Empower Guatemalan Families With Food & Nutrition

In Chocolá normal annual rainfall is measured in METERS (!!) so even in a normal year, rain is not to be taken lightly. In August and September, Seeds for a Future's President and Treasurer spent fours days in the Chocolá area getting a first hand look at the difficulty of maintaining healthy vegetable gardens this year, because the rains have been both more intense and lasting for more hours than usual.  

Whether this is a normal variation in weather or the result of global climate change, the result has been very challenging for our staff and participating families.  The heavy rains pound down seedlings, encourage the growth of fungi and other plant diseases, and wash away or compact well-prepared soils.  

Seeds for a Future staff are already implementing next steps, including devoting more space and resources to growing seedlings in the greenhouse at the Seeds HQ, helping the families repair their garden beds and renew the soil, and replanting as quickly as possible.

But who could imagine that on top of torrential rain, there would be PIGS?!?  Ingrid, the Seeds nutrition counselor for Santo Tomas La Union, guided us down narrow winding streets to see a model garden -- one that had been beautiful when she visited it just 2 days before.  She was stunned to see that it looked as if it had been completely harvested, and not too carefully, either.  A photo of the culprits is shown below -- a couple of young pigs who found a place to nudge under the fence and help themselves!

Despite the challenges, the participant families remain positive.  The women are delighted to harvest -- right outside their door -- many of their favorite food plants, such as Hierba Mora, Chipilin and Flor Amarilla, which were chosen for the program because of their high nutritive value.  Delicious typical meals are now enhanced with extra nutrition from these and other home-grown vegetables.  

And we're very proud of the Seeds team!  A dozen men and women, young and not so young, all from the same communities as the participants.  They have worked hard through long hours of training, they are strongly committed to the goals and principles of the project, and they have come together as a team -- sharing responsibility, sharing tasks, and sharing companionship and fun.  It's an honor to support them in their desire to help their community.

Thank you for your generous support of Seeds for a Future and the rural families of Guatemala.

PLEASE CONSIDER AN ADDITIONAL DONATION.  SEEDS FOR A FUTURE NEEDS YOU, TO KEEP THE FIGHT AGAINST MALNUTRITION MOVING FORWARD!