The following excerpt is from a March 26, 2010 article published by USAToday.com. To read the article in its entirety, please click here.
When university students choose to volunteer instead of a raucous trip to the beach for spring break, it is always inspiring.
That’s why I’ve asked Kelly Kupers, a student at the Vanderbilt Owen Graduate School of Management, to share her experience from a recent week-long trip to Guatemala. Through Vanderbilt’s Project Pyramid program, which aims to help those at the bottom of the socio-economic pyramid, Kupers and the other 22 students on the trip, gained great insight into the problems of extreme poverty and ways to ensure the sustainability of development programs such as Project Pyramid.
Here is Kupers in her own words: “Malnutrition permeates throughout the Guatemalan population, especially among children. As a Vanderbilt University student who traveled to rural Guatemala to aid in malnutrition mitigation, I have learned both about Guatemala’s culture and the importance of understanding and respecting cultural practices.
As we develop a nutritional supplement to address the widespread problem of malnutrition, I have encountered many individuals and groups whose generosity and guidance enable us to understand the dynamics of malnutrition. While there is certainly no shortage of available nutritional supplements in Guatemala, cultural factors thwart the success of these products…
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