Yo, Soy!

In the tiny Central American country named after the Savior, El Salvador, you go to work once you turn 10. And not to earn a little extra spending money, either. You're already working in order to eat, to put food on the family table. Even though you work hard, there's never enough food to stop your stomach from growling.

When Ann Greig went down to be with the people of El Salvador, she noticed that meat--the most common way of getting protein--was scarce. Not only scarce, meat was such a luxury that most Salvadorenos didn't even dream about eating some. As a result, one out of four babies die of malnutrition. And many who live end up being smaller than they should be and unable to learn as most babies do, all for the lack of protein in their mother's milk. So Ann had an idea: Soy.

Soy beans are a great source of protein, and lots of good tasting things can be made of soy products, including milk. Best of all, soy beans are cheap and easy to cultivate. $16 supplies a child with enough soy products for a month! Today Ann works with 11 communities, teaching people how to cook with soy and introducing soy products to them. (Soy beans are not indigenous to El Salvador.)

Meet Daniela Melaney. When she was 2 years old, she weighed only 15 pounds, was anemic (low iron level in her blood), and suffered recurring infections. As happens in advanced stages of starvation, she had no appetite and was literally wasting away. A person Ann had trained in the use of soy told Daniela's desperate mom to come to a demonstration. Six months after drinking soy milk and eating other soy products, Daniela's weight doubled, her appetite returned, her amenia improved, and the infections stopped.

Ann Greig has trained some 250 people--most of them women--to show others how and why to use soy products. They also give general health care advice, and in all of the interaction, the Salvadorenos' self-esteem grows.

More and more Salvadorenos are able to stand tall and say, "Yo soy!" Spanish for "I am!" I am alive. I am somebody. I am able to help others.

Ann Grieg is Lay Maryknoll Missioner. For more on her project, check out the Soy Nutrition Update! webpage .

Next time you're at CTU, ask around. The Maryknoll folks study here. Ann might have, too.

Catholic Connections

"Wherever women and men are to be found who are in want of food and drink, of clothing, housing, medicine, work, education, the means necessary for leading a truly human life, wherever there are men and women suffering from misfortune or illness, exile or imprisonment, Christian charity should search them out, comfort and care for them and give them the assistance that will relieve their needs. This obligation is especially binding on the more affluent individuals and nations." --The Second Vatican Council, Decree on the Apostolate of Lay People, 1965.

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