Donor: Anonymous
Local Ally: Banco de Alimentos La Guajira
Beneficiaries: 101 Indigenous Families
Location: Youyoupana, La Guajira
In Colombia, the neighborhood store is the place where the community meets and connects on a daily basis. The independent owner greets everyone by name, you can run down in five minutes to get freshly-made cheese for breakfast, and it´s common to find a group of local retired men sitting on white plastic chairs enjoying their afternoon coffee.
For the Indigenous Wayuu community of Youyoupana, this concept is also well known. However, because the territory is surrounded by kilometers of desert, their neighborhood store is the only one within walking distance. This community store is part of the “Tiendas Solidarias” initiative by Banco de Alimentos La Guajira, which aims to tackle food insecurity by creating small community stores across La Guajira. Most families in the area belong to rural low-income Indigenous or farming communities with no access to electricity.
Even if the community store has given access to food and essential goods for years, availability of fresh products were limited, and losses of perishable food were high due to a lack of storage and preservation capacity. To address this challenge, the store was chosen to receive solar panels and a commercial fridge, provided and installed by Soler Solutions.
Thanks to the installation of the equipment, the community store now serves not only the 12 families of Youyoupana but also a total of 101 families across five neighbouring communities (RuliPúmana, Shulema, Kalouyachan, and Aliraapa). These families now have access to meat, dairy products, and fresh fruits without having to travel long distances. This means they can avoid transportation costs to reach urban areas and instead invest those resources in improving their nutrition.
