Antonia Can Tuil still remembers the hunger of her childhood distinctly.
And in later years, as a mother, when she surveyed her failed crops, she felt the weight of despair knowing her own children would not have enough to eat.
The food scarcity that Antonia and her children experienced speaks volumes about the broader issues of injustice and poverty, illustrating how entire communities, especially children, are deprived of health and potential. Ensuring food security is crucial for enabling families and communities to flourish and seize new opportunities.
Even as hunger remains a pervasive global issue, World Renew is making a difference by training farmers in sustainable agriculture and educating families on healthy eating and nutrition. Through these efforts, World Renew collaborates with families around the world to ensure they have access to sufficient, nutritious food.
Antonia lives in a remote, rural community in Guatemala. Her parents were smallholder farmers who struggled financially and as a result, their children had few educational opportunities.
When she was 11 years old, her father tragically died, and Antonia watched her mother struggle to provide for her and her siblings. Antonia did all she could to help her mother, but still they never harvested enough food to meet their needs.
Desperate to escape the hopelessness she felt, Antonia got married at just 15 years old.
Despite marrying so young, Antonia and her husband had a happy marriage. Together, they raised their five children and worked in their fields. Yet, farming proved to be difficult, and Antonia and her husband often struggled to put food on the table. The traditional farming methods they practiced were not effective in producing healthy harvests, and they often felt the heartbreak of disappointment when they lost their crops to pest infestations.
In 2020, Antonia was hit with even worse heartbreak when her husband passed away. Like her mother, Antonia had to navigate being a single parent while trying to provide for a family with a farm that just did not produce enough food or income to support them.
But, when World Renew and its local partner, Asociación de Desarrollo Integral del Polochic (ADIP), started working in Antonia’s community, she was eager to join their agricultural training program. She learned about sustainable farming techniques including soil conservation and pest management. Antonia also learned about the benefits of having a kitchen garden and started growing vegetables in her backyard. She is now growing more than enough vegetables, including tomatoes, cilantro, chard, and chilies, to help to feed her family and generate additional income at the market.
Antonia says, “The changes and difficult situations I have lived through have been by God’s will [but] because of his love I met ADIP. ADIP taught me a lot. . . I have been able to realize that the way I was farming was not the best and that is why I was suffering [crop] losses.”
As a way to share hope with farming families like Antonia’s, World Renew invites individuals and families to host a “Dinner for Good”. This initiative offers a meaningful alternative to dining out by encouraging you to gather with family, friends, and neighbors for a special evening at home.
To make your Dinner for Good event even more memorable, we offer two recipe kits designed to enhance your culinary experience—and encourage you to engage with important themes of food, faith, and justice. After enjoying this delicious meal and connecting with others, we encourage you to donate the amount you would have spent dining out—or any amount that feels right—to support World Renew’s work to end global hunger.
The simple act of sharing a meal or giving a donation may seem like a small gesture—but it can have a significant impact in helping more families start their journey out of poverty.
Today, Antonia feels blessed to provide her own children with nutritious meals—and to provide for their future. As Antonia now produces more bountiful harvests, she can now see a future where her children would have better opportunities in life.
She says, “World Renew and ADIP’s work has given me new strength and hope to improve my living conditions and give my children the opportunity to finish their education.”
Imagine what other inspirational stories of hope we can ignite—just by sharing a meal together.
Ruth Alkema is a writer and marketing strategist specializing in nonprofit fundraising. She lives with her young daughter, Annalise, in Grimsby, Ontario.