Empower Guatemalan Families With Food & Nutrition

Wow!  Thanks to your support and generous donations, our project to fight malnutrition in Guatemala reached its qualifying targets on April 15th, just halfway through the Challenge month. So Seeds for a Future is now challenging itself with a new goal in order to sustain our effort and help the additional women who have asked for our program. 

The original goal was selected so we could qualify for our permanent spot on Global Giving site.  It covers about two months of the expanding program.  Our new funding target for 2013 is $18,000 which will carry the fight against malnutrition through the end of this year.

The recent newspaper article below (translated from the original Spanish) appeared in Prensa Libre, Guatemala’s predominant newspaper, and covers the expansion of our family garden program to an adjacent municipality, Santo Tomás La Unión.  168 women in the local women’s organization have started new home gardens with training from Seeds Program Manager Armando Astorga, supported by the mayor’s wife, who oversees the Mayor's Office for Women.

Thus, with the women of Santo Tomas, our food security and nutrition program has grown from a handful of moms in Chocolá to over 275 area women feeding their families with home-grown nutritious foods. 

Your help has made this possible!   The newspaper story should make you feel proud to support a program that helps rural women and their families create a better future for themselves.  As new families join the program, your continued assistance is more important than ever.  I hope you'll share this report with your friends and colleagues, and encourage them to join in the fight against malnutrition. 

Family gardens lead to development

BY DANILO LÓPEZ, Suchitepéquez;  Prensa Libre

      168 women of Santo Tomás La Unión, Suchitepéquez, have been benefited with a family garden located in their patios or yards, which helps them economically and strengthens their ability to have enough food for their families.

     The project is supported by the municipality, together with the nongovernmental organization Seeds for a Future.

     Célica Chachal, Santo Tomás' project manager, explained that gardens have been planted in at least 10 communities of the township, which are identified as having the most disadvantaged population.

     Chachal also said that the Mayor's Office for Women wants to encourage women to grow tomatoes, cucumbers, beets, celery, onions, green beans and carrots, as well as other vegetables, which will reinforce food security.

     “They have already harvested and want to continue to grow vegetables” said Charchal.

     Juana Chay, one of the participants, indicated that the project has helped her family save money.

     Cristina Dubón de Juárez, women’s representative in the municipal government, indicated that the Santo Tomás women's organization project started last year with 100 women participants, but now there are 300 that seek to bring development to their communities. 

[Translation by Wendy Robles]

Links:

• Seeds for a Future on Facebook