Wow–what a year! We have seen our first children graduate high school (at Grade 10 in Nepal). Our coffee sample scored 84 in initial US taste tests for specialty coffee (that’s high!), and coffee farmers who started the program with us 4 years ago have increased their have increased their annual income by 20-200%! We now have 200 farmers planting coffee across 8 villages. Our Children’s Home is raising 23 kids with love, and we started tutoring classes this year to improve their learning. Macadamias trees are young and not producing nuts yet, but farmers are planting 6000 more trees this year on the same land as coffee. Macadamia trees are dual purpose and hold the promise of being good coffee shade and good income. The almond program has expanded to 200 farmers and 4000 trees. It’s nearly self-sustaining now with support from the local district government and agricultural offices. The Batase school is about to be finished in the next month—4½ years after the earthquake destroyed it.
We’ve hit some big milestones in our projects and have lots of news to share with you, so you’ll see a series of newsletters coming out in the next few weeks. We don’t want to overwhelm your inboxes, but we’re excited to tell you what’s been happening. Enjoy the updates! And please…take a moment to donate any amount. We need your support for these grassroots projects to continue. Changing Lives in Nepal can’t happen without you!
