just getting by

So food is in a major shortage down here because, well aid isn't reaching the needy and theres a major draught.   (Its barely rained at all in the last month and this is supposed to be the height of the rainey season) The poor indigenous people can't afford to keep the food they grow and they have to sell their beans and eggs instead of giving them to their kids. People are malnourished because all they can afford is tortillas and while they dont really look like the starving African babies you see on television and in new articles because they're full of corn, they  are really sick and struggle to survive and sometimes fall asleep on eachother/me on the buses.

What this translates to is that food prices are skyrocketing. Tomatoes cost 2 Quetzales/lb in March and they now cost 5Q/lb. There are no reason for the price increase other than the food crisis (no seasonal factors) but for whatever reason apples are dirt cheap, probably because they have such a short season and also because Guatemalans seem opposed to anything that you can't fry or serve in a bag.

So what does this all mean, it means that I can buy a pound of apples for 2Q (8.4Q=$1). So today I was like alright im gonna by some apples, but they arent all pretty and groomed like the ones in the states (did you know their are federal regulations in the US of A about what produce has to look like, ie no funny looking carrots, lopsided apples, etc) so I didnt want to just eat the apples plain, with bruises and potential ameobas so I decided to cook them. I peeled, cored and cubed the apples and threw them in a pot with some water, some sugar, a  ton of cinnamon and let them boil. I passed out in the hammock and 30 minutes later woke up, turned the stove off and smashed up the apples into their gooey goodness.  Tastes just like apple pie filling.

But not to make light of a very serious problem, Healthy Schools volunteers, myself included, have been hosting special community meetings to parents, teachers, women's groups and other social organizations to stress the importance of proper nutrition and cost saving ways to provide food for not just children but all those going hungry. And while the problem is much more deeply routed than  spending habits and lack of education, we are doing what we can.

Below are a few links to articles about this crisis in Guatemala.

Economist:

http://www.economist.com/world/americas/displayStory.cfm?

story_id=14313735&source=hptextfeature

CNN:

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/americas/09/09/guatemala.calamity/index.html