Mateo lives in a coffee cooperative in a remote part of Nicaragua. He is 8 years old and eats fairly well because the cooperative grows much of its food. With profits from the coffee, the cooperative buys other basic food that they do not grow, then set aside to share among all the members as they need it.
We’ve worked with this cooperative for 14 years helping them get certified as organic, selling their coffee and bringing medical brigades 4-6 times a year...the only time they have doctors on the mountain.
Mateo’s small house is also home to 12 others. He is the youngest of 13 children. His mother is happy that we provide family planning for the women who want it, and she brings him to our clinics almost every time we go to the cooperative...every 6 months he is treated for parasites as a preventive dose.
Parasites eat what nutrition children receive. In tropical Nicaragua, parasites can get ingested in so many ways…through dirty hands, standing water, and cooking. In our Clinic in Nueva Vida, we test children for parasites and treat them with the appropriate medication.
The coffee cooperative is doing better financially because they are selling their organic coffee at a fair price. Thanks to that and the medication we provide, Mateo is thriving.
This season, give a gift that will help us help Mateo and others like him who suffer from poverty and parasites.
-Kathleen
