Intercultural Open University Foundation Supports Microenterprise among Rural Women of Oaxaca. Four years ago, eight women, who shared a desire to improve their families’ diets and the nutritional well being of their community, came together to create the microenterprise, Amaranto Alegria de la Vida. They invented, and now produce and sell highly nutritious snack foods based on amaranth grain. (Amaranth is an ancestral grain, cultivated by the ancient peoples of Mexico, containing approximately 16 percent protein, more than any other cereal. Its importance lies in the high quality of its protein, rich in lysine and comparable to the nourishing quality of milk. Further, the grain is rich in folic acid, calcium, iron, vitamins C, B6 and other minerals, an excellent food for children, pregnant and lactating women, as well as for the general population.)
