Eating right - in Guatemala

from the Daily Pennsylvanian

Natasha Bandukwalla

Craig Sinkinson, President and founder of the Mayan Medical Aid, a non-profit organization that funds medically related projects involving Mayan Indians, spoke at Civic House last night. He addressed the impact of maternal and childhood nutritional diseases during pregnancy and early childhood development.

His speech was part of Healthy Philadelphia Week, which is sponsored by Civic House and works to build awareness of public health issues in the Philadelphia area.

Sinkinson left the United States in 2004 to start a health clinic in a small village, Santa Cruz La Laguna, in Guatemala. This health initiative aims to improve the nutrition, primary health care and sanitation of the inhabitants of Santa Cruz, Guatemala, while maintaining the cultural traditions of the Mayan people.

Sinkinson realized that malnutrition among children was more than a nutritional problem but was "a major ethical and economical issue." He discussed the vicious cycle in which families in Santa Cruz and other places around the world remain trapped in poverty. According to him, poverty causes malnutrition which leads to poor congnitive function.

He has faced many obstacles in Santa Cruz such as inavailibilty of resources, high illiteracy rates and a resistance of the people to give up their traditions and customs. However, Sinkinson has made a lot of progress. He encourages the villagers to consume nutrients that their diets are currently lacking - foods rich in protein, fats and iron.

Additionally, he believes that education is an important step to ensure good health practices.

Student Ambassadors of the World, a community service group at Penn, has been closely involved with Sinkinson's work in Guatemala. Last summer, students volunteered and observed the delivery of medical care in Santa Cruz.

Vice President of the Latin American region of SAW and College junior Jackie Rivera was one of the students who spent her summer volunteering in Santa Cruz.

Sinkinson is doing amazing work, she said, adding that "He is not only giving medical help but his work is a social experiment."

Sinkinson hopes that his malnutrition-fighting model will be implemented in other poverty striken areas around the world.