January 7, 2018: Yakote Women Farmers in 2018

On January 10^th, Yakote Women Farmers has an experienced crew going to Ghana: YWF President, Marilyn Schuster, along with Lisa‘s niece (Britney), and two former Peace Corps volunteers.

 

How we are using your donations:

To minimize undernutrition and stunting, we will expand our lunch program at a third school this year, Piitanga Primary.  This is Britney‘s second trip as a volunteer with us, she will spend nearly all her time in the markets buying food staples for the lunch programs at all three schools and for the Clinic Nutrition Center for malnourished children. The YWF food budget for this year is $9,600. Just to give you an idea of scale, this January she will buy 5,250 pounds of rice, over 4,000 pounds of white beans, as well as 8 huge baskets of dried fish, 275 liters of fresh, red palm oil, 12 buckets of dried hot peppers, and 3,000 pounds of ground cassava – all of it produced in Ghana.

In an exciting new project, we are working with another charitable organization, Framework International, to fund construction of a cement block classroom building for Piitanga Primary. Classes at Piitanga are now either outside or in a tiny, three room mud clad structure built by parents. Between our reserve funds and the funds of Framework International, we hope to construct a 6 classroom cement block structure.  A preliminary estimate shows construction costs of $40,000 for six classrooms. Believe it or not, we need to raise only $5,000 more to reach the $40,000 needed. So, YES, we do still need donations. THANKS to everyone who has already shared in making this construction possible. The families of Piitanga are so very grateful and appreciative of the opportunity for their children.

Tax deductible donations can easily be made by Paypal or credit card at www.yakotewomenfarmers.org