Community Leadership

Purpose: To strengthen communities through addressing the reinforcement of the individual youth of the community.

Description: In a culture that is economically the poorest of the poor and has seen extensive change in recent years, the youth are certainly the greatest resource available. Recognizing the need for social stability, APECA, with the Ministry of Health, has developed an approach that seeks to strengthen communities through addressing the reinforcement of the individual youth of the community. The leadership training classes use solution focused methods to encourage the volunteer participants to work with each other and government agencies. With these improved skills, they become the strength of their local community.

Each year APECA, with the Ministry of Education, conducts four leadership training classes. This program teaches people how to work with each other and government agencies to provide the needed services to their villages.

Demonstration Ponds

APECA has a demonstration fish pond, chickens and a demonstration turtle pond at the El Fundo training center.

The Turtle Project

Purpose: To educate the villagers on how to farm turtles for food using their chickens and ponds. This will help to restore the endangered river turtles of the region.

Description: The once abundant Amazon River turtles provided a plentiful source of dietary protein and dietary fat for the local peoples. Over-fishing, over-population, pollution, predators, etc., have considerably reduced this natural resource. Farm chickens are common in the area and they too provide a useful source of dietary protein.

APECA maintains a pond at El Fundo which demonstrates to the villagers how they can use their chickens to grow turtles. A chicken coop is built on stilts over a pond.

Putting structures on stilts is an innate part of the Amazon culture due to seasonal flooding. Putting the coop on stilts, with access across a removable bridge, provides a measure of protection for the chickens from predatory animals and snakes. The chicken coop has a wire mesh floor and the chicken "guano" drops into the pond. Succulent vegetation is produced from this combination of nitrogen rich "fertilizer" and the Amazon sun.

Turtle hatchlings are placed in the pond. The turtles grow well on the vegetation with no predatory threats and the population can be easily managed. Thus, by simply feeding the chickens, a community can produce these very valuable and renewable food sources.