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HUMANITARIAN OF THE YEAR
PILAR ÑORES DE GARCÍA, PRESIDENT
INSTITUTO TRABAJO Y FAMILIA
LIMA - /Amid the seemingly ordinary possessions of a family in die Peruvian highlands - cooking pots, toothbrushes, a towel hanging from a nail, and a small table for the children's meals - Pilar Notes de García said she sees progress for the poor.
"Before, the mother of those children squatted on the floor to cook, and die children sat on the ground with their plates in their laps," Nores said as she described how she measures improvement for Peru's poor in her role as president of the Sembrando Program, a nongovernmental organization dedicated to raising living standards for extremely poor families. "This table means that the mother is on her feet, literally, and that means a lot to me."
Nores, who is the first lady of Peni, has spent die past four years on this effort, which she believes is delivering improvement in health and hygiene. She keeps track, recalling a return visit to a particular house in the district of Cajabamba, in the northern province of the same name, where she said the walls were no longer blackened with soot and the floors no longer covered with ash.
Nores founded Sembrando - or Sowing - in 2006, the year her husband, Alan Garcia, was elected president ot Peru for a second term and at a time when Peni was entering an era of unprecedented economic growth.
"At that moment, the main challenge was how to continue to grow economically and become more inclusive," Nores said during an interview in her...