Well, our bags finally showed up this morning. We actually were really surprised to get the call. We had pretty much come to grips with being in the same clothes the whole trip. Yesterday we found some leftover shampoo and a bar of soap in the magic closet so we tried to get clean (still no deodorant though). We also decided to wash all our clothes so we could be clean today. It was funny. Now we feel like we´ve all over packed though. Anyway, the work is going well. The reason we are here is to do taste-panels with a school of kids out in the middle of nowhere. An earlier study done showed that the kids get 5% of the calcium they need. So on Monday morning we made two types of cookies using quinoa flour (a native grain here that is really good for you) and took them out to the school for the kids to taste them. When we got home we made 300 more cookies for them today so they could pick their favorite. On the way out today one of the roads was being blocked by workers. We`re not really sure why. Some kind of protest. It reminded me of Argentina when they would protest by blocking the bridges by lighting tires on fire. Anyway, we finally got there and the kids were a lot more open today. I got a lot of great pictures. They all picked the sugar cookie as their favorite so we came home and made 400 cookies with 5 different levels of calcium. Tomorrow we are going to interview each kid as they taste each one to see which is their favorite and if the calcium makes a difference at all. Then Thursday and Friday we are going to make the cookie using quinoa, amaranth, and cañaua (other indigenous grains). You`re probably thinking ¨did she just go down there to make cookies?¨ Well, yes, I guess I did. But our hope is that we can get this research published and that we can work with the government to incorporate calcium into the kids diets. The government provides a breakfast to the kids of jello in a bag and a muffin or bread. If we can show them that the kids enjoyed products with calcium and would still eat it, maybe they will be willing to fortify the products they already give them with calcium. We were thinking we would probably have to find a company in the states that would want to donate the calcium. But what we`re doing is where we have to start.
The Benson Institute (the part of BYU that is funding this trip) is doing so much good here. They have so many projects going on to help the community.
One thing that we were able to see was these underground greenhouses. They dig big trenches 8 feet into the ground and cover them with plastic. They are able to keep them 20 degrees warmer than the surface air so in this arid part of the country they can plant vegetables that they normally wouldn`t. They also go around teaching this in the schools so the kids help take care of the ones they have. Family home evening last night was great. My favorite part though was when we were asked to write down characteristics of someone we know that we admire and then share it. Most of us chose friends or family, but Adriana, who is only eight, chose Christ. She said she admires him because he is kind, loving, merciful, and showed us the way to get back to our heavenly father. Kids are so amazing. What a great experience!
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