Blog posts tagged with 'odim'

One of the universal truths in this world is wherever you go in the world you will find people just want to provide a good life for their families. At Unique Batik, we strive to present opportunities for the families and communities we work with to do just that.

We also know our work is only one avenue of support, so we believe in advocating for organizations doing life changing and life saving work on the ground in these communities. One of our favorite such organizations in Guatemala is ODIM (Organization for the Development of the Indigenous Maya). ODIM was founded in 2005, initially beginning its work by supplying humanitarian relief for the people of Guatemala after being devastated by Hurricane Stan.

In 2008 construction began for ODIM’s San Juan Clinic (Clinica Sanjuanerita), and in 2014 the San Pablo Clinic (Clinica Chuitinamit) was opened. One of the greatest things about these clinics is that they are staffed by bilingual Spanish/Tz’utujil speaking nurses and a local physician, and of their 42 staff members 82% are Tz’utujil Mayan staff, 13% are Guatemalan (but not Tz’utujil), and only 5% are foreign staff. Another bonus: 83% of ODIM’s leaders and coordinators are women! 

Since ODIMs conception its staff has worked hard to raise funds to implement and maintain an array of incredible programs:

• Healthy Mommy & Me utilizes healthcare, informational sessions, cooking classes, food vouchers, psychological support groups, and medical appointments to combat chronic malnutrition.

• Adolescent Health is designed to equip youth with knowledge about puberty, sexuality, contraception, and gender equality to empower them to make sensible decisions for themselves and become peer educators in their communities.

                               

• Let’s Walk Together provides education, exercise, cooking classes and support groups for those living with diabetes, which affects more than 25% of the indigenous population (to compare, the CDC’s 2020 report estimates 10.5% of the US population has diabetes).

• High Impact Home Improvement (HIHI) provides families with water filters and safe, smokeless, and environmentally friendly stoves in their homes, as well as informative workshops about Water, Sanitation & Hygiene (WASH).

ODIM provides medical care at their two clinics, their dental clinic Healthy Smiles, and goes above and beyond to address the root of issues in these communities. The importance of this simply cannot be overstated. While helping people to heal once they come to a clinic is certainly important work, having programs which assess and address the factors that lead to common issues is crucial to ensure the highest number of safe and healthy individuals. The fact that ODIM does both is truly impressive and heartwarming. 

These are just some examples of ODIM’s phenomenal programs. You can visit their website, www.odimguatemala.org, to learn more about all of the work they do, the communities they work in (San Juan and San Pablo La Laguna), and ways you can get involved. Thank you to all of the staff at ODIM for your tireless efforts to make your communities the best they can be. 

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Among the many challenges faced by disadvantaged populations in Guatemala is that of providing adequate nutrition for themselves and their families. Guatemala has the fourth highest rate of chronic malnutrition in the world. The mainstay of the typical diet is based on corn (in the form of tortillas) and beans, and also includes sugar, cheese, eggs, meat and fresh fruits and vegetables. Although many Guatemalans enjoy the exceptional coffee grown in their country, it is typical a much weaker brew than that preferred in America and is usually served with plenty of sugar. The most impoverished people in Guatemala often subsist on a diet of just corn, beans, and fruit, which provides inadequate amounts of many nutrients, including amino acids and fat.

Almost 20% of the population of Guatemala is categorized as undernourished by the World Bank.  Children under the age of five are especially at risk, with over 25% being underweight and over 50% being stunted (short for their age). Most at risk are rural, indigenous people, who are also the less educated and poorest populations in the country. Anemia is big risk particularly for pregnant women and infants. The underlying cause of the much of the nutritional deficiency for the majority of Guatemalans is economic access to food. 54% of the population is living below the poverty line, and these people only consume about 60% of the minimum daily caloric requirement, leading to malnutrition.

Unique Batik  provides vital income to just this at-risk population through fair trade purchases of their handmade crafts. Seeing the nutritional challenges faced by so many of the people of Guatemala, we wanted to do more, and when the good work of ODIM was brought to our attention, it seemed like the right partnership for advancing the cause of good nutrition in Guatemala. Unique Batik has been a supporter of ODIM for several years, funding their Children’s Cultural Exchange (CCE) and Nutrition Project.

ODIM is an organization operating in the Highlands of Guatemala on the shores of Lake Atitlan in two villages, San Juan and San Pablo La Laguna, with a focus on healthcare and education. ODIM stands for Organization for the Development of the Indigenous Maya, and the two villages where they work have a total population of approximately 20,000 people, almost entirely indigenous Maya. ODIM’s Nutrition Project was founded in 2010 after seeing a drastic increase in severely malnourished children at their healthcare clinics. The Nutrition Project is a comprehensive nutrition program that works with twenty families. Participants attend monthly classes in hygiene, nutrition, combating common illnesses, safe food preparation, and family budgeting. The program also includes cooking classes, bi-monthly health checks, emergency food assistance and a community garden where families in the program work and share in the vegetable harvests.

The nutrition, cooking, and budgeting classes, as well as the organic vegetables and herbs from the community garden established especially for them, has greatly improved the lives of both the mothers and children involved in the Nutrition Project. ODIM no longer sees such extreme cases as the month-old baby girl, weighing 4 pounds and the 10-month-old baby boy, weighing 8.8 pounds who were the impetus for the program.

You can support the good work of ODIM by visiting their website http://www.odimguatemala.org/, connecting to their organization on Amazon Smile, and , of course, continuing your fair trade purchases through Unique Batik!