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| Puente a la Salud Comunitaria contributes to food sovereignty and advances the health and well-being of rural communities in Mexico by promoting the consumption, production, and commercialization of amaranth. |
Time to Celebrate the Harvest
This month, the amaranth plants of the indigenous Zapotec town of Mazaltepec started to grow taller than the inhabitants- it was clearly time to harvest! While many of Puente's communities are located in the high mountainous regions of Oaxaca, Mazaltepec is in the Central Valley, meaning that the climate is warmer and the growth cycle for amaranth growth is shorter.
This is the first year that Puente has worked with the people of Mazaltepec, and thirteen farmers decided to farm an acre of community land, where they would learn the basic techniques for growing amaranth together. Since March this year, the farmers have learnt to make organic fertilizers and plant amaranth in a sustainable manner through Puente's seven participative farming workshops.
 Harvest day was a joyous event. The participant farmers brought their families along to the community plot, to help with the work and to enjoy the fruits of a successful crop. The demonstrative plot reaped over 500 kilos of amaranth- enough to feed all of the their entire families for a year and to save enough seed to replant the following season. Indeed, the farmers are so motivated by how the harvest went, that they have decided that next year they also want to grow amaranth on their own individual private plots.
The village of Mazaltepec is typical of many indigenous communities in Oaxaca in that the economy depends largely on remittances from the United States and other parts of Mexico. In the future the farmers hope to produce enough amaranth not only to feed their families and combat malnutrition in their communities, but also to sell and thus generate some income locally.
Harvests in the remaining 17 communities working with Puente this year will take place between mid-October to end-November- we will keep you informed with the developments
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September 15th: Mexican Independence Day!
On the 15th of September Mexico celebrated 199 years of independence!
In the mountainous community of El Peral, the children of the village were asked to parade through the main street in celebration of this national event. The mothers that are participating in Puente's amaranth nutritional program to improve their children's health, requested ten t-shirts so that their kids could walk together, proudly marked out as participants of Puente's programs and consumers of amaranth.
Puente feels extremely privileged to have been honored in this way.
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Made it to the Top
Message of thanks by Pete Noll, Puente Executive Director
I am humbled and honored to have reached the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro, the highest peak of Africa. Special thanks to all my friends and contributors who offered fantastic support to the charity hike.
In total the hike raised more than $7,000 USD, all of which will go to support Puente's programs and services.
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Why I Serve on Puente's Board
As a Oaxaca-phile now living in New York, I occasionally find myself looking around at a group of executives wondering if any one else in the room has ever eaten a grasshopper taco.
I first came to Oaxaca a number of years ago as a recent college graduate eager to improve my Spanish and see more of the world – and, like so many people, found it hard to leave. I ended up spending nearly three years in Oaxaca, working for a local microfinance institution, Servicios Financieros Alternativos. My work took me outside the beautiful colonial buildings and avant guarde art of Oaxaca City, into agricultural communities where maltrutrition is the norm and the local economy is dependent largely on remittances sent from the US.
I soon got to know Kate Seely and Katherine Lorenz, who had recently started Puente. I was immediately impressed by their entrepreneurialism, commitment, and deep belief that amaranth could be a sustainable, locally appropriate vehicle for economic development and community health. Kate and I eventually became roommates, and I have fond memories of her rising early to pack up her noisy Volkswagon bocho and head up into the mountains to visit the communities where Puente works. She’d return fourteen hours later – tired, maybe a bit dusty – but energized by the enthusiasm and humor the señoras had shown in her amaranth cooking class, and the latest anecdote of a severely malnourished child who had gained weight by eating a fistful of amaranth a day.
When I returned to the United States, I set out for business school and a career in management consulting. Oaxaca remains an important part of my life – not only because of the formative professional and personal experiences I had there, but because it’s such a tangible reminder for me of the challenges that so many people face in their daily lives – to make a dependable living, to provide wholesome food for their families.
And so when the board of Puente invited me to join them as a fellow member in 2007, I jumped at the opportunity to be part of an innovative, impactful organization working on behalf of Oaxacan communities. My experience on the board to date has only reaffirmed my excitement about the organization and its potential. In particular, I’ve deeply enjoyed being able to translate what I’ve learned in business to the non-profit sector. A strength of the Puente board is how each of us contributes a distinctive, complementary set of skills and experiences to the organization.
One of the highlights of my experience as a board member has been helping to lead the searches to hire Pete Noll, Puente’s Executive Director, and Dhaniella Falk, our new Grants and Communications Director. While Kate and Katherine continue to dedicate their time, vision, and wisdom to Puente, it has been incredibly gratifying to see Puente make such a smooth transition from its founding leadership to a next generation of motivated and talented leaders – a change that is challenging for any organization.
 Every year, the Puente board convenes in person in Oaxaca for a multi-day meeting. It’s an opportunity to get more in-depth updates on Puente’s programs, meet with and get input from local staff, and visit at least one community in which Puente works. This year, we made the multi-hour trek to Rancho Tejas, where we were hosted by Feliciano Vasquez Martinez and his family. They showed us their large bins of organic compost, constructed and stocked with earthworms with support from Puente – which have replaced the expensive, chemical fertilizers they used to travel hours to buy. They generously shared with us an extraordinary meal featuring homemade tortillas and every last part of a chicken. And together, under that cloudless, deep blue sky that will stir nostalgia in the heart of anyone who’s ever been to Oaxaca, we got down to the work of planting a field of amaranth.
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Puente would like to thank all individuals and foundations that have made our work possible. Please help us invest in the future of many more families with your generous support. Donate now!
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Join Puente's cause on Facebook by clicking here and searching for "Friends of Puente." We look forward to seeing you on Facebook!
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