Guatemala

Mayan Health and Education

The Mayan Health and Education Project began in 2000 and is a people-to-people project to help the Maya of Guatemala in their struggle against poverty. Medical missions have been visiting a rural community in the Guatemalan highlands since 2002 to provide medical aid, disease prevention education and nutritional supplementation to Huixoc and its neighboring villages.

In 2005, a junior high school was established which now graduates up to thirty students from grade 9 every year. The project has introduced computers and internet access to the village. We are now working with the community to build a computer lab. Our future plans include buying some land to build a proper school/community center for the village.

The Safe Motherhood Project

Guatemala has one of the highest maternal mortality rates of the world, 30 to 60 times higher than that in Canada. Hemorrhage, high blood pressure and infection are the major causes of death of women in childbirth. Seventy percent of women in rural Guatemala give birth at home under the care of a traditional midwife, who in most cases has no formal education or training. Often the closest hospital is hours away.

The Safe Motherhood Project is a team of Canadian volunteers and trained Guatemalan midwives who travel annually (since 2003) to rural Guatemala to teach emergency birthing skills to traditional midwives.  Each course runs for 5 days. We teach using a hands-on  approach, using an illustrated manual (many of the students are illiterate). The course uses explicit pelvic models and realistic dolls to give a practical understanding of various birthing situations and newborn resuscitation. Women practice individually and as groups. We discuss issues of reproductive health and family planning. At the end of the course each traditional midwife receives a kit of birthing supplies and a diploma, representing for many the first recognition of any education in their lives. The course has been very well received and each year there have been more and more communities requesting the course. So far, we have gone to over 15 villages to teach.

Our vision is to continue with the training of traditional midwives, as well as to further train others to teach our course. This course not only teaches skills but also empowers  marginalized women. We work with public health clinics and hospitals to enhance communication between health care professionals and traditional midwives, with very positive results. Our project is  supported by local government.