Contributor: Martha Munocito

Today, in the very early morning after I finished my daily run here in Guatemala for the final time, I took a journey to visit some of the sites where I'd built friendship bridges over my year of work here. One last time, I witnessed the daily chores of townspeople as they went about earning their living and caring for their children. I rode my bicycle one last time through the atmosphere of local markets.

Then I I knocked the door of the house of my favorite baker, who wished me “God be with you.” I left a message for the gas man who was absent from his business that morning, who had many times offered me a ride to the Mercy Corps PROCOMIDA warehouse where I worked.

I shook the hands of the elderly lady who runs a small convenience store near the warehouse, who many times prepared for me a cup of coffee. When I told her that I stopped by because I was leaving the country and wanted to say good-bye, she said “No quiere su tacita de café?" — "Don't you want your cup of coffee?"

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Each time I showed up to small and faraway communities where the heat was unbearable, where there was no electricity to turn on a light bulb, where there was no wind to ease the heat in the air — and where the field workers were parking their motorcycles and placing their gear on the dried grass after a heavy day of working in the field — I met energetic personalities ready to connect and do some hands-on work with Mercy Corps Guatemala's PROCOMIDA food and nutrition project.

A PROCOMIDA staffer for Mercy Corps Guatemala takes place in a mock television broadcast to practice how to better relay important health and nutrition information to families in some of Guatemala's poorest villages. Photo: Martha Munocito/Mercy Corps

Part of my job with these hard-working field staffers is gathering in PROCOMIDA's warehouses or small meeting halls in the communities where we work to practice and create key nutritional and health messages. The use of different communication channels is one of the strategies PROCOMIDA uses to achieve behavior change for better health and nutrition with the beneficiaries of the project, who live in some of Guatemala's poorest and most remote villages.

The warehouse space was converted into a makeshift studio to do a simulated television interview or news report. Printing paper was used to build up the studio's walls and motorcycle helmets were transformed into video cameras. Empty cardboard boxes became computers monitors. Cell phones were used to invite the audience to participate by calling in to express their opinions and questions about the interviewees' comments or the news reported about various health issues and topics.

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A “muñeco” — a basket full of Guatemalan tortillas covered with a traditional kitchen towel. Photo: Martha Munocito/Mercy Corps

One of Guatemala's main staple foods is corn — in fact, Guatemalans sometimes even refer to themselves as “corn people.” One of the traditional ways to consume corn here is in the form of tortillas.

One specific, and unforgettable, aspect of the process of making tortillas is that "pla pla pla" or "clap clap clap" sound made by female hands, young or old, massaging the corn’s dough and molding tortillas every day. The maneuver is masterfully done by elegant and rhythmic female fingers shaping the corn’s dough. Those fingers move naturally in a circle to mold tortillas all day long. This tradition is passed in the kitchen at an early age, from generation to generation, and from stove to stove.

Mothers participating in Mercy Corps' PROCOMIDA program here in Guatemala use the pinto beans and vegetable oil being provided by the project to combine with corn from their crop fields. They use these two ingredients to prepare the traditional Guatemalan tayuyos or shutes, which traditional foods made from tortillas mixed with beans. These two types of filled tortillas are favorite foods for young children. Mothers mold the corn and PROCOMIDA supports them to preserve cooking traditions with highly nutritious ingredients.

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Recipe demonstrations are the vehicle to teach rural families here in Guatemala how to improve nutritional status of their children. Photo: Martha Munocito/Mercy Corps

“Bienvenidos. "Loq ` le k`ulumnik. Welcome” to PROCOMIDA's final male recipe competition! This activity was done among three teams of field workers of Mercy Corps' PROCOMIDA program to strengthen one of the educational activities organized with the beneficiaries: recipe demonstrations.

Recipe demonstrations are the vehicle to teach rural families here in Guatemala how to improve nutritional status of their children by using PROCOMIDA-provided food (pinto beans, vegetable oil, rice, and corn-soy flour) and mixing it with local cuisine. The recipe competition was the opportunity for three of the program's male chefs to cook an original recipe and to teach the jury and public about the nutritional benefits, cost and creative taste of their dishes.

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A traditional kitchen in rural Guatemala, similar to the one used for cooking demonstrations for Mercy Corps' PROCOMIDA program. Photo: David Evans/Mercy Corps

Part of the health and nutrition strengthening strategies used by Mercy Corps' PROCOMIDA program with Guatemalan communities consists of recipe demonstrations to beneficiary mothers.

I was thrilled by how one of the female field workers of PROCOMIDA was bringing in small details to her demonstration. She graciously put on her colorful apron, then searched through her backpack for some of the ingredients with curious eyes. Like a chef in action, she placed her recipe folder next to her pots and knives.

This demonstration kitchen is close to the community's warehouse, where we store food prior to its distribution in impoverished local communities. The kitchen space, which sits on a sand floor, consists of a counter with a wood stove in the middle. The mothers who participated in the cooking demonstration looked excitely at the eggs, oil and vegetables displayed on the kitchen counter.

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