Helping Feed a Hungry World

Friday, February 25, 2011
Observations from Sherri and Mark Kannmacher

Sherri

Today we started our morning eating breakfast at the Hotel El Portal del Angel  in Somato, Nicaragua.  Then we hopped on the bus to visit one of the Fabretto schools and small farm.  It was encouraging to see the students excited about the contributions they are making.  As we travelled down the mountain back to Managua I remembered Hillary Clinton saying, “It takes a village to raise a child.”  I would add that it starts with a farmer, specifically a soybean farmer.

Soybean farmers grow the crops that will help feed the hungry of the world.  Not only are soybeans  exported to other countries, our soybean checkoff dollars go to help assist organizations such as NSRL and WISSH.  These organizations help to assist programs that incorporate soy protein into the diets of the malnourished of Nicaragua (and other regions).

Did you know that one out of every three children in Nicaragua suffers from malnutrition?  It is through such programs as Soy To The World that the cycle of chronic malnutrition is being broken.  We ended our day at the Fabretto school in Managua.  

Mark

Wow, from one extreme to the other.  Nicaragua is a beautiful country that is hard to describe.  One thing that I’m not sure how to describe are the roads.   Back home, our county has a township with some twisty roads, but you folks in Wabash Township have got it made compared to these people.  If you try to untangle a ball of twine or that pile of used baling wire in the barn, that is what the roads seemed like.

High up in the mountains we observed soy being used to feed small children.  Along the rural outskirts of the city, children are learning how to produce a variety of crops and animals as entrepreneurial projects.  Farmers are helping feed the hungry through checkoff and association dollars.  

As we traveled the roads of Nicaragua today, farms seemed to be of varying sizes -- very small, medium and large.  Crops included tobacco, coffee, bananas, rice, pineapple, a little corn and the list could go on.  The same goes for animals.  Pigs, goats, horses, with cattle and chickens, seemed to be raised on a larger scale.  Somehow or another they raise hay.  Nicaragua is currently in its dry season and some hay is being fed currently.