Luis Ramos is an 11-year-old child whose family participates in Common Hope’s programs.  Luis is the second oldest of five children.  For the past two months, he has come to Common Hope’s nutrition clinic for regular visits because of his height. At his age, he should be 4 feet 4 inches tall, but he is 3 feet 7 inches tall - very short for his age, although his weight is adequate for his height.

Rita, Common Hope’s nutritionist, is focusing on Luis’ nutrition so his height will increase.  Rita has taught the family how to enrich the nutrients of their food by adding beans to their rice, soy to their beans, and lots of milk to the coffee. She realizes that coffee is a cultural habit here that is hard to break, despite education, so she encourages mothers to either reduce the amount of coffee the children drink or make the coffee with more milk than coffee.

If needed, Rita also teaches families basic hygiene, such as washing hands before preparing food or eating. In other cases, she makes home visits and instructs families about keeping patios clean, taking care of garbage, covering food leftovers, and treating water with chlorine or boiling it if needed.

Almost 60% of Guatemalan children do not receive proper nutrition.  Diarrhea and parasites, because of poor hygiene and improper food preparation, are also a significant problem.  A large number of childhood deaths in Guatemala are the result of preventable diseases.  Our Nutrition Program teaches families important yet relatively simple ways they can protect their children from malnutrition and disease, reversing this trend.

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