School Meals for Indigenous Children in Guatemala

Summary

This project will help to provide a daily balanced diet in school for over 500 Indigenous children. Often, this will be the children's only meal of the day.

What is the issue, problem, or challenge?

Many children in these communities do not have a balanced diet and recent studies show that Guatemala is on a par with Haiti as the the country with the worst child malnutrition in Latin America. This program aids the development of the children: improves child health improves concentration level improves school attendance improves education improves the potential for the child

How will this project solve this problem?

Fruit is provided in the morning, which includes pineapples, bananas, watermelons, cantaloupe, mangoes and oranges; lunch is then provided, including fresh produce, noodles, rice, beans and lentils. To benefit, the children must attend school.

Potential Long Term Impact

An educated child can potentially increase the family income in the community. To become educated, the child must be reasonably healthy and attend school, the food program has increased attendance and subsequently grades have risen dramatically. Previously many of these children would have missed out on education, now some earn grades which are in the top 10% for the country.

Project Message

When I first spent time with the kids, most of the kids had a heart-wrenching cough and noses runny with green and yellow goop. The meals are helping and the kids are in school. We need to continue
- Joy Peterson, Whole Planet Foundation

Additional Documentation

This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).

Resources