CHAYA PROJECT
Nature’s Solution to Malnutrition One of the healthiest vegetables in the world Helping to re-introduce chaya to the people of Guatemala What is chaya? The chaya plant is native to the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico, and to parts of Guatemala.It is similar to spinach and other greens, but grows in a bush that is usually 3 metres ( 10 feet) tall and 2 metres (6.5 feet) wide. Chaya is excellent baby food. Chaya is excellent, nutritious chicken food.Chaya has a natural toxin ( cyanide) on the leaf surface ( other vegetables, such as cassava have toxins, but are safe to eat when cooked). To safely remove the…
BANANA PROJECT
Every grade 2 student in the Chuk Muk elementary school learns all about bananas. First they learn about how a banana plant grows and what it needs to grow. Secondly, they learn basic banana nutrition. Bananas are good for your HEART, good for BONES and …
PAPAYA PROJECT
In grade 3 the students learn all about papaya plants.
First, they learn about what a plant needs to grow. Plants need sunshine and water. The students learn the importance of roots and how plants get their food. They also learn how fragile a papaya plant is and the importance of building a cage around the baby plant to protect it from dogs, chickens and…
CITRUS TREE PROJECT
We then explain how to care for a citrus tree. Then each student receives a lime or mandarin tree and a bag of organic compost. Citrus fruits are an excellent source of Folic acid and in the next year and a half they will start to have citrus fruits reddily available. We have a cooking class were all the students make a healthy citrus avocado salsa. The students have never tasted a…
RECIPES FOR CHANGE: MOTHER AND INFANT PROGRAM
It has been an amazing pleasure to work with Andrea Guzman from Proyecto CAN. Andrea is a nutritionist who has helped develop wonderful nutrition workshops, recipe books and videos. In this course the participants receive a recipe book for babies. However all the recipes can be used for any age. The cookbook uses pictures as many mothers cannot read…
RECIPES FOR CHANGE: ADDING GREEN TO THE DIET
For 12 years we have been trying to get families to eat CHAYA. CHAYA is a highly nutritious leafy greenthat grows in a tree or shrub. It use to be part of the traditional diet before the conquistadores invaded. We found that our families would grow it but not consume it. In our cooking classes we have shown many recipes containing CHAYA. The women are now asking for more CHAYA recipes and incorporating it into their diet. As the plant already is growing in their yard, they are able to now feed their families cheaper meals that are highly nutritious…
SCHOOL GARDENS
In January 2013, Aldea Maya decided to address the school garden issue in Chuk Muk Elementary school. Our goal is to have numerous teaching gardens that produce food for the school lunch program and individual class projects. As well as teach students about : composting, seed collection, organic gardening, native plants and…
MINI-GREENHOUSE
The students in grade 4 have a very hands on project. They learn about what seeds need to grow effectively and…