Rain Vol XIV_No 4

protein indigenous crops. The women in each community had a strong voice-in planning and implementing their village's·seed bank. The Nutrici6n y Cultivos Andinos project's success represents only part of the ongoing collaboration between the two organizations. In 1990, as part of its Global Objective '90 conference, ODN brought-Juan Felix Arias, the primary administrator of Kechuaymara, to the US. This began a series of personal exchanges which resulted in deeper mutual understanding. Face-to-face interaction makes collaboration more real, motivates everyone, and makes sure that the collaboration reflects everyone's interests. Although the exchange of money .is very important, personal contci.ct makes the relationship whole, creates well-thought-out collective goals, and reinforces advocacy work. While it involves some culture shock for people from a subsistence culture, the exposure for student hosts gives them a taste of real transnational solidarity. Since this initial conference, three students-have gone to Bolivia and worked with Kechuaymara, and two members of Kechuaymara have come to the United States to participate in Bike-Aid. To ensure these exchanges happen, 20% of the Bike-Aid net goes to fellowships. Through these visits, Kechuaymara now better understands ODN's work ~n campuses. They have seen, for example, the chapter at UC Santa Cruz, which introduces students to ideas of grassroots development and Bolivian culture, and organizes concerts and campus-wide fasts in order to fund the Nutrici6n y Cultivos Andinos project. The' Bike-Aid participants from overseas also saw for themselves the challenges .community organizations face throughout the United States. They brought their observations of American culture back to Bolivia, and provided their communities with an alternative to the seductive and misleading media image of the United States. ODN interns were able to see first-hand the work of Kechuaymara and share their experiences with fellow students. Kechuaymara has .provided them with a concrete example of grassroots development, and demons_trated the power of alternatives to top-down development. Conventional development has not only failed to address people' s needs, but in.many cases has als'o been a destructive force. Gustavo Esteva reminds us that conventional international dev~lopment has meant starting: on a road that others know better... to race up a oneway street...Developmentfor the overwhelming majority has always meant the modernization oftheir poverty... Most peasants are aware that development has undermined their subsistence. Grassroots development works to strengthen community control and enhance subsistence. Through the ongoing partnership of organizations like ODN and Kechuaymar~, a genuine alternative to large-scale development is emerging~ For more information, contact ODN, or Kechuaymara, Casilla - 5239 La Paz, Bolivia. Quinoa, Andean Style .The Kechuaymara Project publishes pamphlets for indig.. enous peoples on growing and using tarwi and quinoa, two native Bolivian grains. Here are a pair of related traditional quinoa recipes, one for breakfast and one for a drink. Quinoa Breakfast Ingredients: 1-112 cups of quinoa'grain ' 18 cups of water 6 cups of diluted milk 2 cups of sugar a small spoonful of anise 6 cinnamon sticks · . Preparation: In an adequate container, deposit the water with the cinnamon and anise. After 10 minutes of boiling, put in the well-cleaned (rinsed) quinoa grain and slowly stir until it has cooked (burst), then add the sugar and.the milk, boiling for 10 more minutes. Take the pot off the fire and let it cool for a.few minutes, then serve. Quinoa Drink Ingredients: 1-112 pound of quinoa 3 pounds of sugar 60 pitchers of water 3 orange skip.s 1 lemon skin 112 spoon anise 112 spoon of aromatic spices (clavo de olor) 10 cinnamon sticks Preparation: Mix water with the cinnamon, spices, orange and lemon skins. Boil for ~/2 hour. Add washed quinoa and allow to fully cook. Take pot off the fire. When cool, drain liquid into other containers. Add sugar to. taste and serve. RAIN Summer 1994 Volume XIV, Number 4 Page 37

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