Happy Healthy Farm Kids uses a two-pronged approach to achieving our goals. First, we facilitate weekly educational sessions with a trained psychologist for at-risk farm kids in remote areas of Peru. Second, we facilitate an educational exchange between US and Peruvian health professionals who practice in rural areas.

Happy Healthy Farm Kids addresses the needs of today’s teens living in two very different types of Peruvian agricultural communities, one produces potatoes for local and regional consumption and the other produces organic, fair trade coffee for global consumption.

Both communities are experiencing the rapid changes associated with globalization, increased mechanization and shifting markets in the Developing World. With parents’ increased need to work outside of the home, teens are increasingly left to care for themselves and their younger siblings. They are at a higher risk of malnutrition, substance abuse, depression and suicide, all things that these small communities have experienced in the last 12 months.

The rural communities that Crescendos Alliance supports do not have adequate resources to deal with such mental and physical health issues. CA brings these services to local youth and works to help them to a happy future.