Healthy Kitchens and Cooking for Nutrition

If you want to see the success of the Seeds for a Future programs in rural Guatemala, you need look no further than the kids -- babies and children that get sufficient food and good nutrition are alert, interested -- and wiggly!

Board Members recently visited Chocolá to see the Seeds programs in action.  

• We shadowed Seeds' staff as they visited participants at home to share information and coaching;
• We sat in on Group Education Meetings where our staff and selected participants demonstrated easy-to-prepare and nutritious recipes, and
• We attended meetings of Seeds' all-local Team, whose deep commitment to the project and their community shone through while they talked about the best ways to help families learn skills they can use to build a better life for themselves.

Wherever we met with participating women, we saw healthy, active infants and children, and women excited to be learning practical information and skills that would help them provide a better, healthier life for their children and families.

Even if you don't read Spanish, you will enjoy looking at our Book of Testimonials. Each page features a portrait of a woman and her baby, photos of her garden and program activities, and a statement that tells in her own words what it has meant to participate in the program.  Here are of couple of translated comments:

• "I'm very grateful for everything they have taught us in this project, especially how to make sure our babies have the nutrition they need so that they grow healthy and strong."  [Marta Esther;  July, 2015]

• “From the training we have received, I have learned new ways of preparing food and beverages using plants from our gardens; for example, smoothies of Chaya, cucumber or carrot which are good sources of nutrition and healthier for my family than soda pop.”  [Maria Eugenia; July, 2015]

Painstakingly hand-written, sometimes with the help of an older child or a friend with more schooling, these pages reveal how much the women appreciate the training and coaching from our staff, and it is very gratifying to see what they have absorbed and put into practice in their homes.  Links are included in this email to a selection of testimonial pages, as well as to the entire book, which includes pages for over 200 women as well as photos and statements from our incredible Seeds Team.

THANK YOU for your on-going support of this vital program to help rural families in Guatemala have sufficient, nutritious food, served from clean kitchens, for healthier lives!

Links:

• Selected pages from Seeds' Book of Testimonials
• Complete Book of Testimonials (Staff & 200+ Participants)