Project Launch:

In Salpo, a small town in the Andean mountains located nearly 11,500 feet above sea level and nicknamed "God's Balcony", two out of every five children suffer from malnutrition and many get sick due to a contaminated local environment and poor hygiene practices. The Growing Healthy, Happy Kids project will address these problems in three ways. First, local schools will build and maintain hydroponic gardens on site, and teachers will lead nutrition education workshops around the gardens. Second, each school will construct a basic hand washing station outside of the bathrooms to promote proper hand washing. Third, each school will launch trash management programs for separating organic, inorganic and recyclable trash. Schools will be either sell recyclable trash or use it to make recycled paper for use by the students.