National Office Blog

Hi Everyone!

We have an exciting event coming up! Students from UNC's 3 projects (and possibly Duke's project) are going to talk about the awesome things they accomplished overseas this summer. Nourish International's Return Night will be held on September 10th, from 6-8 at the Campus Y on UNC's campus. Snacks will be provided.

UNC Projects:

• Seva Mandir — 6 students  are documenting the formation of Seva Mandir’s women’s leadership program with the goal of recruiting and motivating community leaders to run sustainable initiatives.

• MOCHE — 11 students  are working on a latrine construction project and an assessment for the construction of a free clinic to improve health and sanitation.

• FIPAH — 11 students  are helping with a youth engagement program and documenting FIPAH’s approach to food security

Duke Project:

• Fundacion Comunitaria del Bajio — 3 students are constructing an arts and culture training center to provide integrated training to local residents.

We hope to see you there!

Nourish Grad Continues to Make an Impact--Student Spotlight on Manasa Yeturu

Nourish International is proud to announce that Manasa Yeturu, recent graduate of the University of California, Los Angeles and Nourish Chapter Director has been offered a position as Teach for India Program Director in Pune, India.

Teach for India, modeled after Wendy Kopp's Teach for America, seeks to place India's most outstanding college graduates and young professionals in two-year teaching positions in low income schools around India. As this is the first year the program is being launched, this is an exciting opportunity for Manasa and a great achievement for Nourish International and our donors. Manasa serves as a true example of how your Nourish donation helps students move on to create social change worldwide.

"Founding a Nourish Chapter at UCLA, has given me a real life skill set which I believe will be the most valuable asset as I transition into working for another start-up: Teach for India," says Manasa.

Teach for India was established in 2007 to end educational inequity throughout India. TFI provides training and support to their teachers as they expand the educational opportunities of underprivileged students and schools. Manasa has been specially selected to oversee the first group of Teach for India (TFI) Fellows in Pune, India, and will be moving there in just a few weeks. She is excited to expand the Teach for American model across the world through TFI, and says that she couldn't have done so without Nourish's help.

"Nourish helped me cross the line between development education into development work in college itself, and I know without this experience I would not be where I am today!" says Manasa.

For more information about Teach for India, check out their website at http://teachforindia.org.

Manasa Yeturu graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles in May 2009 with a degree in International Development Studies and a minor in Political Science.

The farmers were in a bad situation, with no hope for improvement. The flat farmland was taken by the multi-national corporations. The land they were left with was mountainous, with an unstable climate and poor soil. Consequently, these farmers were thrust into poverty and had barely enough food to feed their families.

This is where FIPAH came in. FIPAH, the Foundation for Participatory Research with Honduran Farmers (Fundacion para la Investigacion Participativa con Agrucultores de Hondoras), works with farmer cooperatives to find the best seeds and the best agricultural methods for the farmers to use on their land. By doing this, they strengthen the regional food security while preserving the environment.

Last summer, students from Nourish International traveled to Yorito, Honduras to partner with FIPAH and the farmers. Students worked with youth initiatives at two different cooperatives where they taught English, computer skills and theater. The farmers took their turn as teachers as they taught Nourish students about their agricultural processes. The Hondurans and the college students worked hand-in-hand to plant seeds and to conduct research on better farming methods and better seed hybrids.

Funds raised by Nourish students from went towards the construction of greenhouses for the farmers. The students used the 7200USD to provide two greenhouses for the community. These greenhouses were vital because they helped to control the climate so that the farmers could increase their crop yield.

The Honduran farmers and the Nourish students connected so well that the students have returned this summer to continue what they started a year ago. The funds are going to build more greenhouses, and the students are still teaching, learning, and researching. In addition to their work from last year, the college students have set out to create a documentary on the farming community in Yorito to inform others of the unjust land allocation and the need to address the issue of food security.

Through its partnership with FIPAH, Nourish International played a key role in providing sustainable food security for the farmers of Yorito, Honduras. The financial support that Nourish gave helped the farmers feed their families, and the labor that Nourish provided helped educate and empower farmers so that they could empower the rest of their community.

Rose Ormond is an intern with the Nourish National Office. She is a rising senior at UNC-Chapel Hill majoring in International Studies and Spanish. Rose has traveled and worked in Nicaragua, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, and Spain.