A truly super market gets going in Brazil
All smiles as the first shop signs up for surplus food project in Olinda, Brazil
People from poorer communities near Olinda, Brazil, will soon have a convenient place to get healthy, low-cost (or free) groceries, thanks to CMS short-termers Rosie and Stu Bayford and co-workers from a local church.
The Bayfords have been working for many months to set up a community market that will redistribute surplus food from supermarkets, which would otherwise be thrown away.
They wrote recently that “the community market has its first supermarket on board! It’s taken much longer than we’d hoped to get a ‘yes’ but we’re absolutely delighted….” They added that the supermarket specialises in fruit and veg, which can often be difficult for people to afford.
There are some other food projects in the region, but the Bayfords’ emphasis on using surplus food means that “we’re helping the planet as well as people”.
“We also want to provide a market format so…those coming to the project have the dignity to choose what they would like….
“We hope to have the Aguazinha market started in April. The next steps are to make the [space] a welcoming environment… and the church Agua Viva will help us register a group of families deemed most in need of this food within the community.” This will help ensure that the market is meeting the needs of the poorest and not taking away from the local economy.
