Farmers in Bolivia are making yogurt for local school children to enjoy during breakfast.
When schoolchildren in Chuma, Bolivia, are served yogurt packs for breakfast, they are often made with ingredients from Samaritan’s Purse agricultural projects cultivated in their own community. What’s more, Samaritan’s Purse helped a cooperative of local farmers establish a community production center where they process and package the yogurt.
A child enjoys freshly pasteurized milk at the dairy processing center.
The yogurt making started with our dairy animals project, when we trained farmers in the remote mountain community to raise dairy cows to produce milk for their families’ diet, as well as to sell locally.
Our agricultural specialists based in Bolivia also helped the farmers improve their crop production through training and providing quality seeds to grow fruits and vegetables.
Samaritan’s Purse then provided resources for a community dairy processing center where they could pasteurize the milk and a food processing center to dehydrate and package the fruits and vegetables.
Thankful for Provisions
The farmers’ combined efforts have yielded not only a healthier variety of food for their own diets, it has also enabled them to store dehydrated fruits and vegetables for the winter and to sell a larger volume of products.
A community member makes yogurt at the processing center we built in Chuma.
“Thanks to Samaritan’s Purse and this center, we’ve built this community project,” said Ramiro, a local dairy farmer.
“We’ve learned how to make yogurt, cheese, and ice cream from the milk, and the community center has given us a place to make and store it.”
His wife, Rosemery, carries a bucket full of fresh milk to the community processing center each day from the cow that Samaritan’s Purse gave them as part of our dairy animals project.
Dairy projects in Bolivia are helping local people and opening doors for sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
“It’s a good feeling to be able to make yogurt and cheese for our family and for the children in the community,” Rosemery said. “It helps with their growth and nutrition.”
Rosemery also has served as a Samaritan’s Purse “mother leader,” teaching health, nutrition, and hygiene to fellow mothers in town after she was taught these health practices by Samaritan’s Purse staff.
“Jesus Christ sent us these brothers and sisters from Samaritan’s Purse,” said Alicia, who makes yogurt at the processing center. “Thanks to Samaritan’s Purse, my kids and my family eat healthy food. Thanks to them, we are going to be healthier.”
The psalmist Asaph encouraged the Israelites that God wanted their offerings of thanksgiving more than their sacrifices of bulls and goats “for every beast of the forest is Mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills” (Psalm 50:10). Just one goat or dairy animal can provide a better life for impoverished people in countries like Haiti, Kenya, Uganda, and Vietnam. For $70, you can help provide a family with an animal that will offer nutrient-rich milk to fortify their diet, with plenty left over to sell at the market—producing an income that can be used to educate children and end generations of poverty.
