family in need. $50 can buy not only a flock of chickens, but also all the dewormers and vaccines they will need for their first year of life and the nails necessary to build a chicken coop to keep the chickens safe.
Please support Partners in Health with this important nutritional project. Though Proyecto Kalila is being started in one tiny village, it’s impact has the potential of being much more global, as the principles apply to any rural impoverished community worldwide.
Please note that volunteers pay all travel and food costs out of pocket. As a grass-roots organization with literally no overhead costs, every dollar you donate will go towards helping people in need. Donated money can be specified for use specifically for Project Chicken or for the dental health initiative.
Please send your tax exempt donation to:
Partners in Health c/o Steve Johnson
959 Kennebec Road
Hampden, ME 04444
Mission
10:44 am
Our mission is to combat both nutritional deficiencies and poverty in Nicaragua’s Northern Autonomous Atlantic Region by installing model chicken flocks, giving modern veterinary support, and overseeing continued giving of progeny to other families in need.
In addition, and equally importantly, Wheels for Change is dedicated to promoting overall health and well being through the improvement of dental health, beginning at 6 months and continuing through 18 years of age.
Proyecto Kalila
9:36 pmThe Challenge
Proyecto Kallila, or Project Chicken in English, was hatched just this year in order to address two main issues that exist in many rural villages across the world: access to high quality protein, and access to a source of work that can provide cash income.
Modeled on the work of Heifer International, this project seeks to combat these problems by establishing sustainable chicken production operations that serve as a source of both protein (eggs and meat) and income (sale of birds) for rural Nicaraguans. Recipients of the project agree to pass on the gift in the form of giving two chickens per clutch for a total of six chickens to other families in the village, who will subsequently pass on the gift to three additional families. In addition, we support the villagers’ effort by delivering veterinary and agricultural knowledge of chicken care, as well as providing vaccinations and dewormer for one year to promote animal health.
Protein is, of course, very important because without protein, the human body cannot grow or function properly. Protein is especially important in young growing children. In fact, protein deficiencies occurring during the first 4 years of life cause inadequacies in cerebral and physical development, which can never be regained. According to the World Health Organization, children aged 1 to 4 require 1.2 grams of protein per kilogram per day, which translates to approximately 15 grams of protein for a 25-30 lb child. A medium egg contains about 5 grams of protein of extremely high biological value, meaning that this protein is a “good” building block for the body because it is rich in sulpher-containing amino-acids. These amino-acids are essential for normal growth, and tend to be deficient in many other food items in the humid tropics where meat protein is limited. In addition, eggs also contain large amounts of iron, minerals, B vitamins, Vitamin A, and choline, all of which are important for normal body and brain development. Our goal is that every child between the ages of one and four, as well as every pregnant and lactating woman should eat at least one egg/day.
Access to cash flow is difficult for people living in remote villages such as Bilwaskarma, located in Northeastern Nicaragua. Without local industries or jobs, it is almost impossible for a family to raise themselves above the poverty level. Local jobs such as harvesting food or wood tend to be paid through a bartering system: a day’s work in the fields might be paid with a cut of meat from a slaughtered pig. While this system can fill many immediate needs, cash is still necessary for a family to pay for items or resources such as health care, farming products, and school books to name a few. Furthermore, having adequate finances allows farmers to buy tools which can help them produce more food than just for their immediate needs, and excess harvest can be sold for cash.
The Solution
Helping people help themselves is the way to provide long-term benefits, rather than just short term gain. As the old saying goes, it is better to teach a man to fish than to give him a fish.
Chicken farming is a great way for families to both supply their immediate protein requirements in the form of both eggs and meat, and for them to have access to a better cash flow. Chickens reproduce rapidly, are very efficient at converting a small amount of food into a larger amount of energy in the form of eggs, and require very little investment in order to get an operation in place. In addition, while a larger animal such as a cow represents a significant investment, which is not lightly slaughtered for food or money, an individual bird can easily be used for food or cash flow.
Current Efforts
Proyecto Kallila was set into motion in January 2007 in conjunction with the biannual trip by Partners in Health to provide medical aid to the villagers of Bilwaskarma. The project was modeled off of that of Heifer International; the initial recipient of the project must pass on the gift in the form of passing on 2 chickens per clutch for a total of 6 chickens to other families in the village, who will subsequently pass on the gift to 3 additional families. Initial efforts have involved establishing a reliable local contact, giving lectures about chicken care, setting up a model chicken flock including chicken house, and promising to provide vaccines and de-wormers for the duration of one year, after which local farmers will be expected to sell chickens as necessary to provide for their medical needs. Ongoing efforts will hopefully include additional veterinary guidance to improve flock viability and production levels, ongoing education, and the addition of a large number of chickens as starting stock to help speed up the positive effects of the project.
The project is currently being led by Garth Cummings, a senior at the University of Vermont who will be starting veterinary school in 2007, and by Dr. Hanna Ekstrom, a Cornell Graduate with 14 years of experience practicing medicine. Mr. Cummings and Dr. Ekstrom view Bilwaskarma as an initial effort, which they are hoping to spread to other villages locally, and then more globally. As a grass-roots organization with literally no overhead costs, every penny you donate will go towards improving the economic situation of people in need.
Please support Partners in Health with this important nutritional project. Though Proyecto Kalila is being started in one tiny village, it’s impact has the potential of being much more global, as the principles apply to any rural impoverished community worldwide.
Please send your tax exempt donation to:
Partners in Health c/o Steve Johnson
959 Kennebec Road
Hampden, ME 04444
Who We Are
8:13 pmGarth Cummings
A native Vermonter, Garth grew up in Colchester, VT. He first became interested in Latin America in high school when he spent a year in Morelia, Mexico as a Rotary exchange student. Garth is currently a veterinary student at Cornell University.
Garth’s Summary of January 2007 Visit to Bilwaskarma (pdf)
Dr. Hanna Ekstrom
Dr Hanna Ekstrom graduated from Cornell College of Veterinary Medicine in 1992. She currently owns her own veterinary practice, At Home Vet, located in Bothell, Washington. In her vacation time she embarks on several international aid trips yearly to Central America. Her goal is to make Proyecto Kalila successful not only in the pilot village of Bilwaskarma, but also in other similarly disadvantaged communities.
Dr.Ekstrom can be reached at her office at 425-402-0187, or via her website at www.yourathomevet.com.
Contact Us
Dr Hanna:
E-mail: drhanna@seattlepetvet.com
Garth:
E-mail: jgc76@cornell.edu
Phone: 802-999-2447
Wheels for Change
4:08 pmWheels for Change is a non-profit, agricultural affiliate of Partners in Health of Maine. Our goal is to use sustainable, small-scale animal agriculture to build wealth and fight nutrient deficiencies in indigenous Miskito communities in Nicaragua’s Northern Autonomous Atlantic Region.
For twenty years, Partners in Health (PIH). has provided medical care for people in need in communities not only in the United States, but around the world. More recently, Partners in Health has addressed the importance of agriculture and farming for many subsistence communities by adding a veterinary component to their work.
As part of the veterinary arm of PIH, Proyecto Kalila was born out of the desire to confront two main challenges that exist in many rural villages across the world: access to high quality protein, and access to a source of work that can provide cash flow. Click to read more about Proyecto Kalila.
Please support Partners in Health with this important nutritional and dental project. Though these projects are being started in only one tiny village, the potential impact could be much more global, as the principles learned and practiced can be applied to any rural impoverished community worldwide.
