Sowing Hope, Cultivating Solidarity in Chile

Educación Popular en Salud, or Popular Education in Health, (EPES) was founded by Karen Anderson, ELCA mission personnel, as a ministry of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Chile in the early 1980s. In 2002, EPES became an independent foundation, continuing and expanding its support of communities in the Latin American country of Chile. This important work is supported in part by gifts to ELCA World Hunger. We are grateful to our partners at EPES for the update and video below, showcasing some of the amazing work that is happening in the El Bosque community in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Check it out!

In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the EPES Foundation initiated a project with community health promoters and nutrition teams to cultivate home gardens. In five months, the women transformed the patios and balconies of their homes into small vegetable gardens. The enthusiasm for what was learned and harvested during the months of strict quarantine was so great that the women decided to create a community garden at the end of that year. The Auco community center in the Oscar Bonilla neighborhood of El Bosque, where the David Werner health team has met for more than 25 years, was chosen as the place for the community garden.

Since the beginning the project has had the technical advice and collaboration of Valeria Rodriguez from the Santa Isabel community garden.

In this video, the women share their experiences related to creating the garden, highlighting the satisfaction of growing their own food, connecting with nature, promoting community participation in health and food sovereignty, and contributing to the environment by reducing organic waste. In addition, they report how this collective learning process has helped them to better face the pandemic, strengthening ties between women, sowing hope and cultivating solidarity.

Video Production and Editing: Claudia Macchiavello

Original Music: Martín Formento