Ana Belen Mulul Yat, 27, carries her son Joseph Gael, 1, as she prepares lunch at home in Santa Maria Chiquimula, Guatemala. (Catholic Relief Services)
By Catholic Relief Services
Ana Belen Mulul Yat and her husband, Jose, have four children and a baby on the way. They live in a small house in Santa Maria Chiquimula, Guatemala.
Francisco, their 9-year-old son, says his neighborhood is “a very happy place to live, but sometimes it’s also very hard to live here.” He is not wrong.
In their community, malnutrition affects over half of the population mainly because people can’t afford to put food on the table.
Almost five years ago, when the COVID-19 pandemic started, Jose lost his job as a driver. This created serious challenges for the family. Even after the pandemic, things never went back to normal.
Food prices went up and eggs became twice as expensive. Bad weather made things worse — strong rains damaged the crops, causing the prices of vegetables, including tomatoes, onions and corn, to go up.
When Ana Belen went to the market, she could barely buy anything. The little money she had wasn’t enough to buy even the basics. “Sometimes I would cry because I didn’t have anything to give my children,” she recalled.
Now the family participates in a Catholic Relief Services project that helps fight hunger in places where people don’t have enough food. Through the project, Ana Belen goes every other week to her children’s school to receive food such as corn, beans, rice, vegetable oil and eggs.
“It made me happy when they started giving me eggs,” she said. Her children really like eggs, especially hard-boiled with beans, so they remind their mom when it’s time to pick them up.
Ana Belen’s family now eats nutritious meals every day. She also makes sure to take her children for monthly health check-ups, as part of the project.
Having enough nutritious food is very important to help children grow healthy and gives them the energy they need to learn and play, just like Francisco, who loves playing ball with his cousins and at school.
For more CRS Lenten Rice Bowl Stories of Hope from around the world, go to crsricebowl.org.
Rice Bowl recipe from Guatemala
Each Friday of Lent, CRS Rice Bowl encourages abstaining from eating meat as a way to experience a little of the hunger that many experience daily. CRS Rice Bowl invites all to incorporate these Lenten recipes from around the world and give the money saved each week by not eating meat to CRS Rice Bowl to feed those in need around the world.
Black bean soup is a dish made with black beans, vegetables and spices, and is often enriched with ingredients like tomatoes, onions, garlic and cilantro. In Guatemala, it is a traditional dish due to its nutritional value and the local availability of beans.
Servings: 4-6
Ingredients:
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 cups of water or vegetable broth
- 3 cans (15-ounce) black beans, drained and rinsed
- 2 tomatoes, diced
- 1 green chili, diced
- 2 teaspoons of ground cumin
- 2 teaspoons of chili powder
- ½ teaspoon of salt
- Cilantro, minced (optional)
- In a large pot, saute onion and garlic in oil until brown. In a blender, combine 1 cup of water/vegetable broth and 2 cans of beans. Blend until smooth. Add to onion mixture. Stir in tomatoes, chilis, remaining beans, spices and remaining water/broth. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 15 minutes. Serve with cilantro.
Eating a simple meal during Lent helps us reflect on the hunger that many people face worldwide. Make a Lenten donation to help ensure all the members of our global family have access to enough nutritious food. (www.crsricebowl.org)
