Food creativity: healthier families in Guatemala

Hello dear all! For this report, we have decided to do it all up until the end of May. We chose this as we will be reporting on seasonality - especially considering the peach season - in this case right before. So, everything that happens here, is when peach flowers are blossoming, and the next one, is when the peach is taking shape and ready to be eaten! 

This way, we can better understand how food, agriculture and climate work, as well as the similarities (or differences between geographies). In this light, our reports will also be educational, and not just purely informative. Peachy? :) 

 
M&E and Impact Measurement

We went to Concepción Pinula this time around with a different focus: measure our impact as we approached our 5-year anniversary of serving and bringing the community together through food in the village. 

This time around, we gathered a smaller group of women and kids (and of course we brought with us fruits and veggies to deliver), together with our recording crew, and an impact measurement kit. We listened, we asked, we exchanged with the women participating in the deliveries for years. 

It was heartwarming to hear their positive feedback, of the change we have brought and they have the actors in such as change in the village, when it comes to better understanding, food choices and even more so, the inclusion of a many fruits and veggies in local vendors. 

We also met up with Fermín, who is now a teenager - taller than all of us. Fermín started coming to the deliveries and being a kind volunteer from a very early age. It fills us with joy that he continues to show interest and hopefully a steward for health and solidarity. 

Celeste and Fernando continue leading the deliveries, and after 5 years of deliveries, we went there with Bibi to analyse our next steps in the community, with the wins and challenges.

Workshops at MAIA

We’ve collaborated with MAIA for many years now, and have wanted to do a food workshop in person at MAIA school in Sololá. So, we went together with Celeste and Fernando to the school and gave a talk to two different grades of the young women/girl pioneers at the school. Bibi and Celeste were lead the workshops on food creativity and adaptability around the world - bringing of course to light our food deliveries, to peach research, to life in Asia.Here we touched upon understanding the meaning and defining roads of food success and equity from a girl’s and women’s empowerment perspective, the clear distinction between desnutrición crónica y desnutrición aguda, and the triple burden of malnutrition.

Then, Fernando gave a presentation about his journey as a writer, since he recently launched his book entitled “Mentiras, Fuego y Sangre”, and how writing about history is also a way of going back to re-telling the story, through the truth. He also gifted to the library the book “La Montaña Infinita” that traces back the “caudillo of Guatemala”. Thanks to Andrea and Brenda for their always welcoming grace. 

Meetings!

• The Board of Directors met up in person to evaluate our recent year, as well as align on this year’s goals, actions and collaborations. We thank Celeste, Fernando, Marta, Giuliana, Lorena, Ricardo and Peter for being part of this organization’s growth and life!
• We are honoured to join for a special lunch with Ambassador Kuwana, Ambassador of Japan to Guatemala, where we discussed and shared our Wa’ik experiences in both countries. Moreover, we brought over some kibidango from Okayama (especially from Momotaro). 
• Founders of Bonito Ramen and Visibles together with Wa’ik  in Tokyo Japan. Do you remember when Bonito Ramen cooked in Concepción Pinula for our Valentine’s Day special delivery?
• Founders of PoliBit and Wa’ik together with the fruit of the season: Strawberry! And then we also met with the Peach pre-season!
• We met up with Guatemala’s female chefs, Debbie and Mirciny, to discuss more on impactful food initiatives in our country.
• We attended Venture Café Tokyo, where we met up with our fellow Global Shapers, YLAI and UpLink colleagues. And we attended the Women's Day event from An-Nahal. This comes in the form of amplifying our work in Guatemala in Concepción Pinula, and connecting it with food education in Japan. 
• Finally, we participated for the second consecutive year at the SusHi Tech Conference in Tokyo. There, our main focus was to be active in all food conversation and topics, so that we can also advance in our field here. Thanks to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, we also participated in a wax food making lesson. It couldn’t get more Japanese than this!
• Thanks to the organization of Minami Circle, we participated in a talk given by Rokkaku-Musumi Satoko, a pioneer woman born in 1939, where she was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship, studied anthrolopology, Arabic, and Persian, worked at the United Nations University and the world Hunger Project for 40 years! It was so fantastic to hear from her, her trailblazing and legacy, especially in the area of food!

Peach Blossoms and Peach for Peace

Peaches have held a very significant aspect in Wa’ik since last year. During this time we continued researching about peaches both in Guatemala and Japan

• Peach blossom visits: we visited peach farms during their blossoming time in Yamanashi  and also appreciated the Hanamomo no Sato in Achi city, Nagano prefecture. Moreover, we continued exploring the peach blossoms in Cantel, Quetzaltenango, and also in Sololá. 
• Early peaches: in the market La Cuchilla Market, we found already small peaches being sold as pre-season: they were small and cute!
• We participated in the session “Voices for Peace” organized by Salzburg Global (previously Salzburg Seminar) held at the Austrian Pavilion at the Expo Osaka 2025, in Kansai, Japan. Our message about food for peacebuilding brought a completely new perspective on our peach initiative, where PEACH for PEACE is of the essence in a world that is uneased with conflict, war, and loss of lives when it comes to food aid. Moreover, we thank Carolyn for the invitation to discover the UK Pavilion at the Expo Osaka, and having Pix take us around, and finish at the top to see the night show. Brilliant!

So, all and all, we are connecting our work in Guatemala with the learning from Japan, especially Shokuiku, and connecting presenting our work around this continent, and getting inspired from Japan with actions in Guatemala. 

In our next report, we will bring you what SUMMER has got in store for us. For now, we greatly appreciate your continuous support. 

With care, 

Eat Better Wa’ik team