Improving Family Quality of Life
A mother’s advice is pure love and experience for her children. Rebeca Chumil, a mom from Chuitzanchaj—a remote village high in the mountains around stunning Lake Atitlán—has seen her life transform over the past six-plus years, lifting her family’s well-being.
Rebeca first heard about Vivamos Mejor during a routine health center visit. They invited her to join the Nutritional Health and Agroecology project since her kids were young then. That sparked a journey of building knowledge and skills for her family, which she describes today as:
“It’s wonderful to be part of a project like Vivamos Mejor—I love it, or I wouldn’t keep going. The knowledge is super useful in my life; I apply it and share it with others. I want to learn more and join future projects.”
The Nutritional Health and Agroecology project aims to prevent chronic child malnutrition in rural highland communities in Guatemala, where their own studies show some areas with over 80% of kids under 5 affected.
The goal is prevention through awareness, family and health worker training, and a holistic strategy that includes agroecology. Since most families depend on subsistence farming, it strengthens production systems with agroecological practices that revive ancestral knowledge—like the milpa system and home garden production.
Maximizing Food Use and Availability
Rebeca faithfully attends workshops and activities, applying what she learns at home. She loves heading to the CEDRACC for nutritional recipe sessions since she enjoys cooking and picks up new ways to prep foods—like the many soy protein dishes, including ceviche. Her latest? Stuffed güicoyitos (baby squash). But she always adds her personal twist with extra nutritious ingredients when she recreates them.
As a participant from the project’s first phase, Rebeca got plants to boost her food production. Years later, she’s harvesting fruit trees like avocado and lime, plus medicinal plants. These have diversified her family’s nutrients and provided surplus sales as extra income for her and her husband.
Generational Changes
Rebeca beams with pride: she always put these lessons into practice with her daughters, making regular health center visits where staff monitored their growth and praised their healthy weight and height. Back then, home cooking and nutrition were already priorities—she’d enhance the atoles (nutrient porridges) from the center with fruits for an extra boost.
Now her daughters are young adults. Recently, her eldest, María, faced a health issue but hadn’t told Rebeca she was pregnant. Rebeca sprang into action, rushing her to the health center for proper care. Weeks later, with Rebeca’s support, the baby was born healthy.
Thrilled with her new grandson, Rebeca is committed to passing on Vivamos Mejor workshop knowledge to María, ensuring the baby thrives—blended with her ancestral natural remedies from plants, perfect for any baby ailments.
The mother-daughter bond has deepened, as María shares:
“You always hear moms’ advice, but it’s only with your own kids that you really listen. Thanks to hers, I’ve managed my health and my daughter’s well—we go to the health center for prenatal vitamins during pregnancy, and now we track the baby’s weight and height.”
A Project That Endures
The Nutritional Health and Agroecology project is wrapping up its second phase, having reached over 200 families with a comprehensive approach to preventing chronic child malnutrition. María joined this phase, and together with her mom’s experience, they’ve embraced respectful, relevant, healthy child-rearing.
In Rebeca’s words: “A baby is like a plant—you have to care for them the same.” This captures Vivamos Mejor’s vision: to boost rural family quality of life, we must also nurture our natural environment.
Thanks to Rebeca and María Chumil for sharing their story, being part of the Nutritional Health and Agroecology project, and prioritizing family well-being by applying what they’ve learned. Like them, over 200 families are transforming chronic child malnutrition in their communities—a country where nearly half of kids face this issue.