BYU Program Helps Guatemalans Reap Self-Reliance

Nearly two hundred Guatemalan families are improving their health, as well as their economic and educational levels, through a program supported in part by the Church.

The Family Self-Reliance program, developed by the Ezra Taft Benson Agriculture and Food Institute at Brigham Young University, helps families with only a small plot of land grow the food they need to improve their health. The program’s goal, says institute director James B. Jensen, is the kind of human development that takes place when someone learns, “I can do this with my own hands.”

The Family Self-Reliance program is designed to teach families about modern agricultural techniques, personal hygiene, and home management, as well as to produce a cash flow. Though the amount of cash earned by families may be small, it often allows the children of those families to take advantage of educational opportunities instead of toiling in the fields, he explains.

The Guatemalans involved in the program are part of several “associations of friends” organized in different areas of the country. There were seven such groups in April, and more are currently being organized. Membership in the groups is usually kept to no more than twenty-one families to make democratic government of the group easier.

Each of the associations is in effect loaned a sum of money donated through the Benson Institute by the Church’s Humanitarian Services Committee or by private donors. The money is put in a bank, and families in the association apply for a loan from the association to buy seed, animal stock, fertilizer, and other materials. The needed materials usually cost about $1,000 per family. The family’s loan must be paid back in three years at prevailing interest rates. The association keeps the interest that accrues during the three-year period.

Along with the money, the families get an education in what to do with it. Typically, they are using low-quality seed and animals and farming less than one hectare (2.4 acres) of land, which has probably been depleted by poor farming practices. They are taught the right kind of seed and animal stock to buy, correct use of fertilizers, proper management of the land—in short, they are taught how to apply the newest technology on a small scale.

When that is done, Brother Jensen says, “We can triple the cash flow in the family.” The amounts of money involved would be small to most North Americans, he explains, but the effect on Guatemalan families is enormous.

In San Esteban, for example, three generations of one family had lived in the same mud hut. But recently, since their participation in the program, the family built a cinder-block house and sent a daughter to study food science and nutrition on scholarship at a school in Mexico. That the family felt secure enough to let one of its laborers go away is significant, Brother Jensen says.

In Patzicía, where the first association was started, almost all of the loan money was paid back early, and families have sent young children to school for the first time, bought clothing and supplies, and sent sons and daughters on missions.

Brother Jensen emphasizes that “our program is based not on agribusiness but on nutrition.” Its primary objective is not to contribute to the national economy—though that will happen—but to improve the health of people. Volunteer doctors and nurses travel to Guatemala to assess the health of families involved, then return later to track their progress. They offer what treatment they can, sometimes paying for medicine and supplies out of their own pockets.

The institute’s goal is to involve more than four hundred families in the program in three years. The program is designed to make the families self-reliant, Brother Jensen says, but it should also make their associations self-reliant as well. Three years after they are organized, the associations should be left with new expertise in farming, perhaps a little money, and a record that will help them register for and qualify for government agricultural assistance.

The long-range benefit of the program will build confidence in people, Brother Jensen says. “True development is when you develop the individual.”

Parents and children in Sinaneca, Guatemala, undergo health examinations, all part of a BYU program. (Photos by Homer Ellsworth.)

Friends in Patzicía, Guatemala, meet to discuss their progress.

Patzicía farmer checks row crops on his small backyard plot.

Children of Sinaneca are able to attend school, many for the first time, due to the BYU program.

A young Guatemalan mother has learned nutrition tips.