mishqui-yacu, sweet water - IFAD

I like to work and CARC has given me plenty of opportunities to
do that. The credit is excellent; previously the high interest was
crippling. CARC offers me not only a better income, but also training
and introduction to new methods. 124
90
In 1995, I had my first contact with CARC, obtaining training and
improved potato seeds. After that I received more training and
became the beneficiary of a drinking water programme. I have
benefited a lot from my collaboration with CARC. When they
leave, I feel a little like a young man who has been brought up by
his father and now is left alone to use his skills. 125
What is conspicuous in many of the encounters with CARC beneficiaries
is their appreciation of the training they have received. This
may be a manifestation of the thirst for knowledge among a social
class that for too long has been excluded from education and influence.
The project technicians also often summarize their experience
as a process of learning:
It has been like a school for me. I have learned a lot within different
fields of knowledge and now realize the importance not only
of technical skills and knowledge, but also of social skills and
insights. This will surely be very helpful for me in the future. 126
The project is now drawing to a close. It leaves behind the following
benefits: improved and new irrigation systems; a road that opened up
a remote community to the surrounding world; an efficient credit
cooperative; plastic-sheeted greenhouses for fruit and other important
market products; more efficient guinea-pig breeding methods to
ensure better prices throughout the region; better knowledge of integrated
farming systems; and more efficient water committees and
appropriate drinking water systems.
124 Interview with Juan Tapia Vásquez.
125 Interview with M. Espiritu Quizhpi.
126 Interview with Clever Padrón.