Father Antonio Polo heads the Fundación Familia Salesiana in the Village of Salinas, high in the Andes outside of Garanta, on the road from Guayaquil to Ambato, Ecuador. There are 1230 families in the 30 communities surrounding the Village of Salinas. He has 1400 children in the village and surrounding small farm communities that participate in his programs, about 430 boys and 920 girls. He estimated that of these, 55% have severe malnutrition, 35% have serious malnutrition, and only 10% are within normal levels. The Salesiana Family Foundation have children in its educational programs ages 3 to 12 years (children who are 3 to 6 years participate in the "Wawa Kamayuk Wasi" program, and those who are 6 to 12 years attend the School and the Foundation works with them in the “Refuerzo Escolar” program - scholastic support). Most of these children who live above the 4000 meter level do not have access to cow's milk, whereas the children below this level do have access but it is considered to be very expensive (one liter costs $0.26, whereas the soy milk that they make in the Village of Salinas costs $0.12 per liter). The main objective of this Matching Grant is to improve the health of the undernourished children in the care of the Fundación in its programs by providing these children with a daily source of high protein that their bodies need to grow, and their minds to learn. |
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