Almost there!

The Pop family has complted their training and is 50% funded!  We are half way there.  The sale of 50 more GiveBack products will provide them with a new stove, sanitation supplies and gardening tools!

Thank you to our customers who are helping changes lives.

Waiting

Meet the next family in line to receive help from the sale of GiveBack products.

Emilio and Elvira Asig live with their family in Santa María Cahabón, Guatemala, a rural community in the area not far from the famous ruins of Tikal.  They have seven children in their home.

They live in a home typical of the area: tin roof, dirt floor, few electrical lights, and bamboo walls.  The bamboo is spaced apart to allow the smoke from the cooking fire to escape.

Emilio works at at gas station and Elvira raises chickens, ducks, and other small animals for both consumption as well as for selling in the market.  

Elvira cooks over an open fire within their home.  This is common and this is all she has known her entire life.  However, she is aware that the open fire is a health hazard and she and her family have all suffered because of smoke inhalation--including frequent bouts with pneumonia.  

Elvira learned of the GiveBackProducts’ program and has received all the required, no-cost training to qualify for our program.  She is thrilled to know that she will be using as much as 75% less wood than they do now--and that because the new stove has a chimney it will reduce the smoke inhalation 99%.  Wood is expensive for them to buy and they see that the forests are diminishing because of the need for cooking fuel.

 Elvira says that at any time someone in their family has stomach issues due to the poor quality of the water they drink.  For this reason she says they will greatly benefit from having a water purification system in their home and a storage tank for the purified water.  Their current system runs only for a few minutes each morning and has known impurities.  Elvira says this will also save them several trips to the doctor as well as to the pharmacy.

The Asigs are  currently receiving training that will allow them to  plant their first family vegetable garden.  

We hope to provide photographs in the coming months.

In the Que.

Meet the next family in line for assistance from Give Back.

This is Herlinda Pop.  Herlinda's husband isn't in the photo, probably because he was at work -- an assistant in a machine shop.  Herlinda works too, selling tortillas and taking in laundry.  The Pops have two small children:  Mary and Freddy who both attend school.

The Pop family live a humble life.   Their home doesn't have a heater, toilets, or a stove.  They do all their cooking in an open fire polleton, which looks like this:

  The polleton is fueled by wood which is consumed very quickly.  Not only does the consumption of wood affect the local forests, it's expensive, so buying it often is a burden too.

You can imagine what that must be like -- cooking on an open fire inside a house?  There's lots of smoke -- every single day.   It affects the health of the entire family, especially the lungs, teeth and eyes.

Herlinda worries especially about little Freddy, who already has problems with his lungs, but she should also be worrying about herself.  The average life expectancy of a woman in her village is 40 years old -- most of them die of lung related diseases.

After visiting the homes of friends who have participated in the Give Back program, Herlinda saw how  their lives have improved through education and better living conditions.

Herlinda wants to improve life for her family too, so joined the Give Back program.

Here's how it works.

The sale of 100 of our hand made products fully funds one family.  We use those funds to provide that family with training in the areas of health and nutrition, an efficient ventilated wood burning stove, a water purification system, and gardening tools.

At present, the Pops are 40% funded, which means we need need to sell 60 more products to provide them with supplies.

Would you like to help?
If so, pay a visit to our on-line store and purchase a cutting board, or a drawer organizer.
They make great Christmas gifts for the Foodies in your life.

And while you are at it, tell a friend.
The more we sell, the more we can help families like the Pops.

Check back for updates on the families we are helping though the Give Back Movement.
Hopefully, we will have some photos to share.

Welcome

Thank you for visiting the Give Back blog!
We are in the process of getting our site organized.
Until we are fulling operational, you can read more about the Give Back movement here: