The Hilata community is located on the Altiplano on the shores of Lake Titicaca, where living conditions are harsh. The extreme altitude and climate here make it very difficult to grow crops, inevitably leading to high levels of malnutrition. For generations people have cooked on wood fire stoves. However, devastating deforestation has led to a widespread shortage of wood as fuel. These traditional stoves also lead to chronic health problems, as the toxic smoke inside the confined space of each house causes major respiratory and optical diseases.

 

Our healthy homes initiative is an integrated project that addresses many of these challenges by removing smoke from within the home, improving access to clean water, providing the means to produce fresh fruit and vegetables and creating a safe place to house and rear livestock.