Providing Atmit, hope
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BYU scientist, specialists work together to fortify Atmit
We were on the shoulder of the Peruvian Andes near the Ecuadorian border but so far off the beaten path that not even Google Earth ventured to go there. Along with a small Church video crew, I had flown to Piura, about an hour north of Lima by air. When the paved road turned to dirt east of Chulucanas, we started to climb to our destination — another four hours distant.
At just 6,500 feet in elevation, Lagunas was not exactly a high-altitude farming village. But the steep mountain slopes — 30 to 45 degrees in pitch — prevented any harvesting machinery from operating there, even if the villagers could have afforded it.
The steepness, bisected only by our narrow mountain road, provided us with stunning vistas and spectacular drop-offs. We were fortunate that other vehicles seldom venture this far to the east as there were few places for two vehicles to pass going in opposite directions.
Despite a relatively stable economy, the number of Peruvians living in poverty has increased in recent years. Chronic malnutrition affects nearly one-third of all children under 5 years old in Peru, and over three-fourths of these children live in rural areas like Lagunas in the Andean Highlands.
Most people in Lagunas and in the dozens of highland villages surrounding it are subsistence farmers. Imagine my first impression when I saw these farmers relaxing in the village at 3 o'clock in the afternoon — that is, until I learned they had been toiling in the fields since 3 o'clock in the morning. They work with hand tools for 10 to 12 hours a day, preparing or maintaining their fields or harvesting their crops of corn, potatoes, cassava and even rice that grows in stream-fed paddies in the canyon bottoms.
The cornfields surrounding Lagunas are planted in small terraces actually created by cow paths. On many hillsides they are also planted among large boulders. Growing conditions are so difficult that no land goes to waste.
Extreme living conditions
Our visit coincided with the end of the long, dry season in northern Peru. Farmers were preparing their fields so they would be ready to plant as soon as the rains came. In the meantime, food — especially that with nutrients needed by small children — was getting scarce.
"Hunger is a very important issue here," said Alex Guyeber Cordova Castillo, governor of the Lagunas district. "This is one of the poorest districts in the country. We have a very long dry season and it's hard to produce any food at all. We don't have water until the rain comes. Then, when the rains do come from December until March or April, roads get damaged to some of the villages and people become isolated. It's impossible to get food and products to them."
Because of these extreme living conditions, LDS Charities partnered with Sembrando — the humanitarian organization of the first lady of Peru — to distribute school kits, hygiene kits and Atmit to families and small children in the Lagunas and other districts.
The school and hygiene kits — 45,000 of them — were assembled by a thousand young LDS Institute men and women in Lima. Contents for the kits were purchased in Peru by LDS Charities.
"It's something my people could never buy on their own," said Governor Cordova. "Our children are very happy and they appreciate it so much. As governor, I thank and congratulate [the Institute students] for making this possible. I hope the Lord will bless them for everything they did."
Atmit is a nutritional porridge formulated by LDS Charities and other humanitarian organizations. The Church began using Atmit as a life-saving food supplement during the Ethiopian famine of 2003. It has since been distributed in 15 countries on four continents.
"Atmit is an excellent source of nutrition," said Elder James W. Hansen, M.D., Ph.D., a medical adviser and a missionary for the Church Welfare Services Department. "It is a milk-containing oat-flour-based nutritional product that is a good complement to whatever nutrition might be available from local sources. It has been used successfully as a well-tolerated food in some cases of extreme starvation. It encourages self-reliance by requiring some preparation by the consumer and the availability of water and fuel for cooking."
Atmit also contains sugar, salt and supplemental vitamins and minerals. The formula was recently improved by Elder Hansen and Dr. Michael L. Dunn, Ph.D., a professor from the BYU Department of Nutrition, Dietetics and Food Science (see related article). A single serving provides 34 percent of the recommended daily allowance of protein, 43 percent of calcium, 99 percent of iron, and high percentages for a dozen vitamins and minerals for children under 5 years old. This formula helps them maintain some nutrition over a short period of time until crops are harvested and they can again thrive on a regular family diet.
The value of partnerships
For eight years, LDS Charities has worked in Peru with Sembrando. Peruvian first lady Pilar Nores de Garcia made an appeal to the South America Northwest Area Presidency of the Church for in-kind assistance of Atmit, school kits and hygiene kits. These products would supplement existing programs that address malnutrition, literacy, hygiene and sanitation in more than 200 communities in the rural highlands of Peru. As a result of these programs, some areas have seen up to a 60 percent reduction in diarrheal and respiratory infections.
Our visit coincided with the start of the first lady's 40-day tour of remote villages — often visiting two or three villages a day. We caught up with her in Lucumo — a one-hour drive up another winding mountain road from Lagunas. As in Lagunas, life was hard in Lucumo. Children are undernourished; adults constantly worry about their next meal.
At Lucumo, hygiene and nutrition were taught to families by Sembrando volunteers. In addition, hygiene and school kits, along with vitamins and hand-sanitizing products, were distributed. Each child under 5 also received a 2-kilo (4.4 pound) bag of Atmit — enough to supplement their diet for about one month.
Villagers were visibly pleased and voiced their appreciation for the hope that it gave them to know that the government and a church with headquarters in a distant land cared about their plight. Throughout the Andean Highlands, a total of 30,000 men, women and children benefited from the project.
In 2010, 645,000 pounds of Atmit were shipped by LDS Charities to four countries. Depending upon the age and size of the children, that's enough to feed 100,000 to 130,000 children for one month. The cost? Less than $6 (USD) per child.
"I thank The Church of Jesus Christ, and I thank God that He has allowed you and your members to be helping us," said Governor Cordova. "If we all work together, we can accomplish something to fight poverty and to fight hunger."
