Project Launch:

90% of the population of Tuti, Peru lives in poverty, 10% in extreme poverty. The cost of fruits and vegetables is high for many families, driving them to consume mostly potatoes. In addition, the freezing winter and cold summers do not allow families to harvest more than once per year. Changes in the climate have also affected the harvest - heavy rains and hail lead crops and plants to freeze over night. These nutrition challenges can affect school children's performance, local income opportunities, and health. In 2011, a Peace Corps Volunteer stationed in Tuti worked with the community to design a project to build four adobe greenhouses to ensure food stability and grow more diverse crops, while simultaneously holding nutrition workshops for kids at schools and running cooking classes for mothers that focused on sanitary food preparation and healthy eating.