Return to Guatemala

Broader U of I group to make return Guatemala humanitarian trip

Amaranth — a nutty-flavored and nutrient-dense pseudo-grain containing all nine essential amino acids — was a staple in the Guatemalan diet before the Central American country was colonized.

Assistant Professor Ginny Lane, with University of Idaho’s Margaret Ritchie School of Family and Consumer Sciences (FCS), and a team of food and nutrition students hope to play a role in the superfood making a comeback on dinner tables in the rural Gualán area of eastern Guatemala.

Ten U of I students and three FCS faculty members — including Lane, Instructor Chelsey Lewallen and Assistant Professor Sarah Deming — are scheduled to depart on a 10-day humanitarian return trip to the town in the Guatemalan department of Zacapa on May 11.

Lane and her students will host workshops teaching Guatemalan locals how to sustainably improve their diets by raising nutritious native plants, such as amaranth, and incorporating them into their diets.

“Most of these students have not been exposed to what they’re going to see on this trip — the level of poverty some people live in,” Lane said. “These trips are life changing. They really help them to see life differently.”

The FCS program made its pilot trip to Guatemala in May 2024 as part of a mission organized by the Indiana-based nonprofit Hearts in Motion that also included medical professionals who performed surgeries to fix cleft palates, dentists and 40 Washington State University biological sciences and Spanish students who tested locals for iron deficiency and type II diabetes.

The U of I team, which will be conducting workshops and outreach efforts at Hearts in Motion community centers, believes education and capacity building is the most effective way to effect lasting change.

Other workshops to be offered by the U of I team will cover apparel, textiles and design (ATD), early childhood development, human development and family studies, and FCS teacher education. Workshops during the initial trip drew groups of participants ranging in age from 8 to 80.

In addition to the FCS students — including three from ATD, two studying food and nutrition and one master’s student in dietetics — the College of Art and Architecture, the Psychology and Communication Department and the Department of English will each send a student to Guatemala.

Lewallen and ATD students Joanna Osornia and Kenzie Eppey were part of last spring’s trip and were so moved by the experience they all chose to return this year.

“We knew it would be an important trip, but the impact was far greater than I had anticipated,” Lewallen said. “The people are really the best part of the trip. The people have a lot less, and they are happier. They are joyful, they are kind, and they are welcoming.”

ATD students made hundreds of reusable menstrual pads to distribute among women in Guatemala last year in response to an observation by the WSU team that many women in the country couldn’t access pads and were consequently unable to attend much-needed medical appointments.

ATD students have been mass producing reusable pads to deliver again this year. Eppey received a $1,000 undergraduate research grant through the U of I Office of Undergraduate Research to improve upon the pad design, making them easier to assemble and using fabrics that better withstand a hot climate. ATD students have also been collecting fabric to give to the local women and are planning hands-on activities for both children and adults.

“The women in the community we served requested to learn how to make skirts that they can wear and sell. We are glad to be providing workshops based on the specific requests of the local community,” Lewallen said. “They also loved weaving and felting and we’ll also teach them more general sewing machine skills.”

Faculty members involved in the trip emphasize that in addition to teaching, their students will learn customs and approaches from the Guatemalans they meet.

The Moscow and Pullman, Washington, communities have helped defray student expenses and contributed toward supplies to distribute in the country through several fundraisers. U of I’s ATD Club will host a Sustainable Clothing Swap and Upcycling workshop on April 25 in the Niccolls Building to raise money for the trip with a $5 entry fee going toward the trip. Kenworthy Theater and The Yard Underground collaborated on a Crafting Matinee, during which participants watched a movie and made crafts, with some of the proceeds supporting the trip. The WSU Women’s STEM Club also hosted a fundraiser in support of the U of I trip. A crowdfunding account to support the trip has also been established.

All U of I students who participate in the trip must take a one-credit short course this spring to build skills that will help them make a greater difference while in Guatemala. Lane’s doctoral student, Rita Franco, is an international student from Guatemala who has been integral in planning content for the short course, as well as assisting with the trip itinerary.

Franco, who worked for several years in Guatemala’s nonprofit sector, has scheduled meetings in which the U of I students will learn about two philanthropic organizations working in the country — World Vision Guatemala and Action Against Hunger.

Franco explained that in rural communities such as Gualán people often live without refrigeration and access to clean water, and a prolonged drought has elevated the threat of food insecurity.

“People in the United States don’t know the reality of how a lot of other communities live,” Franco said. “Though they’re living in poverty, it’s not like the people are not happy. They try to face their challenges in the best way possible. They have their family, and they have their life.”