Empowering Indigenous Youth for a Healthy Future

In 2006, Rising Minds became an official non-profit organization that works to empower locally committed, globally active leaders through the integration of education, awareness and action. In 2010, following five years of successful international partnerships and sustainable community development, in Jocotenango, Guatemala, Rising Minds moved its operations to Lake Atitlán, where many pockets of indigenous populations exist. Since moving to the lake, Rising Minds has been focused on combating community identified needs related to health and nutrition. Over the years, Rising Minds has implemented various health and nutrition initiatives and has hosted various types of trainings, from partnering with local schools to hosting community wide exposés, and workshops geared toward family health. Then, just over three years ago, the on-the-ground team was motivated to strengthen our community ties by developing partnerships with local schools to deliver weekly health trainings. After conducting in-depth interviews with school directors and local clinic staff, our initiative to Empower Indigenous Youth for a Healthy Future was born. Since 2017, Rising Minds has delivered 85 weekly trainings to our partner preschool, CEIBI. 

As we kick-off a new decade, we will implement new and improved programming for our In-School Health Training Initiative with our partner pre-school. We are starting the 2020 school year by learning about the anatomy of the human body to set the stage for the ways in which we need to care for it. Like previous years, we will design curriculum that aligns with our three overarching themes: disease prevention, nutrition, and mental health. Our first set of trainings will be focused on personal hygiene, helping to equip the kids with the knowledge and resources to prevent the spread of disease. In Guatemala, the majority of common illnesses and infections are related to hygiene and can be prevented and controlled through appropriate personal hygiene practices. Regular handwashing, particularly before and after certain activities, is one of the best ways to remove germs, avoid getting sick, and prevent the spread of germs to others. Check back in a few months to be updated on what the kids will learn during our disease prevention unit!