Since I began working with SHI, so much has changed in my life, especially now that I understand things such as how to use chicken manure and rice husks for fertilizer. My field trainer, Daysbeth, has shown me how to ferment this into a liquid mix that is very hot at first, but after ten days it is ready to be used.

This year we planted a small coffee plantation using terraces with very large holes. We filled the holes with the chicken manure and rice husk fertilizer and mixed with good soil. It is really helping the coffee seedlings to grow.

We are also creating compost with all of our waste from the kitchen, along with the leaves that we sweep up in the yard.

With the help of SHI, I now have a small chicken coop and have begun selling eggs in a small shop that I opened. This has helped me to keep sending my daughter to school to finish her secondary classes.

I am very grateful for your support of SHI. I can’t tell you how happy I am. I hope my neighbors will have the same fate as I do and can be helped in the same way.

Thank you,

Rita Julia Alonso
Community Los Alonzo, Cocle, Panama