Western Michigan University (WMU) and Universidad DeLaSalle Bajío’s (La Salle Bajío) designed “Both Sides of the Fence” so that students explore issues of Mexican migration, including cultural influences and community health. The framework for this new model centered on a service-learning project focused on preventing obesity through good nutrition and physical activity which was implemented in rural Mexican communities affected by migration.  

The program involved nine (9) Mexican students and six (6) U.S. students, who participated and developed close relationships, learned much from each other about cultural differences and improved their language proficiency. Bringing the students together in both countries to learn, live and work together was an ideal model for fostering those relationships. The time the Mexican and U.S. students spent engaged in the U.S. migrant camps and in the Mexican communities provided an appreciation for migration issues from the perspective of “both sides of the fence”. Classroom discussions surrounding cultural values, behaviors and associated misperceptions among students were significant. Students benefited from being in both the position of the dominant and non-dominant cultural group and the opportunity to process this experience together.

The students participated in a service-learning project with two small rural communities in Guanajuato, Mexico that were affected by migration. The universities invited local children and grandparents in the targeted communities to participate in a three-week “day camp” focused on obesity prevention.  The students designed all of the lesson plans, exercise activities, and art projects related to nutrition. The activities averaged 73 participants daily in each of the two communities (146 daily total participants). The participants ranged in age from 4 years old to 80+. 

The students also helped to prepare traditional, healthy Mexican means, working side by side with local community members. This activity was led by Culinary Arts students from  La Salle Bajío and they were able to serve a total of 1,742 meals during the three week program! Preserving the culinary cultural traditions of rural Mexico was accomplished by using recipes shared by the grandmothers in the community and by using locally harvested ingredients.  The “chefs” emphasized the nutritional goodness of these ingredients and methods of cooking them. The students then compiled the recipes into a cookbook, using illustrations from the art projects done by the local children, and were able to print the cookbook and distribute approximately 100 copies to families and students participating in the program.

Through the program, the institutions were able to involve up to 200 families and teach them the value of nutrition and physical exercise to prevent the “obesity epidemic” imported from the U.S. with the flow of migrants between the countries, as well as  implement a successful intergenerational program while encouraging the use of Mexican culinary traditions.