Thai Update
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We’re celebrating! After more than 8 months of hard work, the food mill that your CHIC offering made possible, is finished! Twelve truck loads of equipment were brought over from Laos. Grain bins were sanded down, repainted, and re-assembled. Roller mills, hammer mills, and extruders were cleaned and re-conditioned. Augers and transitions were fabricated. And a heavy-duty electrical system was installed. But now it’s all together.
We had our first taste of the corn-soy puffs as they shot out the end of our extruders! Put a little honey on them and they wouldn’t be far off the taste of some of the breakfast cereals we grew up on. After they are ground into a flour and fortified with vitamins and minerals, this product will be sold to school feeding programs in countries throughout this region. This flour is steamed into nutritious cakes, with a little sugar added, and given to grade-school children throughout Laos.
Why? A study by the World Food Program in Laos estimated that almost half the schooI-aged children in Laos are chronically malnourished. Not enough of all of the key nutrients in their diet means that many of the children are stunted—not only in height, but also their mental development. The World Food program has been working to counteract this problem through a school-feeding program throughout Laos. Similar programs exist in refugee camps along the Thai-Burmese border and in surrounding countries.
The food mill that CHIC has built will not only meet this big need, but has many ‘ripple-benefits’. Our mill brings jobs and income not only to the families of people working in the mill, but also to l farmers who are able to grow and sell more crops in the local economy. In the process of making and selling nutritious food, Covenant missionaries engage with the community and work with local churches to spread Christ’s love. FROM THE THAI-LAO BORDER IN THE NORTH, WE WANT TO SAY A BIG THANK YOU, CHIC, FOR BEING A BIG PART OF THIS PROJECT!
