Intern Highlight - Jennifer Kim

W-CAP is excited to welcome one of our newest interns Jennifer Kim.  Jennifer is originally from Suwon, Korea and is currently attending Brigham Young University (BYU) where she is studying accounting and working towards a double minor in Korean and Nonprofit management.  While she is hoping to someday work with an accounting firm, her ultimate goal is to work for a nonprofit that helps women/children to see their potential and to assist them in achieving their goals and dreams in life.  

“After a few weeks in American Samoa, my life has been changed. It is my privilege to work with such humble and grateful people. I know that I have given so much through other people, and I have always had a desire to give back to the world. Therefore, this experience brings me the satisfaction of giving back what I have received and am receiving. I love seeing smiles on people’s faces. I love seeing people laughing and being happy. I love the grateful spirits of these humble people. They may seem like they don’t have much material wise, but their hearts are bigger than most of us.”

This is what Jennifer said when we asked her what she thought about W-CAP

“It is great to see an organization that is trying to motivate and inform women and children to have a better lifestyle through different educational events. W-CAP is not only assisting unemployed women to create their own jobs through micro-enterprise training courses and micro-loan program, but also providing educational information about nutrition, hygiene, and other necessary topics in simple and fun ways.”    

Thank you Jennifer, for volunteering your time as an intern with W-CAP!

Healthy Eating - Tomatoes

As part of W-CAP's ongoing efforts to inspire and educate, we will be featuring a vegetable or fruit each month with ideas and recipes to go along with it.  To see the the past Health Eating posts for additional recipes and ideas click here.

The fruit this month is tomatoes!

MINI-TOMATO PIZZAS FOR KIDS

This is so simple that children will love making them! A great way to get vegetables into kids

Use the following for the pizza crust:

·         Whole wheat crackers (Ritz or others), or

·         Wheat muffin, sliced in half and toasted, or

·         Whole wheat bread, well toasted

For the sauce:

·         Fresh tomatoes, chopped and mashed (blender or potato masher), or

·         Small can tomatoes or tomato sauce.

Sprinkle on top for flavor:

·         A pinch of oregano or Italian spices and garlic, and

·         Olives, green peppers, mushrooms, onion

·         Mozzarella or cheddar

Place on cookie sheet and bake in 425 degree oven a few minutes until cheese is melted and golden brown on top.

WAYS TO GET YOUR KIDS TO EAT TOMATOES:

·         Chop very small and mix with scrambled eggs, tuna,pilikaki, ground beef, soup, chilis or pizza.

·         Cut tomatoes into cups and fill with tuna, cottage cheese or pilikaki.

·         Slice tomatoes, sprinkle cheese on top and broil for a minute.

·         Slice tomatoes, sprinkle on salt, drizzle olive oil and vinegar. Chill.

EASY MEXICAN SALSA FOR CHIPS

This is a fast easy version to homemade salsa. It will stay good for 2-3 weeks in an airtight container in the fridge. It’s great with chips or scrambled eggs or on burritos.  Remember ‘t.’ means a small teaspoon.

2 lbs. fresh tomatoes

½ t. salt

1 small green chili, chopped

(Or use 1-14 oz. can tomatoes with chilis instead of previous 3 ingredients)

¼   lg. onion, finely chopped
½  green or red bell pepper (sweet), chopped

Pinch dried garlic or 1 small clove garlic, minced

3 pinches of fresh cilantro  (Chinese parsley), chopped

Pinch ground cumin

Pinch oregano

Juice from 1 small lime

Dash pepper

Combine all ingredients in blender or in a bowl and mash with a potato masher. In blender chop on low speed for several seconds until it reaches the desired consistency that you and your family enjoy. This salsa is mild, but you may add more chili peppers to make it spicier. Makes 1 pint.

Samoa Business Women of The Year

The South Pacific Business Development Foundation (SPBD), which lends out funds for small development projects at the grassroots level, celebrated their 10th anniversary. 



SPBD's contributions to the development of Samoa's economy has been tremendous.  Like W-CAP they focus on encouraging women to follow their dreams, develop their own business and set goals thereby improving their living condition.

Congratulations to SPBD!

Utah Artist Supports W-CAP

Santiago Michalek of Utah is having an art show this Saturday, May 21st 6-9 pm.  He has generously offered to donate 25% of the price of any of his paintings that sells to W-CAP.  All you have to do is mention this post. Entrance to the show is free and everyone is invited.  We are so excited about this chance to raise money for the foundation!

A sneak peak of some of his paintings can be found on his art blog.

Ali Pili, W-CAP's founder, will be at the show and we hope anyone in town will be able to come to support a good cause!

Staff Highlight - Brooke Gurr

We would like to welcome our newest staff member and gardening facilitator Brooke Gurr.  Brooke has recently settled in American Samoa with family and we are thrilled to have her and her extensive knowledge and skills. Most recently she was involved in creating a student farm at University of Hawaii-Manoa, called SOFT (Sustainable and Organic Farm Training) Student Farm.  She also organized volunteers to start a First Grader Garden at Noelani School  in Manoa, Oahu. 

Brooke is originally from Maine and she loves gardening and nutritious eating so she's a great addition to our program.

Thanks, Brooke, for making W-CAP a part of your life!