Drought, hunger and 12 Tortillas for Christmas

December 2009 - Nora Ramirez is laughing freely. Her laughter and smile brighten the dark hut. Nora and her family belong to the Ch'orti’ Maya, a highland Indian people. Nora’s Christmas will be very different to the Christmas we are used to in Europe. Instead of turkey, cranberry sauce, Christmas pudding and roast vegetables, Nora and her family will share twelve tortillas with a bit of salt, watery coffee and beans. 

Francisco, Nora’s husband, is unemployed. Life is hard. This year’s serious drought has affected the coffee and sugar cane production and it is ever more difficult to find work as a seasonal worker. The global economic crisis has further exacerbated the situation. But Francisco knows nothing about the crisis or why it is affecting him and his family. All he knows is that food prices are soaring and it is becoming ever more difficult to afford the most basic food items such as corn flour for tortillas. 

The family will share the twelve tortillas (each the size of a hand): three for both Nora and Francisco (most likely Nora will sacrifice hers), and two for each child. Julian, the eldest, is 10 years old, although he does not look it. He is small for his age, and thin. Julian suffers from chronic malnutrition caused by a continuous poor quality diet. Evelyn, his sister, is eight years old and has the same stature as my three-year old daughter. She also suffers from chronic malnutrition.  

Children who suffer from chronic malnutrition fail to grow to their full genetic potential, both mentally and physically. Chronic malnutrition can have severe consequences which affect the child for the rest of its life and significantly increase the likelihood of illness and premature death. Failure to grow and reduced body size can also result in a lower physical capacity and reduced energy for work as an adult; this in turn has associated economic costs. Nora and her family do not feel the impact of Guatemala’s Food Security and Nutrition Law, aimed at governing anti-hunger policies and actions. In fact, they do not even know it exists. 

Nora’s youngest child, one-year old Ludwig, is still being breastfed and seems well-nourished. As long as his mother is breastfeeding him, he’ll be well-nourished. It is when he starts eating solid food that his ordeal will begin.

Nora and her family will ration the tortillas throughout the day. They do not have their breakfast of tortillas, coffee and salt, until just before lunch time. It is not until the evening that they eat their next and final meal: the remaining tortillas and a few beans. During this difficult time, the family only eats two meals per day. Their food reserves are few and far between: a few kilos of corn meal and a few coins, which will enable them to buy a limited ration of basic things such as salt, phosphorus and beans. 

We sit down in Nora’s hut, made of mud, sugar cane and palm leaves, and she slowly begins to tell us about the shortages her family faces.  It seems as though Nora is used to living at the brink of survival. I remember Dickens’ Christmas Carol. If Nora was visited by the three Christmas spirits, it would not make any difference: they have always been, and will always be, poor.  

Chronic malnutrition rarely hits the news headlines but it is one of Latin America’s most serious problems. Guatemala has the highest percentage of chronically malnourished children in Latin America with over 50% of children suffering chronic malnutrition.  Addressing chronic malnutrition is a main priority for the Guatemalan government and is one of the main obstacles faced in terms of social cohesion, rural development, participative democracy and the building of civil society in the region. The country is beautiful but is scourged by violence and drug trafficking. 

Nora and her family will benefit from one of Action Against Hunger’s programmes being rolled out before Christmas to improve the situation for families such as her's. This will not dramatically change things, but they will be able to prepare some more tortillas and beans and buy some vegetables. And if Francisco joins the ‘Food for Work’ programme, he will earn some money to buy some basic necessities at the Jocatan market. Maybe they will even be able to buy half a chicken for the family.

We will continue to work hard here in Guatemala to make these changes possible. 

From Guatemala, I wish you a very happy Christmas and New Year. Thanks to your support we are able to help families such as Nora’s.