Fight Malnutrition in Rural Guatemala

We are excited to be once again working with Andrea at ProyectoCAN. The wonderful nutrition program at ProyectoCAN has be developed into a comprehensive 4 day workshop. This project is very hands on and has lots of information presented in engaging manner. Their video on the history of malnutrition in Guatemala come in English, Spanish and many of the indigenous languages. This is super important as many of the families in the Santiago Atitlan area do not speak Spanish. Having a engaging video in Tzu'tujil makes the program one of a kind. The program comes with 2 colourful cook books that focus on infant nutrition and getting more greens into the diet. These cook books use pictures to assist the reader to follow recipes as many of the woman who will be taking this program do not read or write. The recipients of this program will learn valuable nutrition information that will help to combat the rampant malnutrition in Guatemala and how to prepare inexpensive meals that mirror all the wonderful information they have just gleaned. In the morning Andrea was teaching our future teachers of the nutrition program. In the afternoon our newly minted teachers practiced on a group of our university students. These university students can then use this information in their future careers. This group consisted of 3 primary education teachers, 4 nursing students, a law student and an agronomist.

The children in the Chuk Muk elementary school are actively involved in the Aldea Maya organic garden program. Earlier in the year we had the students help make bokashi soil and fill plant pots. The students then planted a variety of medicinal herb plants as well as papaya seeds. Several months later we had wonderful healthy papaya plants to distribute to the students. But first the students learned why papayas are an important part of the diet. They are excellent sources of Viltam A and C. The students then helped make a papaya smoothie. Every student took a papaya plant home to plant in their garden. In the next year the students will start to have wonderful papayas available in their yard for free. This project helps with food availability and sustainability. In the last few months there has been political unrest in Guatemala and the roads were closed for several weeks. The markets had little to no food and the prices sky rocketed. Having food plants growing in a yard helps combat this problem.