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Lambs and Lemons

Lambs and Lemons Provide Education in Peru

Felix Ramos spent most of his 48 years in the water starved village of Sincape, located in the lower Piura River basin, in northern Peru. The tenth of twelve children, Felix was never able to finish his secondary schooling because his family couldn't afford it. With few opportunities other than farming, Felix tried to scrape out a living for his parents, wife, and seven children from the 2.5 acres of land he inherited. There simply wasn't enough income for his family to survive so Felix had to leave to seek work elsewhere in the country. "Those five years when I was working away from home in La Libertad were hard for me," says Felix, "I would abandon my wife and children for a month or a month and a half. I would come home for one or two days, leave money, and go back to work."

Despite the limited opportunities in Sincape, Felix just couldn't be away from his family any longer, so he used his meager saving to purchase another half acre of land and made another go at farming. He tried to grow conventional crops like corn and rice, but with the intensive use of water and agrochemicals Felix saw that there was no way to successfully make a living this way from his 3 acres of land.

It was around this time that Felix became connected with Heifer Peru and their project for "Agroecological Production and Local Markets in the Lower Piura Valley." Felix was selected to receive a module of sheep as a part of the project, but for the six months before that Felix and his wife were trained in livestock care, agroecology, gender equity, and organization-building.

Finally, after he was well prepared, Felix's sheep arrived. "I received four ewes and one ram," says Felix, "I was so lucky that the four ewes were all pregnant and each had several lambs." Felix's flock has grown quickly since then, reaching 120 head after a few years. He has passed along five sheep to other families and sold several sheep in order to buy another 2.5 acres where he is growing sustainable crops like lemons, mangos, and tangerines.

He is now farming in a very different way than he did when he was growing just corn and rice. "My land was losing nutrients because of all the chemicals I was using," Felix says, "but the project's training raised my awareness as I learned about agroecology. Now I farm much differently than before."

But lambs and lemons aren't Felix's best crop. "My children's studies are the best crops that my family can harvest," says Felix. With Heifer's help Felix is now able to provide his children with the education he never had.

You can help other families like Felix's produce a harvest of better nutrition, income and education by making your own donation of sheep today.