Bright red & green brick buildings divided by a dirt road, nestled against the backdrop of mountains. A child runs across the road while one is using a wheelbarrow. The caption reads Marañon Fundraiser—Support Community Impacted By Mudslide.
We are incredibly saddened to hear that recent heavy rains have caused severe mudslides in Northern Peru, impacting the rural community of the Marañon Valley. Children have been swept away, over 30 homes have been destroyed, & roads have withered away making it nearly impossible to bring in goods and services and send out the crops the farmers’ income depends on.
Two images. The first a man herds twelve cows down a dirt road against the backdrop of nearby lush green mountains. The second a person with medium brown skin, a green cap, red shirt, blue shorts, and a determined expression kneels next to a back of white cacao beans. He is cracking open a bright yellow cacao pod.
We visited in 2017 and learned a lot about this area. It's important to know that it is an extremely rugged area, far away from our concept of a modern city. It is a remote farming village in the foothills on the Eastern slope of the Andes Mountains. Up until the last several years, residents were landlocked by a very wide and fast moving river and could get across by a rope-drawn ferry.
The people in this area live very closely with the land in terms of growing their own food, raising their own livestock, and growing other goods like cacao and coffee. Along with all the things that nature provides, it sometimes takes away too as we have seen with these mudslides during an abnormally wet rainy season. The livelihood of the people in this area is already fairly precarious as income per household from farming is fairly low, so the setback of losing a home in a natural disaster akin to losing everything.
A bright yellow bar of our Peru 75% Cacao Bar, sourced from Marañon Valley cacao. On the right is a photo of a hand painted sign on a concrete wall written in yellow, saying Marañon Cacao, with a decorative drawing of a pod below.
As much of their annual income comes from our cocoa purchases, we feel it's our responsibility to aid in helping to get them back on their feet. We are donating 50% of our Peru bar sales over the next two months from our online retail & cafes to go towards a GoFundMe that will aid in buying new stoves, clothes, medicine, & concrete to lay new foundations for homes as well as direct cash payments.
Two images. The first a man with greying hair, medium brown skin, a white shirt & black pants kneels underneath a cacao tree. He has a beautiful smile. In the second Ritual co-founded hugs one of their hosts on their trip in 2017. The host wears a green cap, red shirt, & a friendly smile.
