Lauren and Erica founded Humble Hilo after witnessing countless malnourished children and hopeless mothers in the remote villages of Alta Verapaz, Guatemala. The duo dedicated themselves to increasing awareness and raising funds to develop opportunities for this vulnerable population. They wove their vision into Humble Hilo, where behind every purse,
there’s a person.
We help to provide result-oriented, nutritional support to children with moderate to severe malnutrition, increasing their weights to normal levels while providing health education to the family. These children are living on less than $1 a day, often with inaccessible healthcare, leaving them to fight off blindness, growth stunting, protein malnutrition and a myriad of other preventable illnesses.
One of the most important things that can be done to protect and improve children’s health in the home is the availability of clean water. In conjunction with our child nutrition project, families on this program are being provided with a water filter, trained how to use them, and are taught the importance of using clean water. Filters reduce diarrhea, the # killer of children under 5 in Guatemala, and other intestinal infections by more than 50%. These filters also allow families to save on the firewood that is currently used in the boiling and sanitizing of water, meaning less deforestation in this beautiful country.
Education is one of the most powerful catalysts for lifting someone out of poverty. In January 2017 Humble Village
established the Health and Nutrition Center, a permanent multi-use facility, created to provide villagers with access to ongoing educational services. Courses are offered in literacy, sanitation, food production, breastfeeding techniques, nutrition, hygiene, medical and rehabilitation services, and small business seminars. Providing these women with knowledge creates a ripple effect that influences not only their immediate family and community, but has the power to transform impoverished societies on a large scale.
Humble Hilo, in partnership with The Humble Village, helps to provide small business opportunities to women and families in need. This much needed income is essential to buy nutritious food, medicine, and necessary living expenses.
Chicken Coops:
One of the small business opportunities that you are helping Humble Hilo to establish is providing women with the tools and resources needed to start their own chicken coops. Helping families to raise chickens not only provides them with protein-rich eggs to eat, but also helps families build a business where they can sell chickens and eggs in the local markets.
Gardens:
Women receive seeds and tools to start a garden, along with ongoing training on small scale agriculture and how to successfully maintain it. Helping women produce their own nutritious food improves the immediate health of their family, while also creating a sustainable and long-term solution to malnutrition and a steady income source.
Every Humble Hilo purchase puts power into deserving hands. It starts with you being given the power to select one of three humanitarian areas of need and ends in transforming that choice into power for the next generation of Guatemalans. Thank you!
