Our WHAT IF has become a reality!
Our SUSTAINING FAMILIES SHOP is up and running!
PLEASE take a peek at www.povertyprojectinternational.com You can get raw cacao (chocolate, the kind that is a true super-food) guanabana infused honey (wild organic and a powerful immune booster, mood lifter and cancer fighter) and the lovely hipi bags (called mochila here) hand made by the Ngobe women of Bocas Del Toro. The bags are the Ngobe's highest art form and take up to 3 months to make. They start with the leaves of the pita plant, dry them and turn the fibers into threads that are died with fruits and flowers and then woven into bags that can last up to thirty years!
When you purchase one of our products, you support the work of these precious people by buying products they have made for centuries. AND 50 percent of the profits go right back into POVERTY PROJECT INTERNATIONAL! AND...for the Hipi bags and the raw cacao, shipping is free!
The people here are struggling with transitioning from an ancient society to a modern one. The change is causing abject poverty as the people are just not prepared for it. They need to make money in this modern world, but they are used to living off the land. Very few jobs are available to them and they make $2 an hour working if they are lucky. Leaving behind their traditional way of living means they are buying food instead of growing and collecting it. It is reducing them to a diet of rice and bananas for the most part instead of the fresh fruits and plants they once collected from the jungle and the fish they caught in the waters here. This diet is almost nutrient free even though it is calorie rich, producing people that appear healthy, but do not have the nutrients to think and function at a higher level. It is a vicious cycle.
We are looking for ways to encourage the people here to continue doing what they KNOW how to do while making money at the same time. We understand that they desire to transition into this cell phone, Nike shoe world (even though us Gringos are looking for a way to leave it!) But they are loosing their culture in the process.
So we are buying the mochila bags (we like to call them Hipi bags) and raw cacao patties they make by hand and we are marketing them to you! And we are harvesting wild medicinal plants and infusing them in organic local honey for you! YOU get Nature's finest super-food, the secret to longevity of some of the oldest living people in the world, and the Ngobe people get to continue to harvest the wild cacao pods that grow here, something they are good at!
YOU get a one of a kind, VERY RARE piece of art that you can use daily, possibly for the next 30 years! YOU get fantastic tasting honey that fights cancer, boosts you immune system and lifts your mood! And these people get the chance to LIFT THEMSELVES out of this poverty cycle by doing something that is unique to their culture, their homeland, and the skills and gifts they have maintained for centuries!
HELP us HELP THEM and be part of something that connects us and brings something good to each of us. Together we can make a difference!
Envisioning a Better Future
Laura
Comments
Post a Comment