Comboni Lay Missionaries of Guatemala: “The nutrition program Chispuditos”

The Comboni Lay Missionaries (CLM) of Guatemala began a year full of hope in the nutrition program Chispuditos, which grew incredibly to the point that we managed, along with professionals, to make medical and dental days, since the supplement, training and food were not helping children to get out of anemia and their illnesses. We have made great efforts to innovate and train ourselves, but it has not been enough because when the pediatrician, the nutritionist and the dentist arrived, they observed a high degree of malnutrition, psychomotor problems, useless dentures, genetic diseases, speech and growth deficiencies, often caused by the same malnutrition of the mothers and poor nutritional education. They are 6 years of an arduous road, working the mind, the heart and the stomach, without a doubt it fills us with joy to see the 6 year old children that leave the program without anemia and with an average size and weight, it is to give glory to God!

At the same time we went into the Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation (JPIC) knowing that St. Daniel Comboni had a special interest in justice for the marginalized and forgotten; we immersed ourselves in the formation to learn about migration in Guatemala and this led us to human trafficking, a terrible and very latent situation in our country. We discovered that Comboni fought hard against human trafficking, preventing them from taking so many blacks as slaves. We understood through talks, personal encounters and several Cineforums about human trafficking, we knew the reality and rawness of the life of women in prostitution. Our hearts bowed before such a situation and we started an awareness campaign. Guatemala suffers from human trafficking, women, children and arises from migration, which is one of the biggest problems of the country, from there these social problems arise, culminating in poor nutrition of children, dismembered families, single women and children practically orphaned.

We believe that it has been a year marked by a deep awakening to the way of Comboni. We had enriching formations, we formed new CLM candidates, we met several times with a small group of lay people in San Luis Petén who are doing their CLM formation, we broadened our vision towards new projects and we grew in the Comboni charism.

A 2024 awaits us with new and great challenges, at the community, mission ad gentes and economic levels, but we trust in the holy intercession of St. Daniel Comboni, we embrace the hearts of Jesus and Mary and we ask St. Joseph to help this small group to be light and salt wherever we go.

Happy beginning of the year 2024, may it be filled with many blessings and new paths for each CLM.

A fraternal embrace,
Comboni Lay Missionaries of Guatemala