Fight Child Malnutrition in Rural Guatemala

Our School Nutrition project has been very busy the first half of this year. Hot school meals were put on hold for six months while we took on a huge project in our partner schools: kitchen renovations.

In many of the schools, kitchen conditions were so poor that it was difficult to prepare students meals. At La Cumbre School, for example, there was no proper sink for washing hands, vegetables, or cooking pots. Kitchens lacked equipment like pots and pans, and the pots they did have had holes in them. There were no counters or storage space, so materials were stored on the floor, and the cooks (school mothers) were forced to prepare food on very old tables that were difficult to keep clean. At Nueva Vida School, the kitchen measured only 6 by 7 feet -- in a school serving over 270 students!  

Even though the students had access to healthy food, there was no way to guarantee that the food could be prepared effectively and hygienically. After conducting an evaluation of the kitchens at each of our partner schools, we decided to partner with school leadership to undertake renovations at four schools.

Since the beginning of 2016, we have worked with leadership at Nueva Vida, San Andres, Pacoc, and Nueva Providencia Schools. At  La Cumbre, we supported the installation of a new absorption well, new counters and shelving, and a new sink. At Nueva Vida, the kitchen was expanded, and a new roof was built to prevent leaks into the kitchen. And all of the schools now have new pots and pans and other necessary kitchen utensils.

Along with kitchen renovations, Pueblo a Pueblo educators have been working with the mothers who prepare the school meals. Mothers have learned to cook more nutritious meals using a variety of new ingredients, like spinach.

We began providing meals again this week, now that the kitchen improvements are finished, and we are very happy with the results--so are the mothers who will be using them!

Our School Nutrition and Organic School Gardens projects have had an exciting few months since the school year began in January. Garden classes for students began in February, teachers have received their first of three trainings this year, and over 50 varieties of fruits and vegetables have been planted.

In the coming months, Pueblo a Pueblo will begin working with four new schools to develop and implement our School Nutrition Project, and we will start kitchen improvements in several schools. But more on that to come!

To improve the efficiency of the methods being used in our partner school organic gardens, we have been testing four new techniques in our demonstration garden in Panabaj. Project Manager Ana Cabrera explained, “Our goal is to help communities deal with key issues they are facing: limited water availability, lack of land and space, and poor soil quality.”

The techniques we are testing include:

• Square foot gardening: Plant veggies as close as possible, diving your bed into 1 x1 foot squares with one type of veggie in each, instead of using long garden beds. You get more produce in less space, with less construction, less soil, and less work (weeding) and water use.
• Keyhole gardening: A circular bed with a hole in the middle filled with kitchen scraps that become compost/fertilizer for the garden bed. You water in the center of the garden, and as you water the soil it becomes fertilized. You use less water as it slowly travels to the outside areas of the garden bed.
• Tower gardens: Maximizes production in a small space, because you grow vertically and not horizontally.

We are also expanding our youth leadership programs in the gardens. Groups of youth volunteers have already formed in three communities (Nueva Vida, Guineales, and Xojolya), and we are hoping to establish two new youth groups in nearby communities.

Involving young people in the maintenance of school and community gardens is hugely important for garden success because “we provide the youth with new knowledge and skill sets so they can expand their options [for the future]. Also, it provides the garden with extra support and increases the involvement of the wider community, not just the teachers and kids,” explained Ana.

From new school partnerships and kitchen improvement, to new gardening techniques and youth involvement -- we are excited about the new school year. We can’t wait to share more successes with you in the coming months!