Project Launch:

San Francisco is a small rural town in the province of Tumbes on Peru's northern coast. The town's slogan, "The place of eternal summer," is well earned given its high daily afternoon temperatures and its rapid pace of ice cream consumption. The people in San Francisco are mostly rice and banana farmers and it is a poor community populated by descendants of the Spanish and the local Tumpis Indians. Six young girls from the town who were bursting with ideas for environmental project, asked for help from the local Peace Corps Volunteer in realizing their plans to protect their local environment. With a $350 grant from World Connect's Kids to Kids Program, the group started a community garden, beautified the town square by putting in trash cans and planting flowers, and taught younger children about recycling and composting.