Safe Motherhood Project Guatemala

Safe Motherhood just finished a course in Guatemala for the tenth year, teaching safe birthing practices in rural Guatemala. Our Canadian team this year was made up of Ruth Brighouse (MD), Kristine Zylstra Moore and Annette Borkent. We were joined by our Guatemalan teammates, Cenaida Juarez, Gloria Cutuj, Gloria Mejía and Aura Xatá.

We spent both of our weeks in Panajachel, a town on Lago Atitlán. We taught a total of 46 students including 16 traditional midwives, 14 first aid attendants, and 16 nursing students mostly from the surrounding areas. Six were from towns as far away as 3-7 hours by bus. All were very eager to learn the essentials in becoming more knowledgeable in safe birthing.

All of our students could speak Spanish, which made the teaching go much more quickly. This left more time for our discussions of family planning, emergency planning, as well as human rights, women’s rights and how to promote good self esteem in pregnant women. We also discussed the importance of good nutrition. This topic is of immense importance as statistically, Guatemala is 4th place worldwide for levels of malnutrition and is the worst in this regard in all of Latin America! They also recognized that racism and discrimination were continuing problems and human rights were regularly violated in the present health care system. We hope to see more cooperation at the ground level over the coming years.

Each student had the opportunity to bring in a pregnant woman to have a prenatal assessment done in conjunction with their traditional midwife and Ruth. These patients then also received a packet of clothing for their baby as well as prenatal vitamins, folic acid and iron.

Each week during our closing circle, we heard many people express their gratitude for the course. Many of them eloquently shared that this was the first time they had received any hands- on training and how useful this was for them. After doing many demonstrations and role playing situations, they felt quite confident that they had learned the information.

We are in the midst of trying to have our course recognized officially by the federal govt. of Guatemala to make it possible to spread the course further afield and increase the ease of getting supplies into the country. Thank you so much for your continuing and gracious support for this project. Our project is making a real difference in the lives of many people in Guatemala! We are always grateful for donations so that we can continue our work.

May 8th, 2012 | Category: General | Leave a comment

The Safe Motherhood Project is thrilled to announce we are now officially a member-project of Rose Charities, a wonderful international charitable organization that oversees many amazing volunteer projects. We have updated our donations information to reflect this new and exciting change.

Rose Charities Mission Statement:
“Through innovative, self-sustaining projects and partnerships, Rose Charities supports communities to improve quality of life. We do this within a framework of volunteerism that places emphasis on results. The Rose Charities international network of independent organizations are not-for-profit, secular and non-political. By linking people and working together we all benefit.

We support community-based projects that have strong local leadership and dedicated volunteers. We work with them as they find their own solutions to the problems of poverty. Our role is to find the resources and skills to help them. These communities are able to stretch a small donation to achieve miracles. We support projects in Cambodia, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Pakistan, Kenya and Madagascar on a variety of poverty reducing issues.

Rose Charities Canada is run by volunteers. This keeps our costs to a minimum and enables us to spend your donation on projects and not on salaries or overheads. We are always looking for more people to join us! We believe donors should be able to see where their money is spent.”

Rose Charities Canada is a registered Canadian charity. Registration number: 85944 2303 RR0001.

For more information on Rose Charities, please visit http://www.rosecanada.info/about/.

November 29th, 2011 | Category: Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Once again, our time with the Mayan traditional midwives was extremely rewarding! We spent our first week in San Lucas Tolimán, the town on Lago Atitlán where we began our project 9 years ago. We taught 24 women from a variety of walks of life but all were very eager to learn the essentials in becoming more knowledgeable traditional midwives. Our youngest student was the granddaughter of a woman we taught during our first course in 2003! She now wants to accompany her grandmother and also become a midwife. We have, through the years, emphasized the benefits of working in pairs and it was wonderful to see this taking place. All but 2 of our students could speak Spanish, which made the teaching go much more quickly. Those who spoke Spanish and their Mayan dialect translated for those who spoke only Kaqchikel. This left more time for our discussions of family planning, emergency planning, as well as human rights, women’s rights and how to promote good self esteem in pregnant women (a common problem in many instances).

Our second week was spent in San Antonio Palopó. Our team of 7 travelled back and forth to this town daily by boat. We taught another 24 women there, a group made up of 4 nurses from the public health unit, 6 traditional midwives from the town itself and 14 traditional midwives from outlying areas. The municipality provided transportation by pickup, those farthest away being picked up at 6:30 to be at class at 8 AM. The teaching during this week also went very well and there was important dialogue between the traditional midwives and the professional nurses (to increase cooperation at the local clinic). All of the teaching was done in Spanish and Kaqchikel. This kept our 2 Mayan team members very busy indeed.

Each week during our closing circle, we heard many women express their thanks to us. Many of them eloquently shared that this was the first time they had received any hands-on training and how useful this was for them. After doing many demonstrations and role playing situations, they felt quite confident that they had learned the information. This was obvious to us as well.

An important meeting took place in July, 2010 in which the indigenous people of Guatemala were asked by the Guatemalan government to share their experiences as well as their ideas regarding improvement of health care of the indigenous. This came out of recognition that 75% of indigenous people live in extreme poverty and have been exploited. The government recognized that racism and discrimination were continuing problems and human rights were regularly violated. The government has implemented “el Tiempo de Solidaridad” (the Time of Solidarity) to rectify this situation. We hope to see more cooperation at the ground level over the coming years as we continue with our vision of improving the maternity care of women and babies, decreasing their mortality and improving the lives of our Guatemalan neighbours.

October 27th, 2011 | Category: General | Leave a comment

We had another very rewarding time teaching 61 traditional midwives this past Feb/Mar! We spent our first week in Santa Catarina Ixtahuacan and had the help of a young doctor from the public health center who was very effective in making the women realize the validity and the importance of the work they do. He also encouraged them to come to the health centre if they were concerned about the pregnant woman that they were helping. He would assess the woman with their help and be there while the midwife helped the woman birth and help if any complications arose. This is exactly the kind of thing we have been hoping for!

During our 2nd week, we returned to Chirijox to teach the remaining traditional birth attendants from that area. We also had 2 women (a mother and daughter) that heard we would be teaching in Chirijox, walk 5 hours the first day, having left home @3 AM! Catarina, one of our team members opened her home to them for the duration of the course so they wouldn’t have such a commute to deal with. Each week during our closing circle, we heard many women expressing their thanks to us. We heard some eloquently express that this was the first time they had received any hands-on training and how useful this was for them. After doing many demonstrations and role playing situations, they felt quite confident that they had learned the information. This was obvious to us as well.

The Ministry of Health in Guatemala has also come on board this year. We have always intended and hoped for their involvement, so it is great after these 8 years to have this official recognition! Dr. Christian from the public health unit came to the graduation ceremonies and signed the certificates and stamped them with the Ministry of Health seal.

Word of our course continues to spread. We have been asked to come to 7 other towns in the coming years so Cenaida, our Guatemalan team leader, will be assessing which towns we will start with. Apparently, some of the towns are very difficult to access requiring a 4 wheel drive. It’s also unsure as to whether there will be a room appropriate for a teaching space in some of the towns. So, some sleuth work is required.

We plan to return to the highlands of Guatemala in Feb. 2011 to continue this project.

December 10th, 2010 | Category: Uncategorized | Leave a comment

In Feb. 2009, we spent one week in Chirijox, a lovely Mayan town, teaching 29 traditional midwives our hands-on course. It was great to see the positive impact of our trainihg, through the smiling faces of the women as they demonstrated their newly acquired knowledge and skills. Our second week , we taught an “obstetrical emergency” course to 2 doctors and 32 nurses in the Nahuala area. These were people who were trained in Guatemala and had a good knowledge base but had very little practical hands-on training. They found the course to be invaluable. It was also a great opportunity to have discussions about the important role that the traditional midwives play and the importance of mutual respect as well as to encourage problem solving in their specific situations. Gloria, our Mayan team member, was very dynamic in sharing her story and in her teaching. We hope that our couse will help to bridge the gap and bring more equality to the Mayan people. In speaking with a public health nurse about our traditional midwife training, she stated, ” This project must continue! I have seen a great improvement in the skills and confidence in the women you have taught.” We have been asked to return to Guatemala in 2010 and teach our course to traditional midwives in Sta. Catarina Ixtahuacan.

November 30th, 2009 | Category: General | Leave a comment

I’ve added a detailed history of the Safe Motherhood Project and an outline of the course we teach.  Enjoy!  Thanks, Annette, for writing the content on these pages.

Photos should be up within the week.

April 14th, 2009 | Category: Uncategorized | Leave a comment

This year the Safe Motherhood Project team will be returning to Nahuala.  We will run a workshop for the staff at the town’s health clinic.  This is something new for us and we hope it represents the start of a new sense of solidarity and mutual good feelings between the clinic and the comadronas, who have not always worked together harmoniously in the past.  In the second week, we will be working in Santa Catarina Ixtahuacán, a village outside Nahuala proper that’s nicknamed “Alaska” for its frigid weather!  We will be in Guatemala during the second half of February.

January 3rd, 2009 | Category: Uncategorized | Leave a comment