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Community kitchens feed the poor in Peru as food prices rise

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There are about 5,000 community kitchens in Lima, the capital of Peru, that are run by women who cook cheap meals for the poor as rising food prices make eating well much harder.

‘But their work goes well beyond survival; the kitchens have become a vehicle for collective action, giving women the self-esteem to denounce government shortcomings and demand change. They have risen as one of the most significant women’s organizations in Latin America, and today are on the forefront of protests demanding solutions to a cost of living that many say is reversing recent progress in reducing poverty,’ writes the Christian Science Monitor.

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The poverty rate in Peru has dropped five percentage points in the past year -– to about 40% of the population. But higher food prices are reversing some of those gains -– and with little government response, poor women are essentially supporting the poorest.

Click here to read on about community kitchens in Peru.

-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City

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