The school day in Guatemalan primary schools is only from around 8:30-12:30 (depending a little on the school) so kids go home for lunch. The mid-morning snack is provided by the school (purchased with funds from the Government). There are no paid faculty members who are in charge of preparing the snack. Instead, all mothers of kids in the school take turns coming in each morning and cooking the snack over an open fire or wood-burning stove. I'm not sure what happens if a mother works and cannot make it, but from what I have seen this is rare. I am not sure why the Government funding doesn't cover all aspects of snack (i.e. fuel for cooking), but to be able to cook the food each kid is required to bring in five pieces of wood each week.
This girl didn't seem to mind carrying the wood to school today.
The little boy wasn't quite so happy...
Some examples of snack are: Incaparina (fortified drink that contains protein, carbohydrates, and fat) and an egg, a piece of bread and Incaparina, Corn Flakes in hot milk, Atol (a sweet drink made with corn flower), etc. To help fight malnutrition, the school snack is supposed to make up a fairly large portion of childrens' caloric intake for the day. Sometimes the snack is well balanced, but more often then not it is carbs on carbs on carbs. Thanks to Guatemalan courtesy, schools almost always offer us Healthy Schools PCVs snack when we are there working. I think that this might be one of the reasons why most female PCVs find themselves gaining weight. Also since it is very rude in this culture to straight out say "no" to food I have gotten creative to get out of eating another school snack.
A couple other things that are very different from American schools: hardly anyone gets dropped off in cars or drives to work, there are 0 parking lots or even parking spaces near the schools, kids seem to walk to school on their own or with brothers and sisters from what seems like kindergarden on so at the beginning and end of the day there are no parents at the school (except for the 5ish mothers who made the day's snack).
Just point out that you don't suffer from malnutrition. That should work!
ReplyDeleteI think there's something to be said for having children bring the firewood to school -they're making a contribution, building a community. Walking to school is also probably a good thing from an exercise perspective. I admire the parents who cook the snacks when I'm sure they've got plenty to do at home. And I admire the PCVs who are working to promote healthy schools. Everyone involved is pretty amazing.
ReplyDeleteSuch beautiful kids!
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