Healthy Kitchens and Cooking for Nutrition

This report is not so much about how and what the Healthy Kitchens and Cooking for Nutrition Project is doing, but about our wonderful local sraff who make it happen on a daily basis.

The holiday season in Guatemala is the time for a Convivio -- when organization members or a work team come together to exchange gifts, food traditions such as clusters of fat grapes, and a special meal.  The friendship and comradery built over the out-going year are cemented for the New Year.

The Seeds for a Future team celebrated its Convivio on December 22nd -- presents, grapes, silly games with prizes, a sparkling tree and a delicious turkey dinner were shared by our fantastic local staff.  As guests representing the Seeds Board of Directors, we were incredibly proud of what team members have accomplished and also struck by the growth in skills and confidence of each person -- from the youngest, a new gardens assistant, to the seasoned members, long-respected in the community and always ready to learn and to lead.

Through your generosity, YOU HAVE MADE IT POSSIBLE for Seeds for a Future to help moms provide better nutrition and healthier kitchens for their famlies, and at least equally important, to create a team of 40 men and women, young people and adults, with more knowledge, more skills, more confidence, and a deep interest in working to help build their own community.  The Seeds team members represent the seeds of sustainability for better lives for rural families in Guatemala.

In an earlier message, we wrote that we hoped you would feel THAT OUR SUCCESS WAS YOUR SUCCESS.  This report is about YOUR AND OUR SHARED SUCCESS in making a lasting difference for the people of rural Guatemala.

As we look forward to 2015, more and more families are asking to become part of the program.  They have seen how their neighbors are benefitting and they want to participate and learn for themselves.  PLEASE INCLUDE Seeds for a Future IN YOUR YEAR-END GIFT PLANNING and suppoprt the continuation of our Healthy Kitchens and Cooking for Nutrition program and the continuing development of a Sustainability Corps -- our local team!  

Each gift, no matter the size, is critical to our continuation, so after you click the DONATE button, please SHARE this report with your friends and colleages.  

May you have a joyous holiday season and a new year filled with peace and friendship.

In August and September, Seeds for a Future President and Treasurer spent fours days observing nutrition and healthy kitchen classes in the villages of Chocolá and Santo Tomas La Union, as well as visiting participant homes to observe to the work of our extentionists during their weekly household visits.

A vital distinguishing feature of our program is that we supplement small group class-style learning sessions with regular household visits to reinforce the messages and give participating women a chance to ask questions and talk about how they are implementing what they learned in class.

In these same weekly visits, our extensionists also provide coaching about the care and management of the household garden where the women are growing highly nutritious native herbs and other vegetables to improve the family diet.

Topics covered so far include:

• Recognizing the role pathogens play in family health and how to prevent their transmision by moms and others in the household who handle and prepare food.
• The importance of proper hand washing techniques (adjusted specifically for use in the common "pila"), and when hands must be washed in order to maintain a clean and healthy household.
• Instruction on practical ways to ensure clean water and clean food preparation tools and equipment.

Classes and visits in the coming weeks will focus on the nutrition components of the program. We are especially excited to begin cooking sessions so that women can share recipes and learn how to add more nutrition and diversity to their already tasty meals.

We wish you could have shared with us the most personally rewarding parts of these visits:

• One was 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 was great to see them proudly wearing their logo shirts, and we are so proud of them!
• The other, the warmth and heartfelt thanks of participating women:  Even though we believe and take for granted that what Seeds for a Future is doing is important, we were not prepared for what the women said.  At one meeting, a mother stood to speak, her baby in her arms, and said, "Thank you for thinking of us, for bringing us this help and this knowledge.  No one has ever thought of us and helped us like this before."  

Thanks to you and your ongoing support, Seeds for a Future can continue to bring important learning on nutrition and hygiene to women and families in rural Guatemala.  PLEASE CONSIDER AN ADDITIONAL DONATION, SO WE CAN KEEP OUR PROGRAM GOING.