Fight Child Malnutrition in Rural Guatemala

Students and their moms wait patiently in the school kitchen at Nueva Providencia Primary School for Sandy Mendoza, our Organic School Garden Educator, to teach them how to cook a nutritious chicken and chard meal.

Before they begin cooking, Sandy explains each ingredient they will use and its  nutritional benefits. The ingredient list includes some household staples, like carrots and onions, and some leafy greens that few to none have used before-- chard. After explaining the cooking process and assigning each mother and daughter a cooking task, everyone  washes their hands and the produce and the cooking begins.

Mother and daughter cooking classes are very intentional. Young girls in rural Guatemala are expected to share in the responsibility of caring for their siblings and helping their mothers cook while the men and boys work in the fields. With this kind of responsibility, it is important that families eat high-nutrient meals.

Most of the families in the Nueva Providencia Community work exclusively picking and tending to coffee production. Coffee production isn’t very lucrative for the people who work at the growing and picking stages. As a result, sufficient economic resources is the biggest challenge for most families in rural Guatemala, and with it comes the public health issue of child malnutrition. Statistics from the World Food Programme claim that 50% of children in Guatemala under five suffer from chronic malnutrition, the highest percentage is among indigenous communities--  including the ones we work in.

This is the reason why it’s so important to teach healthy habits at a young age and to encourage healthy cooking.  The recipes we share with the moms and daughters are affordable and based on ingredients that can be found at the local market or in the school garden.

Workshops like this are possible only because of your GlobalGiving generosity. Thank you for helping us cultivate healthy habits and for joining our mission to create healthy students.

Students from La Cumbre Primary School gathered in the small school kitchen to listen to Sandy Mendoza, our Organic School Gardens Educator, talk about what they would be learning to cook that day. “How many of you have cooked zucchini before?” she asked the children. None of them raised their hand, and one asked if she was actually holding a cucumber.

“Zucchinis have vitamin A, vitamin B, and protein” Sandy explained. “Today we’re going to make a chicken and zucchini soup, it’s easy to make so you can make it at home” she added.

 Sandy went through each ingredient they would be using that day, asking the children to identify them and telling them about the benefits of eating healthy. All of the ingredients can be found growing in the organic school garden!

 At Pueblo a Pueblo, we know that cooking is a skill that empowers children to take an active role in improving their nutrition. These cooking workshops serve as an opportunity to work directly with our beneficiaries and promote kitchen hygiene-- tying back their long hair, washing their hands, washing utensils they’ll use, washing produce and how  to avoid the spread of germs and disease. They also learned about fire safety near the stove and safe knife handling.

 We’re always impressed by the kids’ willingness to participate in these workshops and are confident that teaching children new ways to use vegetables will inspire them to be little chefs. Your support makes it possible for us to encourage our beneficiaries to make healthy choices and fight malnutrition. Thank You!