Colombian Dinner Fundraiser a Success!

Thank you to everyone who helped us to set up the event and to everyone who attended.  We raised a little over $2,600 to help the people of La Libertad!  Where you unable to attend but willing to help?  Please visit our website to learn how.

Pictured are my aunts Irene and Gloria, to whom I deeply thank.  Without their help we would not have had the event.  We did much planning and cooking!  Here you see the carne asada, grilled expertly by my cousin Mike.

I would also like to give a heart-felt thank you to my family Crystal, Rudy, Joan, and Diane for helping to organize, clean, and set up their house for the event.

We prepared fried plantain and yuca.  Many people at the dinner ate yuca for the first time.  It is called cassava in English.  Yuca is also used to make tapioca.  It is a high-protein staple of the villagers of La Libertad.

Colombians frequently have simple salads of tomato and cucumber.  Limes are squeezed over the vegetables as a dressing.  The salsa is made from hot peppers, scallions, garlic, cilantro, water, and salt.

The soup is called ajiaco.  It is made from chicken and three different types of potatoes.  The soup gets its distinctive flavor from a Colombian herb called guascus.  Guascas is very difficult to find in the US.  I brought it up with me from Colombia.

Crystal is enjoying a bowl of ajiaco while tending the tables. 

Emeralds?  Handcrafts?

Juan and Carlos, two visitors from the Amazon.  They are red-bellied piranha.

They may look aggressive, but they are very friendly once you get to know them.

The family Aguilar.

Modeling one of our newest handcrafts, a cross-body cell phone bag.
This was very popular, and we sold the only three we had quickly.

Good food and good company.

A beautiful surprise!

A bit of light reading.

Conversation while waiting for the presentation.

Cousin, brother, and sister.

We had a beautiful, sunny day weather-wise.

During the presentation we discussed how the project started, what
we have done during the past year, and what we plan to do during the
upcoming year.  Good questions were asked, and answers given!