Our Stories
With the generous help of our partners and donors, the World Soy Foundation is touching lives throughout the world. We would like to share some of our success stories with you.
Central America
Central America is another big focus for the World Soy Foundation thanks to funding from Cargill's Citizenship Committee. The Early Childhood Nutrition program in Honduras serves over 300 infants and toddlers. The World Soy Foundation knows that good nutrition is the most important things we can do for our youngest children to help them thrive. Our programs also reach thousands of school children through education and nutrition in Guatemala and Honduras with donations of cash and soy products from Cargill.
Cargill’s Corporate Social Responsibility program has assisted day cares and other institutions in improving the diets for children in Central America. The World Soy Foundation and corporate partners including Cargill are sponsoring a three-year series of nutritonal seminars featuring soy applications. Ruby Galindo, an attendee at the first training seminar who is a cook at a nursery school in Honduras, had the following comments. "For me, this was a very educational and satisfying opportunity to
learn how to apply the multiple uses of the soy bean. The training center was well equipped with the kitchen appliances and other accessories to facilitate our training. I met ladies from other nurseries who were also enthusiastic about learning how to prepare textured soy appropriately. I had the chance to learn about the nutritional value of the soy bean from experts in nutrition.
The instructors taught me how to prepare delicious meals using the soy products as a replacement for various ingredients. We learned to prepare rice with meat and vegetables, soy meat with beans, garden rice and soy salad. The “okara” bread we baked was delicious as well. From my own recipes I was able to make soy milk candy at home. I am sure we will be able to prepare delicious and nutritional meals for many children in need that normally attend our child care center, children that are in desperate need for better nutrition."
With a generous donation from Rotary International, the World Soy Foundation was able to purchase two SoyCow machines and donate them to charitable organizations within Guatemala. The first SoyCow went to a hospital that provides healthcare to the poor in Antigua. The SoyCow will provide nutritional aid to the 230 resident patients and nourishment to the 100,000 needy people the facility helps annually. Cargill generously donated the soybeans used to initiate the project.
Another SoyCow donated by Rotary went to a Rotary Club in San Pedro Sula for an organization whose mission is to nourish children of families in a poor neighborhood served by Father Peres of a local Catholic mission. Each machine has the potential to produce 40 liters of soymilk per hour with protein content similar to that of cows' milk. The WSF assisted with the installation and training for the Honduran machine.
Ghana
An example of the World Soy Foundation’s many activities includes work with Silk® soy milk, a WhiteWave Foods brand and the Adventist Development and Relief Agency to provide nutritious meals to school children in Ghana. The project has leveraged U.S. soybean farmer contributions and also promotes sustainable economic development in the West African country.
The World Soy Foundation is purchasing, transporting and installing a “VitaGoat” soymilk processing machine as well as training operators and providing a year’s worth of soybeans. As a result, the VitaGoat will produce enough soymilk to feed a school of 280 children for at least one school year and have sufficient product to sell to the community as a sustainable small enterprise.
“Our partnership has allowed us to strengthen our relationship with the community, local farmers, the government, and the local government,” said Dr. William Brown, County Director for ADRA Ghana. “We look forward to a long and fruitful partnership with the World Soy Foundation in the future, enabling us to make an even greater impact throughout the entire nation.”
South Africa
The World Soy Foundation was awarded funds through The Monsanto Fund to pilot the use of SoyCow Soybean Processing Technology to improve nutrition for a community in South Africa. With the assistance of INMED Partnerships for Children and Joint Aid Management (JAM), U.S. private voluntary organizations, the SoyCow Small Business Development Project was implemented in the informal settlement of Orange Farm, south of Johannesburg. The project helped a group of unemployed, young people to start their own small business. The business was named "Nambitha Nutritional Products" and was officially registered in South Africa in October 2008.
In addition to receiving the SowCow, the business owners received extensive business mentorship and training. They were trained to use and maintain the machine and learned how to make soymilk and yogurt, as well as additional products, such as tofu, soya nuts and soya chips. With the SowCow technology, Nambitha will ultimately create sustainable solutions to the protein needs of the people in this South African region.
