Fight Malnutrition in Rural Guatemala

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.

Aldea Maya has a plethora of  hands on organic garden projects in the Chuk Muk Elementary School.

The grade 4, 5 and 6 students have been learning about different plants and herbs that grow in the greenhouse and garden.Then each student has made a page for our plant directory by focusing on one plant and learning all about it. The finished directory has well over 100 unique pages. The students then worked together to create a book on insects and bugs, learning which are beneficial and which can cause problems in the garden.

Recently the grade 3 & 4 students have been learning about the importance of rich organic soil in the garden as not only a home for plants but as a home for beneficial bacteria and insects. They have also learned about starting their own plants to take home to replant and they are  using recycled plastic bottles they have collected from the street as plant pots. The students then collected beans from our greenhouse and started their own mini greenhouse.