Us Pitt Nourish interns have been here for a little less than a week now, but a lot has been going on already! We’ve been learning a lot about Guatemala, the in-and-outs of our partner group, Maya Traditions, the Maya culture, and strengthening our team bond.

Our first day was off to a bit of a rough start, with a thunderstorm that delayed many of our connecting flights in Miami to Guatemala City. But this was by no means an omen for our experience here thus far. In fact everything has been great! We will be spending most of our time in a small and vibrant town called Panajachel, where Maya Traditions is headquartered. All of us interns have been spending a lot of time together exploring Panajachel, getting acclimated into our new homes, and definitely getting our Spanish speaking practice in. It’s a lot to take in but I have been loving every part of it!

Our days in the office have been spent learning about Maya Traditions’ history, sustainable business model, and importance of the work that they do. To give you a quick background: historically, the Maya people have been repressed since the Spanish conquest where they were deemed bottom of society and their culture systematically dismantled and discouraged. Today, the indigenous people face huge obstacles such as institutionalized racism, lack of access to health services, lack of access to education, and severe poverty. Maya Traditions works to preserve and promote Maya culture in a way that empowers their communities with living wages for their crafts and skills, as well as offer education-driven social programs!

This past week, we were introduced to the breath-taking Organic Medicinal Herb Garden that forms an integral part of Maya Traditions’ Community Health Program. The garden contains over 40 species with powerful medicinal properties and 100% of it is grown organically. Many of the plants are used by the organization’s collaborating partner, the Atitlan Ajq’omanela Association, a group of Maya healers from the Lake Atitlán. This garden is used as a mechanism to expand healthcare through indigenous Maya Medicine, and access to knowledge about ancestral practices. We learned about some natural medicinal herbs such as the crucial Apazote, which works to get rid of stomach pains, or Valeria, which is used to regulate anxiety levels and cure nerves, depression, and anxiety.

This is a worm farm for composting. The little brown liquid dripping to the bottom is a nutrient rich mixture used as a powerful and natural fertilizer for the garden!

Us interns sampling some medicinal herb tea!

From left to right: Me! (Yeana), Claire, Emily, Rachel, and Amber

We had the honor of meeting a highly reputable Maya healer, Don Juan, after the garden tour. It was truly inspiring to meet him and hear his story of how he found his calling to become a bone-setter. What is a bone setter you ask? Don Juan specializes in healing fractures, sprains, broken bones, etc. usually using an herbal compress to heal injuries and make sure it heals correctly. He is a master of all traditional and religious ceremonies. He uses a combined knowledge of modern medicine, such as use of ibuprofen, with his traditional expertise to enhance the healing process! Our time spent with Don Juan exchanging stories and laughs was a very insightful and informative encounter!

We’ve been working hard as a team sharing ideas, brainstorming, and planning for two major initiatives here with Maya Traditions: creation of promotional materials and product design/sales plan to sell products made out of scrap materials to sell back in Pittsburgh. I honestly could not have hoped for a greater group dynamic as our intern team. We all work so well together; we have the same sense of adventure and are hungry to learn as much as possible from this experience. Rachel, Amber, Claire, and Emily have become like family to me, and am so grateful for my host family and the Maya Traditions’ staff who have been nothing but loving and welcoming! I’ve already learned so much within these past couple of days and cannot be more excited to see what more I will learn by the end of these 6 weeks!!

Signing off until next time!!

• Yeana Kwagh