From Sept 19th to the 26th, Jeremy and I went to Guatemala with the Hormel nonprofit called Project Spammy. Project Spammy is an organization founded by Hormel that produces and distributes fortified canned meat spread to malnourished children in Guatemala. We went on this trip to learn more about the program, act as ambassadors for Hormel, assist in making a new Dream Center for the Spammy kids, and meet the people that are participating and benefiting in the program.
Interesting facts about Project Spammy:
- Hormel has been producing and distributing Spammy in Guatemala since 2011.
- Guatemala was chosen because it has one of the highest occurrences of stunted children in the world.
- Over 200 locations are used to distribute Spammy to deserving families, thanks to the local partnership with Caritas.
- 100% of the product reaches the intended recipients. And the kids actually eat it because
- Spammy tastes good! It is one of the first kinds of food for the poor that has been made to taste good and to have brand labels on the products.
- Spammy is extremely versatile and shelf stable. It can be eaten straight out of the can or as a spread on tortillas. It can be added to re-fried beans, soup or meat sauces. It's also used in dips, salads, and pizza!
- Families in the program have to attend monthly parenting classes in order to receive the product. They're also required to bring back every empty can of Spammy that is given to them before they can get more. This is to prove that their family consumed the product instead of selling it for money.
- One positive effect that Spammy has on children is increased energy. (The absence of protein, Vit D and B12 creates very lethargic children). Parents started expressing concern that their kids now had all this energy, but nowhere to play and nothing to play with. That's when the idea of Dream Centers came along.
- There are currently 14 Dream Centers in connection with Project Spammy. (We helped create the 14th Dream Center during our trip!!) These centers provide Spammy children with activities that help them grow cognitively, emotionally and socially.
- There is a nutritionist that tracks the physical growth/health of the children and a specialist that tracks the cognitive growth of the children.
- Between the nutritional component from the Spammy food and the activities at the Dream Centers, the whole-child is being cared for, and real change is beginning to take place in their lives.
A Daily Account of Our Trip
Saturday and Sunday
We had a bit of a challenge getting to Guatemala. Several of our flights got delayed so we had to spend a night in Miami. We were going to be the first ones from our Hormel group to get there and we ended up being the last!
Sunday evening
We visited the warehouse and sister organization called Caritas that is helping Hormel distribute the Spammy product to the recipients. We also toured the Caritas hospital and had a lovely dinner with Caritas leaders.
Monday
We went to a school outside the city that benefits from the Spammy Project. We also got to walk through the neighborhood and meet multiple Spammy families and see their homes. From the pictures, I think you can tell that we got a good workout!
Throughout the day, we learned about the many struggles that the families face to survive, the greatest being the gang and drug violence, keeping fathers in the home, and sending children to gradeschool.
A church runs the beautiful school that we visited. It provides education to the poorest children in their community. We were really impressed with their facilities and resources, all donation based. (The Guatemalan government gives very little support for public education).
This scene of the playground with jungle in the background reminded me of the Sanwanwittaya Elementary School that I taught at in Chang Mai, Thailand.
One of the boys jokingly told our group that he would let us take his picture if we gave him ten dollars. Jeremy thought that was hilarious and clever, so he took the kid up on the offer. He only had a few quetzales in his pocket, so the exchange came out to about 20 cents, but we don't think the kid cared.
The future business man is the one in the middle.
Jeremy got down on the kids' level to talk with them because he felt too tall, and they all crowded around to see what was going on.
The kids invited us to play soccer with them! There were 3 soccer games going on at once, so it was really fun and crazy.
Later that day, we visited another location where Spammy is distributed. This place has a Dream Center. We got to see the classrooms that the children come to weekly, and we saw how the children are measured and weighed on a regular basis to track their growth.
The mothers made about 15 different recipes that they use with Spammy. Many months prior to our visit, the mothers using Spammy decided to do recipe exchanges when they met each month for classes. All of these dishes are original recipes that they have created. They love Spammy and spoke to us about the drastic positive changes it has had on their children.
Jeremy found two little boys who were both named Jeremy! It was a Jeremy trio!!
Jeremy had to notice that not only is Spam on the Walmart shelf in Guatemala, but so is his own valley fresh canned chicken!
Tuesday
We toured the facility where we would make our Dream Center! This place is an all-girls crisis shelter. Most of the girls stay here M-F so that they can go to school and have a safe place to sleep at night. On the weekends, they go live with their families on the streets or in whatever shack their parents have for them. There were about 60 girls there.
The nuns, who like to be called mothers, do an excellent job maintaining the facility and providing a nurturing environment. I'm pretty sure they don't have any government support.
After our first visit to the crisis center, we visited a tourist attraction. It was a giant relief map of the entire country. It was really intriguing because it was made to scale back in the late 1800's.
It was cool to understand how truly mountainous and volcanic Guatemala is.
The tour guide was so passionate and proud of his country, he was really inspiring.
After the relief map tour, we came back to the girls' crisis center to do some painting.
Then we took a massive trip to Walmart to get all the things we would need for the Dream Stations. Our bus was really, really full!!
During the week, we had a great time getting to know the other 15 Hormel employees from around the US. We had a particularly fun traffic adventure on the way home from Walmart. It took us 30 minutes to drive one block. Finally, when 7 of us could not hold our bladders any longer, we got off the bus and walked home in the rain. And yes, we beat the bus by about 45 minutes even though we only walked 3 blocks. Crazy!
Wednesday
This was our big day to set up all the Dream Stations and to do the activities with the kids. We had a lot of stuff to organize.
We ended up with 6 beautiful stations!
Physical Education Station
Dream Journals Station
Sing Me English Station (created by me and Jeremy)
Computer Station
Imagination Station
Arts and Crafts Station
We all trained each other on how to use our stations. Here's me and Jeremy showing our colleagues how to play Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes and Do You Know the Muffin Man. If you're like the 40 percent of our adult group that didn't know how to play these singing games, that is okay. You are just a testament to how completely pathetic our music education is in our country. But that's a rant for another time, haha.
It was really fun to teach the Sing Me English lessons again after 10 years, and to see our colleagues making the lessons come to life!
We each were assigned to a group of kids and ate lunch with them. Then we got to play at the stations with them! This little boy in our group was Tanner's age and size. He was really proud of his mask.
Jeremy did an awesome job keeping our group on track. It was hard for me to rotate stations only after 30 minutes. The kids were soaking everything up, most of the activities we had, they have never done before!
We had so much fun playing with these kids!
In the picture above, you can see the girls holding their photo books that we gave them. We took pictures of them at the computer station and printed them right away for them. All of the kids were so excited to have a picture of themselves in a book!! The little girl on the right was able to go around to all her friends and somehow convince them to let her have their photos so that she could fill every page in her book. We were not expecting them to love the photos so much.
When the older girls came home from school, we played basketball and games with them. Then, Mother Sonya joined in. Our leader told us that this was a big deal. He later realized that at first she was kind of skeptical of our program, because many people come to donate or make promises of helping, and there is no follow through. She could see that our program would have a lasting impact and that the employees with Caritas will continue to add help and support, and will keep the stations stocked with supplies. When Mother Sonya played basketball with us, she was showing that she was in full support and acceptance of our help. Jeremy never imagined that he would ever make a dunk while being defended by a nun in Guatemala!
Mother Sonya is an amazing woman. She was really happy about all the music resources I brought for her girls. She kept asking me to become a nun and stay with the girls to teach them music. I told her that I would love to come back someday. She tried getting me to think about being a nun. I had to tell her that I'm married and pointed to Jeremy! Lol. I was really, really sad when it was time to say goodbye. Our time with the girls and the "mothers" was way too short!!
All the meals were planned for us, which made things really easy for us. On Wednesday, we ate at a fancy authentic Guatemalan restaurant. YUM! During dinner, we got to know Luis and his wife much better. He is one of the directors of the program through Caritas, and lives in Guatemala. His humor, looks, and mannerisms were exactly like DadR. It was really weird!
Thursday
We took a long drive out to one of the first Dream Centers that Hormel opened in a village out in the jungle.
The school children were really excited to see us.
We visited a couple of homes and got to know the families a little better. The three mothers in this home all work very hard to make newspaper rolls for a firework company. They make hundreds a day and get paid $4 a week.
Compared to other poverty that we saw this week, these homes were on the nicer side. Both homes had fathers that regularly contributed to family life and survival, so maybe that had something to do with it.
This wonderful mother below taught me how to use her baby carrier. Later, at one of the markets, I bought one just like it!
When we arrived at the Dream Center, we were told to sit and wait for a surprise. Before we knew it, these kids came out to dance for us! It was SO funny!!! Jeremy and I got up with another friend to dance with them because they jumped up and down for over 10 minutes. LOL.
As soon as I tried taking a selfie with the kid sitting next to me, I soon had a little crowd.
I was super impressed with all their songs and dances. These children have very little resources, it's amazing what the nuns have been able to do for them and teach them. My favorite part was their traditional Mayan dances.
After the singing and performing, we got to see their Dream Center in action. These stations were created by other Hormel employees three years ago. We were impressed to see all of the original games and puzzles in such good condition, computers still working, arts and crafts station with updated supplies, and lots of new supplies, too. Also, to see the children taking such pride in their games and activities was really neat. Remember, these children are among the poorest in the area, and before this Dream Center was here, they had very limited opportunities to play with toys, let alone engage in art projects or computers and writing.
I played blocks with these kids.
Mothers in the kitchen preparing meals, often with Spammy in it.
This little girl asked me for money. I said "how about some candy and a picture?" She seemed to be okay with that.
One of the boys was still wearing the backpack that he was given three years ago by Hormel employees. That impressed me because I can't get my own backpacks to last that long. His teacher said that he takes very good care of everything that is given to him, because it's very rare when he gets something just for him to keep.
We drove out of the village, and back into the city. Before we knew it we were inside a huge gym where we were greeted by all of these beautiful girls at an all-girls boarding school. This school is very elite. We were there because 12 children from the village were given scholarships from Hormel to attend the school. It was an amazing experience to be there and witness how the Spammy program comes full circle for some of these families. Their songs and dances had us in tears several times.
While on their campus, we were treated like gold. It was really an honor to represent Hormel, even though we ourselves have not done much for the success of Project Spammy. Being showered with praise and thanksgiving was a daily theme of this trip, which was hard to take in the first couple of days.
Friday
The original plan was to see an authentic Mayan community high up in the jungles. But the rain made the roads too dangerous. (It was wet and lots of rain all week). As a group, we decided to go back to the All Girls Crisis Center and paint more rooms that we knew needed some serious TLC. It was really neat to be able to go back there!!
Then, we headed to Antigua, which is the oldest city in Guatemala. We enjoyed touring another Dream Center that serves children that eat Spammy. It was really neat to see a handful of dream centers throughout the week because each place had their own way of making it work for their community. The nuns, teachers and mothers at every place have taken so much ownership in the activities and materials. It was really inspiring.
At lunch, the children sang songs for us, and this little boy in the green shirt took a special liking to me almost instantly! We sang and danced together before his meal, and I had a hard time getting away from him when it was time to go. There was never enough time to enjoy being with the children at each of our visits!
For lunch, we enjoyed a farewell luncheon with all the Caritas leaders and Hormel employees in this beautiful courtyard at an old cathedral. The food was amazing. We were very well fed all week long, my mouth is watering thinking about all the catered meals we had!
After lunch, we took a tour of the cathedral, which is mostly in ruins now due to a volcanic eruption and earthquake.
I'm gonna miss these two people. Minor is a Coordinator for all the Dream Centers and tracks the cognitive growth of the children. He also helped with a lot of translating from day to day. Maria is the Caritas Nutritionist that tracks the health and physical growth of the Spammy children.
After our luncheon, we had time to shop at the market for tourists. I'm really excited about the traditional clothes that I bought.
Saturday
It was time to go home.
Dan Hernandez is the guy that makes all of this happen! I really enjoyed getting to know him better during the week.
And just like that, we went back to America. It was awesome to make new friendships with these great people from Hormel. I have truly missed them since coming home!!
If you would like to help support our dream center, you can donate through Caritas. I'll post more information when I know more.
