I recently returned from a weeklong trip to Guatemala with members of two New York churches who contribute to our programming. It is always a treat when Garden’s Edge supporters see the impact they make. It is also a great experience for our staff, volunteers, and scholarship students to share their experiences and successes.
This trip featured the new nutrition program, the improved processing plant, and a visit to the Rio Negro massacre site to better understand the ongoing impacts of Guatemala’s bloody civil war. It is so powerful to see people who have experienced unbelievable hardships working together to rebuild their communities!
Supporters from the Presbytery of Genesee Valley help conduct health assessments on young children.
The visiting church groups helped us earn a Triple Play Grant through the Presbytery of Genesee Valley. This grant has enabled us to provide health assessments and nutrition education to mothers of children under age 5, and our visitors were excited to see the program in action.
During a nutrition clinic, we helped chart the heights and weights of 16 children under 5. Building on ongoing health assessments, project leaders talked to the children’s mothers and answered questions about changes since their last visit. The group of mothers then learned a new healthy recipe – huiscuil (a potato-like vegetable) dipped in egg and amaranth. They were each asked to bring an ingredient, which showed them that this recipe can be made in their own homes and allowed them to share with one another. The children and their moms loved the recipe, which is similar to other traditional foods, but much more healthy, with less oil and salt and the added nutritional benefits of amaranth.
Amaranth contains 25% of the protein and 35% of the folic acid recommended for infants and toddlers daily.
The next day, we experienced a nutrition workshop for middle and high school students at New Hope School, led by Garden’s Edge scholarship students and our nutritionist, Jose Miguel. Education is key to combating malnutrition in these communities, and it is powerful when scholarship students, who are peers of the participants, lead workshops. Later that day, we toured this amazing school and met with all of the Garden’s Edge scholarship students and their mothers, who told us their stories and described how their scholarships are impacting their lives.
Scholarship students and local residents who participated in a nutrition workshop in Chichupac, which the visiting group had an opportunity to experience.
The trip concluded with a boat ride to Rio Negro, a hike to the massacre site where 444 people were killed, and a visit to the caves where survivors hid for 3 years. We also got to speak with some of the massacre survivors who are now members of Qachuu Aloom. The community has trained guides to take visitors around the area and started a small museum to remember their ancestors and customs.
Throughout the visit, women of Qachuu Aloom who have started a catering service for visitors fed the group. Thanks to our new focus on nutrition, as well as new processing equipment at Qachuu Aloom, the food they serve has drastically improved. In addition, they produce amaranth bars and other healthy snacks that quickly sell out!
This trip was a great way to see the holistic impact that the Garden’s Edge has with Qachuu Aloom. Nutrition programming has permeated many Qachuu Aloom programs – member farmers grow healthier food and learn how to incorporate healthy ingredients into their meals at home, scholarship students gain incredibly valuable skills while teaching their peers about healthy choices, and visitors to the area get to experience this change in their own meals! The best part is that local residents lead all of this work and support their community in the process.