Unidas Para Vivir Mejor (UPAVIM - United for a Better Life), is a cooperative association of women in urban Zona 12, La Esperanza, Guatemala City.
UPAVIM provides employment for more then 80 women in crafts and bakery production, and community services such as medical care and a pre school. In 2005 UPAVIM requested help from Plenty to design and set up a small-scale soy food-processing kitchen next to their small bakery.
Plenty raised funds, purchased and installed equipment, and provided instruction to UPAVIM staff in commercial food preparation and handling, sanitation procedures, and adapting soy foods to traditional meals. |
UPAVIM staff and volunteers pose with
Plenty representatives. (photo by Kaya Wartinger) |
Amado Del Valle, a soy foods specialist and technician who learned soy processing in the early days of Plenty’s Guatemala program, assisted in the training.
Soy pulp that remains from the milk making process is added to breads and pastries to increase its nutritional value.
The women working at UPAVIM provide meals for dozens of children who attend their pre and primary school. Soymilk and other foods, including soy ice cream, are sold to UPAVIM families and others in the neighborhood.
They also sell soymilk to Karen's Soy Nutrition Project by the Guatemala City Dump.
They are working hard to make “UPA-Soya” a sustainable venture in one of the poorest areas of Guatemala City
This effort was made possible through Plenty’s many generous donors and friends, as well as the Trull Foundation and A Well-Fed World. |
Amado Del Valle tries a new press for extracting soy milk.
Women sew at the UPAVIM craft center.
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