Heilongjiang Project 200 – mushrooms anyone

Project 200 is about bringing hope to the poorest children we can find in this Northern China community.  We are partnered with government schools to support these kids so they can remain in school and progress through their education.  This past six months we have also been busy experimenting with some poverty reduction programs.  This has been a difficult challenge for us as many of the children we support live with aging grandparents having been abandoned by parents or who have lost their parents through mining accidents or divorce.  Poverty reduction strategies are therefore limited.  As introduced in the last update, we  have now successfully completed our trial of mushroom growing as a poverty reduction program.  The final result for our pilot study was an estimated 73% return on investment.  This solution will now be rolled-out to other families who have the land and physical capability to make this a success.  Over time these families can expand their capacity through reinvesting some of the profits.  Thanks again to a family in Australia who has funded this mushroom program and also to all those who sponsor these children from around the world.  Your support not only keeps your child in school, but has enabled several other children to do the same also.

(Pictured: One of the grandmas proudly harvesting her mushrooms.  These are then dried and taken to market; Our Captivating Field representative, Phoenix, visiting one of the families to inspect progress of a sponsored child and the project.).