Empowering Indigenous Youth for a Healthy Future

Meet Bonnie (pictured above), our new Community Health Educator! Bonnie joined the Rising Minds team in June when Hilda transitioned to our Advisory Board as she began her work with Mercado Global. Bonnie is a student at la Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala and is currently finishing her practical for her degree in Education Administration and Pedagogy.

After shadowing Hilda for the month of May, Bonnie transitioned seamlessly to delivering our weekly health trainings and leading our Forest Playgroup adventures on her own. Bonnie arrived just in time to deliver our trainings for our nutrition unit, which came to an end this past week. As mentioned in the previous project report, the first trainings focused on “la olla familiar,” also known as the food pyramid or my plate. These diagrams represent nutritional guidelines for eating balanced and healthy meals. The oldest students of CEIBI practiced organizing various foods into their perspective groups (grains, fruits, vegetables, meats, dairy, fats and sugars), all while learning how often each food group should be consumed. Using their hands as measuring cups, they learned the ideal portion size for each food group and can create a balanced meal. The trainings then covered sugars, proteins, fats, and vitamins.

With the nutrition unit having come to an end, among the preschoolers’ favorite activities were the demonstration of how much sugar can be found in junk food items like Coca-Cola, cookies, and candy bars and a cooking class. The kiddos loved learning how to “plant” and cook vegetable soup! Using recycled plastic bottles, each kid planted tomato and carrot seeds in a bottle to transplant to their garden later. They then had a cooking class where they learned how to make delicious and healthy vegetable soup!

Bonnie and the RM team are now working on the development of the curriculum for our mental health unit! Stay tuned to learn more about the trainings and activities we will host in the coming weeks!

Since kicking-off the In-School Health Training Initiative in January, we have successfully completed our disease prevention unit and started our nutrition unit in April. Hilda, our Community Health Educator, reviewed curriculum covered last year about the three types of microbes (virus, bacteria, and fungus) and broadened the discussions on ways in which we can prevent the spread and propagation of germs. Using a plastic ball covered in baby oil and glitter, the students of CEIBI learned how easily germs can propagate and spread. Standing in line, they passed the ball back and forth. The glitter stayed on their hands, even after the ball left, simulating the spread of germs from their peers, toys, and other objects. After the simulation, the kids learned about the importance of washing their hands to prevent the spread of microbes.

Kate, a nutritionist and long-term volunteer for Rising Minds, worked tirelessly to help develop the curriculum for our 2018 nutrition unit. The first trainings focused on “la olla familiar,” also known as the food pyramid or my plate. These diagrams represent nutritional guidelines for eating balanced and healthy meals. The oldest students of CEIBI are practicing organizing various foods into their perspective groups (grains, fruits, vegetables, meat, dairy, fats and sugars), all while learning how often each food group should be consumed. The upcoming trainings will focus on Vitamins A, B, and C, calcium, different proteins, and will be accompanied by activities like bingo and cooking classes.

In addition to these interactive health trainings, this initiative is complimented by CEIBI’s in-school garden and Rising Minds’ Educational Garden. The preschoolers are learning how to grow organic food packed with nutritional value and about various sustainable gardening techniques. Cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, chard, lettuce, and spinach are among some of the seed varieties planted in the gardens.