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He is a fighter: he has been overcoming the health issues arisen and is part of a new generation of coffee entrepreneurs. Perhaps because of the very challenges he has faced, he has a highly developed vocation of service: he also wants to serve his community as a teacher. This life story is a tribute to his strength.

 

Daniel Esteban Almánzar is a 14-year-old boy. A student of the Cirales school, he is a ninth grader. He lives in the Honduras rural district, in the municipality of El Carmen de Chucurí, in the Santander department. His parents are Nicolás Almánzar and Luz Mary Cruz, and he is the eldest of three siblings, including José Miguel and Julián David.

He is first and foremost a fighter, as he has survived all the health issues that have come his way. At age 6, he was diagnosed with diabetes, a rare disease in children.

Since then, he began a rigorous treatment and a strict diet, leaving aside flour, salt and sugar in all his food. He also ended up getting used to being injected with insulin: at first it was thrice a day, but today, fortunately, it is only once a day. He himself learned to apply his own dose and is already familiar with it.

When diagnosed with diabetes, he was hospitalized for a month, in a diabetic coma for three days. That year he had to interrupt his studies due to his delicate state of health. He temporarily lost his vision (for six months) due to diabetes as well.

Because of his condition, his mother became his own teacher when Daniel was in the first two years of school. Fortunately, when his health improved, he returned to school, with the proper care and following all the medical recommendations: he could no longer get the sun, play with the other children or make any physical effort, in addition to caring his feeding.

Today he is a dynamic, active boy who does not like to sit still. He likes to help his father with the farm work; he loves to study, and his favorite subject is math. Daniel is in fact the one who always explains school subjects to his two younger brothers. He loves animals and is careful to feed the pigs, chickens and hens on his farm.

Daniel’s dream is to become an excellent math teacher. To achieve this, he wants to continue applying himself to his studies, graduate from high school and then start a degree in pure mathematics at a public university and serve in his community also as a teacher.

Daniel is one of the direct beneficiaries of the project “A new generation of coffee entrepreneurs,” which the Colombian Coffee Growers Federation (FNC) implements in various municipalities of Santander both with its own resources and with those of partners such as the Efico and Collibri foundations and Colombia’s National Learning Service (SENA).

The project seeks to provide better life prospects for young coffee growers, helping them establish their own crops and providing continued support, so that they in turn serve as a model of progress and regional and national leadership.

And the project has undoubtedly paid off in Daniel’s life, as in a recent follow-up survey it was he who showed the best positive emotions despite his health challenges.

For this reason, Daniel acknowledges that the project has been a great opportunity that will help him have better income, save money, finance future university expenses and fulfill his dream of being a teacher, but without abandoning the coffee that until now has meant so much to him, his family and his community.