Live, Love, Bake A young Guatemalan family’s path to success

Ana and Alexander, a young Indigenous couple, live in San Sebastian, a town nestled in the mountainous Western Highlands of Guatemala. They spend a lot of time in their kitchen baking.

“The smell of baking bread tells our neighbors that we have bread to sell,” said Ana, as she checked the temperature of the oven.

They make a great team, with their 3-year-old daughter Elena helping to prepare a popular cake called Tres Leches.

Baking is a new endeavor for this family. They used to operate a small coffee shop but had to close it when the COVID-19 pandemic came to their community. “Our clients became fewer and fewer,” Alexander said, while measuring ingredients. “They wanted a different type of service, and we were not prepared for this.”

Guatemala has a youth bubble with 65 percent of its population under the age of 30. Youth face an uphill battle with a lack of basic services and educational opportunities. USAID is committed to working with Guatemalan youth to improve their educational opportunities, increase job skills, and find employment.

“We knew a little bit about bread baking, but really we did not know the process. We watched videos with mixed results,” said Ana, remembering how they struggled to bake.

Recognizing a demand for baked goods in their community, in 2020 Alexander attended a meeting supported by USAID’s Puentes project, a program providing youth with access to education, employment, and entrepreneurship opportunities.

“There were many courses, like basic cooking, but I already knew how to cook. Baking and dessert making, that I did not know,” said Alexander.

“Many young people prefer to make money and migrate to the U.S.,” commented Ana, when asked about irregular migration. They were no strangers to the pressure. “We talked about the advantages and disadvantages of migrating,” said Ana. “Our daughter had already been born, so it would have separated the family. She would grow up perhaps more comfortably, but without her father’s love.” They ultimately chose not to migrate. “By developing ourselves, we were creating an opportunity for our daughter,” Ana said.

Ana and Alexander dedicated themselves to learning how to bake, and soon their goods were improving, as were their number of clients. With skills learned through USAID’s training, they began promoting their business on social media, tripling their sales. They now are saving $175 a month which will go towards their business and to raising their daughter.

They are just one of the many young families in Guatemala that have big dreams and are determined to accomplish them.

“Be motivated in any space you find yourself. If I can do it, so can you,” said Alexander, as he swung Elena up in the air. She, the future of Guatemala, laughed with a twinkle in her eye.

USAID is committed to supporting the youth of Guatemala through education programs and workforce training to provide them with the skills they need to build healthy lives and communities. The Puentes project, implemented by World Vision, has supported 37,000 youth in high migration areas of Guatemala to improve their skills, complete their education, and find employment in Guatemala. The project works in 32 municipalities in the five departments of the Western Highlands.

Credits:

Words and Photos: Benjamin Ilka