School Meals for Indigenous Children in Guatemala

The food program is an integral part of our project, and its benefits are obvious,both for the children and the community itself, especially as it brings new children into the education system. Everyday at the community we keep seeing new faces. The school and community have been filled with the little brothers and sisters that come along for the school day. We have been seeing a lot of newborns as well. It always brings a smile to everyone's faces when they see these babies that are only a few months old. They are the future of the program and it is a fantastic feeling to see the pride of these new mothers and their little ones. I have spoken with many of these mothers and they have expressed gratitude for the project and are especially interested in the food and fruit program. It is a very agrarian community. I am seeing a lot more involvement with the mothers as we enter the 2009 school year. They have been lending a hand in the lunch preparation as well as the pineapple cutting. It is a great time of the year for pineapples and we have been receiving discounts at the market. The kids love it and these are special pineapples called "azucarron", which basically translates as super sweet pineapples!

The scholastic year finally started, after a small delay, though our food program continued through the holidays, so the children never missed out on a warm bowl of food. With the school year now in full swing, there are many more mouths to feed, which we are complying with with aplomb, thanks to generous donors.