Groep Bouwen in Peru

Solid International is a Belgian family development organisation that wishes to improve the living conditions of the population in Peru, and in particular in one of the poorest regions of the Andes: Ayacucho. Solid does this by setting up projects where ultimately financial autonomy can be guaranteed to this farming population. Solid has been doing this for many years now, having for example created a knitting plant and a flower farm. A modern dairy farm was also built in order to support the local population. The milk that is produced is used to make several types of cheese, for example.

Nevertheless, the cheese factory itself is located a half hour´s drive from the farm, in a building rented by the community. They do not own the building themselves, and there is now a plan to build their own cheese factory right next to the farm. This would not only reduce costs, but also improve the hygienic conditions in which the cheese can be made.

Unfortunately, there were no funds to pay for the construction and equipment of the cheese factory. Groep Bouwen has therefore committed itself to assuming responsibility for this investment. Groep Bouwen is doing so because its commitment will be highly visible and very direct: within two years, the local Andean farmers will be making their cheeses in ´our´ little cheese factory.

To enforce our commitment to this project, Cedric Bouwen accepted the task to supervise the construction of the integrated farm at the scene. Mid april 2017 Cedric left for Peru for a first term of 6 months. During his time there he spent a lot of time helping with the daily chores of the local farmers. Afterwards he fully commited himself to the construction of the cheese factory.

At the start of january the cheese factory was ready for production and in the meantime it has been fully utilized to its highest potential to produce a much higher amount of cheese than previously possible.

Groep Bouwen made the Belgian newspapers with this project.
You can read the article (in Dutch) here: Groep Bouwen in Peru

Please take some time to visit the website of Solid as well.