Nutrition project in La Labor hopes to expand

Missionaries of the Precious Blood have long sponsored a nutrition project in Guatemala’s La Labor region, a rural area outside of Guatemala City where the Missionaries are still in ministry. It began with Fr. Bill Beuth, C.PP.S., who, with the help of donors in the U.S., built a kitchen and cafeteria that twice a week fed children in the area with a hot, nutritious, fortified stew. Children and parents walked several miles, often over rugged, mountainous terrain, to enjoy the meal and fellowship. 

COVID put a stop to that in 2020. During that pause, we began to rethink the program — because we certainly did not want to abandon it. The answer at that time was to deliver monthly packages of beans, rice, eggs, corn meal, and other food items to help fill the family’s dietary needs. In the end, we saw that this was probably a better approach because in walking to the lunch, the children may have burned up more calories than we were able to give them. 

Guatemala leads this hemisphere in infant malnutrition and is third in the world for stunting. We wanted to take a more systemic approach, so in 2024, we teamed up with the Sangre de Cristo Health Care Project, sponsored by the ASC sisters, to add their expertise to our work. A nutritionist and a nurse were brought on board to help manage the project and study its effects on the people we serve.  

Jose Luis Jolan, a native of La Labor who is employed by the Missionaries, now delivers food to 150 households. We were aiding as many as 375 households when we were just delivering food. However, the support of the nurse and dietician and the lab made the program more costly but more tailored to individual nutrition needs.  

We never wanted to cut the number of families served even while refining the services of the nutrition project. Now, we are hoping to build the reach of the program to at least the 375 households we formerly served.  

The need certainly has not gone away. In our relatively affluent society, it can be hard to imagine the challenges that the mostly rural poor of the La Labor region are facing. Malnutrition is generational and does lasting harm to families. Diabetes is rampant due to poor diets (that’s the “mal” in malnutrition), as are gut health issues. 

Climate conditions are not helping. Guatemala is in the third year of an extended dry spell. This is driving farmers away from their fields and into the cities to seek work there.  

We feel we are doing the minimum required by Christ’s command to “feed my sheep.” There are big dreams ahead to help the people of La Labor raise food to help themselves. What about community gardens? What if families could have a small chicken coop? What about a goat or a pair of goats? These are some future visions we will study. 

We are so blessed to have the ASC sisters as our allies in this. Their knowledge of and dedication to the people of Guatemala run deep and strong. The Precious Blood sisters of Dayton have also served in Guatemala and are in conversation with us as we explore ways we can work together. 

With this brief account, I hope to put this information in front of the eyes of some of the most compassionate people I know: Precious Blood people. Please consider supporting our spring appeal, the proceeds of which will aid the nutrition program.  

Please look for updates with greater details about this program that puts Precious Blood spirituality to work in one of the places in the world that needs it the most. 

Mark Giesige 

Mission Coordinator, Latin America and Vietnam