ino families in rural areas devastated by economic loss from the COVID-19 crisis.“In my internships, I realized that I didn’t enjoy the lab and hospitals depressed me. So while figuring out my next step, I went to a temp agency. My first placement happened to be a French bank called BNP Paribas.”
“It was my foray into farming that led me to discover my love for organic farming and to create ARK. I realized then that my neighbors who were farming chemically were stuck in a structural bind. The pesticides they used rendered the soil dead and left farmers only one crop to farm - either rice or corn. For this crop and in every village, there is only one buyer. Lastly, there is no other market in the village. No one is investing in them.
ARK is a P2.50-day school lunch program served to all students every day they come to class. The children are served fresh and organic vegetables and protein, grown in the school garden and in their parents’ backyard. “Creating an equitable and sustainable world is at the core of ARK. You cannot make an equitable world if there is hunger and it is causing kids to drop out of school. It’s also hard to make an equitable world if one does not invest in those who need it most like farmers and fisherfolk in the Philippines and developing world who feed the world,” explains Yu.Then COVID-19 happened and schools were closed.
“Feed Back also gets families to generate excess which they bring to the Feed Back exchange during the 8-week timeframe or sell to their neighbors, nearby villages and towns. The excess is also used in their new food ventures,” adds Yu. “Given that 1 out of every 5 Filipinos experienced hunger through this pandemic, we are determined to share our solution throughout the Philippines. This year, we want to enable 70 communities or 30,000 families to solve hunger and secure their food for life all on their own.” “We will be building capacity and honing our solution so we can share Feed Back with other communities in the developing world.