Guatemala is one of 20 priority countries that the American government plans to help cut poverty and overwhelmingly high chronic child malnutrition rates. On the other hand, the Peace Corps announced last week that it has canceled plans to send a contingency of new volunteers to Guatemala next month. What a loss! Peace Corps hands-on technical training helps rural families attain low-cost sustainable development from the ground up that can fight poverty and malnutrition.
Kristina Edmunson, a Peace Corps spokeswoman in Washington, said the move stemmed from “comprehensive safety and security concerns.” Guatemala is one of the Central American countries that is used as a staging point by drug cartels to ship cocaine to the United States from South America. The escalating drug and organized-crime violence in Guatemala has had much press lately. The country has one of the highest per capita murder rates in Latin America at 42 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants. (On a comparative level, the murder rate in Mexico is reported to be at 15 per 100,000).
Peace Corps technicians and others like Adopt-a-Village volunteers have the background to teach a variety of skills to empower rural people in improving their lives. With the rate of chronic child malnutrition in Guatemala now at the 4th highest level in the world, Adopt-a-Village has focused on teaching sustainable agriculture— soil improvement through no-cost green composting, (instead of using expensive chemical fertilizers that leach and eventually exhaust the soil), multi-cropping, correct water usage, and seed harvesting for the next planting—all viable techniques that an impoverished people can use at virtually no financial cost to help themselves out of the grip of ever-worsening hunger.
Although Peace Corps support has been cut to Guatemala, USAID is assisting this “focus country” with another style of foreign aid. In a recent meeting at which current food security policies were discussed with a USAID official in Guatemala City, Adopt-a-Village representatives were told that USAID does not “support subsistence farming programs,” (perhaps not understanding the difference between “subsistence” and the “sustainable” methods AAV uses). Rather, the USAID view is that some of the most promising opportunities to lessen poverty and chronic child hunger lie in non-traditional agriculture, horticulture, and coffee exports. USAID programs have engaged thousands of small-scale coffee growers in the highlands to develop production and participate in the global market. (Some would argue that land would be better used to grow food for hunger-stricken local people). Additionally, USAID has forged an alliance with the multinational giant, Walmart, which recently bought out Guatemala’s largest family-owned chain of grocery markets. Whereas this government/corporate agricultural partnership provides jobs for some, most of the food grown is exported to other countries in Central American and to the United States. (Google “Feed the Future” program for details on this alliance).
Crime and corporate agricultural goals aside, Adopt-a-Village in Guatemala is committed to staying and continuing to make a difference in the lives of malnourished children. Come January, we will enter our 21st year of service in northwestern Guatemala. If you are the adventurous sort, we welcome you to come and volunteer with us—we are especially looking for people with organic gardening skills, carpenters, and Spanish language teachers. (Fluency in Spanish is a Ministry of Education requirement in schools. However, our students have been raised speaking one of the Mayan languages and need help in mastering Spanish).
Your support, as always, strengthens our resolve. As we have stated, our foremost goal is to stem the current devastation of stunted growth and minds of Mayan children permanently impaired by chronic malnutrition. To achieve this, our progressive school, the Mayan Center for Education, is creating a network of Mayan villages where nutritious food is being grown—but this goal needs your help in order to succeed.
In this time of giving thanks, I want to extend my most heartfelt thanks to you for your past and present commitment to the Maya of Guatemala. Together we are helping to empower them to make important and meaningful changes in their lives.
