Development
40% of children who suffer from malnutrition live in India, where a centre has become an example of inclusive and sustainable growth. Snehagram is a Camillian home which hosts about a hundred HIV-positive children and adolescents, some of whom have no family while others come from poor families who cannot take care of them. Snehagram accompanies them in their educational path, until their integration into the working world.
Since the very beginning, in Snehagram, the managers thought that agriculture, in particular the organic one, could have been a livelihood and development activity both for the children and the centre itself. After the first year, the commitment has increased: thanks to PRO.SA’s support it was possible to create an orchard, to introduce new crop varieties in the kitchen garden and to implement training programs. The team of adolescents involved in the project visited private organic farms where some experts of the organic sector who trained them.
The team of adolescents involved in the project visited private organic farms where some experts of the organic sector who trained them. Initially the project was focused on the cultivation of crops for the consumption of the centre but later, thanks to the experience gained, they started to cultivate vegetables like tomato, chili, beet, horseradish, cauliflower, cabbage, lettuce, bok choy, celery, spinach, coriander, mint and many others, for commercial purposes.
Since July 2018, the team started a new activity for two hours a day: of organic vegetables for passers-by on the way to the city. Despite the initial distrust towards the children because of their seropositivity, the idea worked and now many people who live in the villages around have become regular customers.
Thanks to 5×1000 funds, PRO.SA supported various projects: a solar panel plant for energy conservation, a rearing of broiler and laying hens to compensate for the demand of meet and eggs, and a tailoring school for girls.
A project that goes beyond the nutritional program, offering to HIV-positive children and adolescents the opportunity to grow in harmony, to get an education and to learn a job.
