"My name is Alba Luz Mena. I am 35 years old and I live in the community of Montañitas, Honduras with my Husband Santos Mena. We both finished elementary school. We have lived together for 13 years and we have three children: one goes to elementary school, and the other two attend middle school."

Many years ago, Alba and Santos worked together during the months of December and January picking coffee during this very busy season where one can earn a few extra pesos to feed the family. Every year, at the end of the harvest, Santos had to move to the city to work in order to provide for the family and be able pay for the children's school.

Alba told us that at a community meeting, Sustainable Harvest Honduras offered to provide technical assistance and to work with groups of families. She and her husband attended this meeting to listen to how the poor were going to get help. At the beginning of 2005, the local Sustainable Harvest Honduras extensionist spoke with Alba to see if she would be interested in starting a small business since her husband's meager earnings were not enough to support their family. She told us that it would be very good if we could help her, "because this way, little by little, the welfare of my family can improve. My business will be called 'For a Better Future,' and it will help us to be able to feed our children and to provide them with a better education."

"Even only one year of managing our business of buying, selling and breeding poultry has helped me to acquire the necessary knowledge to manage the business: my two sons, my husband and I are in charge of the chickens-feeding, water, and health. At this point in time the business has grown well. Before [the coop] was built with twigs and, little by little, the twigs were replaced with chicken wire."

"We sell the chickens in Pinalejo, 9 km away. So far this year we have sold 5 flocks of chicken with a net income of $423 to feed our family and to pay for my son's school expenses and make small business improvements. I am very grateful for Trickle Up and Sustainable Harvest's help because I really did not know how I was going to manage. Last year my son Nahún was going to finish elementary school, and I asked myself how I was going to be able to send him to school. With what money, if we were so poor? But with the opportunity from this business, today my son is studying in a middle school, since the business provides the income needed to help him."

SHI has partnered with Trickle Up to provide community loan fund programs to families in 23 Honduran communities. Click here to learn more.

Special thanks to Patricia Bennett for her translation.

SHI Welcomes Nana Mensah

Nana Mensah joins the Sustainable Harvest Belize Program. "I love to protect our environment and natural resources so that future generations can afford the same quality of life that we take for granted or are striving to obtain."
Click here to read more from Nana and meet the rest of our field staff.

Save the Date

Mark your calendars for this year's Harvest Celebration!

Plant the two millionth tree!

Smaller World Service Trips are filling up. Click here to check out dates through June 2007 and schedule your trip to work with farmers in Honduras, Belize, Nicaragua and Panama.

Water for Coloradito

Sustainable Harvest's Nicaragua program and the people of El Coloradito send their thanks to the Boulder Rotary Club and Paul Jedamus for their help with a gravity-feed water system and watersheed reforestation project. This access to clean water will greatly improve the lives of many school children and a small number of families in a very poor and isolated region of our country, and we are very grateful for your support. Muchísimas gracias.

Click here to read more about SHI's programs in Nicaragua

Sustainable Harvest International  •  779 North Bend Rd. Surry, ME 04684  •  207.669.8254 (phone)  •  866.683.6594 (toll free) •  207.669.8255 (fax)  •  shi@sustainableharvest.org  •  www.sustainableharvest.org