Guatemala is a country of contrasts…..unparalleled beauty in the mountains and volcanoes. Curious and friendly people who are creative and live life to the fullest. Everywhere you look there is color and music that add to the richness and diversity of the culture of the country. In stark contrast Guatemala is a a country that has 85percent of it’s population living in poverty. The needs of the people are many….including food insecurity (hunger and nutritional deprivation) economic-lack of sustainable income, and difficult to access education. Currently the effects of a longer than normal rainy season and extreme heat and drought have caused the sugar crops to fail in some areas that has caused an important source of employment to not be available. This has had a ripple effect in the economy that is now being felt in and around Reu. For that reason, we felt that it was important to bring needed food with us.
The Dardon’s secured 1000 pounds of Feed My Starving Children food that needed to be packed in suitcases and brought with us to Guatemala.
Due to distance, we were not able to all be together at one time, but those that could, met in Charles City on Friday night. We packed the food and donations of toothpaste and brushes, shoes and children’s clothing, and the food packs.
When we were done we had over thirty suitcases, filled with exactly 50 pounds of food and donations….yes as a matter of fact we weighed each one.