By Michael Turnbell
People and organizations around the world will celebrate the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women in honor of International Women’s Day on March 8.
Food For The Poor will construct a bakery in San Fernando, Honduras, to help struggling women and their families, many of whom live in shacks and can’t afford to send their children to school regularly. Through the bakery, 16 women of the Arlemunsi cooperative group will learn how to bake bread and make pastries to sell.
Today, these women bake goods in an old clay oven, which produces soot and waves of smoke. These unhealthy conditions have caused respiratory problems in some of the women. After working long hours, sometimes as much as 10 hours a day, the women travel on foot to sell their baked goods to the urban parts of Siguatepeque.
On International Women’s Day, which has been commemorated annually for more than 100 years, generous donors can be a blessing to women and girls across the Caribbean and Latin America by giving to Food For The Poor projects like the San Fernando bakery.
“Women and girls are known to suffer disproportionately when they are poor. Girls are often thrust into the role of caregiver when a parent is ill,” said Food For The Poor Executive Director Angel Aloma. “If a family lacks the funds to send all the children to school, the girls are kept home. If there is not enough food for a family to share, a mother will go hungry to fill her children’s empty stomachs.”
To learn more about the women Food For The Poor is recognizing on International Women’s Day, please visit www.FoodForThePoor.com/women.
To donate to the bakery project, please visit www.FoodForThePoor.com/bakery.