Pueblo a Pueblo - Mother and Child Sponsorship Program

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Mother/Infant Healthcare Sponsorship

Indigenous Guatemalan women are 27 times more likely to die from complications of pregnancy than women in the U.S.

Guatemala has the 3rd highest infant mortality rate in the western hemisphere.
T'zutujil Maya traditional first bathing of a baby. With your assistance, this is how life can begin for another T'zutujil infant.

Your $25 per month sponsorship of a pregnant woman and her child offers you the opportunity to fulfill the dreams to every mother—to give birth to a healthy baby and to see her child grow and flourish. The loss of a mother during pregnancy or the death of a young infant, are devastating and preventable. Please help us offer both health and hope to a young Mayan family.


A few of our T'zutujil Pregnant Mothers


Maria Sol Mesia

Maria lives with her husband Nicolas, a field worker and their six children. She is 37 years old. Maria never attended school as a child. Never learning Spanish, she only speaks Tzutujil.

Ana Coó Gonzales

Ana is 37 years old. As a child Ana was unable to attend school, and cannot read or write. Ana supports herself and her family by doing beadwork and lives with her parents.



Elena Ajchomajay Xicay

Elena is 29 years old. Her youngest child is still breastfeeding. Elena is currently pregnant with her fifth child.

Lucia Reanda Samuc

Lucia is 40 years old and has had seven children. Four of the seven have died in infancy. She is currently pregnant with her 8th child.


What is Mother and Child Sponsorship?

When you sponsor a pregnant Maya woman and her unborn child, you will ensure that she will receive life-saving medical care throughout her pregnancy and for three months postpartum. When your sponsored child is born she/he will begin life with an advantage that most Guatemalan indigenous infants do not have— comprehensive prenatal and postnatal care.

As the sole sponsor of this young family, you will regularly receive photographs, letters, and evaluations of your sponsored mother and child. We encourage you to communicate as well and build a relationship of learning, sharing, mutual respect and appreciation.



With so many sponsorship organizations, why choose Pueblo a Pueblo?

Pueblo a Pueblo’s sponsorship program offers you a unique opportunity to change the life of a family, a child, and a community.

Family: With high birth rates and extremely high maternal mortality rates, indigenous women are at serious risk during pregnancy. The program ensures that your sponsored mother has access to complete healthcare services through pregnancy, delivery and three months post-partuum. Our medical team also provides training in first aid, nutrition, infant resuscitation, and preventative care. The family is further strengthened by parental training in child development and family planning.

Child: Your sponsorship will begin during the mother’s pregnancy and provide for pre-natal care that will ensure that your child begins a healthy life. After delivery, your sponsorship will provide well-baby, immunizations, routine, as well as emergency care during infancy and early childhood. Our medical program emphasizes the first five years of life, when children are the most vulnerable.

Community: All care is being provided at the interim Hospitalito Atitlán by U.S. and T'zutujil physicians. Your financial gift is very much like an insurance premium that guarantees delivery of healthcare to both your sponsored mother and child. Supporting the Hospitalito’s large number of maternity and pediatric services helps sustain the Hospitalito’s capacity to continue to provide critical inpatient, surgical, dental and outpatient care to this indigenous community for 40,000 T’ztujil Maya. By sponsoring the medical care of one mother and child, you ensure that the Hospitalito can continue to provide free care to other needy community members.



What will my $25 gift be used for?

Your $25 monthly donation will provide pre-natal physical exams, lab work, pap smear, urine, STD tests and pre-natal vitamins. As pregnancy progresses, increasingly frequent office visits include gestational diabetes tests and lab work as indicated. The U.S. trained medical staff at the Hospitalito Atitlán work in collaboration with traditional midwife providers and the extended family to ensure a healthy pregnancy. After delivery, postpartum care continues for three months.

When your sponsored infant is born, the child will receive medical care during regular scheduled office visits. Well-baby care includes routine physical exams, immunizations, growth and development assessments and lab work as needed.



How can Pueblo a Pueblo provide this level of care for only $25 per month?

The U.S. trained physicians at the Hospitalito de Santiago Atitlán are an all-volunteer staff with expertise in family practice, emergency medicine, Ob/Gyn, pediatrics and general surgery. They work closely with Guatemalan physicians, including the only female T'zutujil doctor in Guatemala. Additional volunteers include nurses with expertise in midwife training and nursing protocols. Some members of the medical team have dedicated their lives to working in these impoverished communities. Other physicians and nurses volunteer short-term periods of time to work side-by-side with the local staff to provide care and important health care training.

Medical care can be provided at significantly reduced cost through a variety of strategies. Hygiene, nutritional and first aide training provides significant preventative health benefits. Medicines and supplies are purchased locally through group contracts. Donations of medical equipment and supplies are generously given by doctors and hospitals in the United States and shipped directly to the Hospitalito.

In 2004, more than 90% of Pueblo a Pueblo donations went for direct services at the Hospitalito Atitlán. We keep our administrative overhead costs at a minimum by two means. First, we shift all major administrative functions to the field rather than maintaining a costly U.S. based staff. This further benefits the community by developing local work opportunities. Secondly, through use of technology, we reduce the cost of communications, financial management, donor relations and fundraising. While not required, we ask your help in keeping our administrative costs to a minimum. We encourage sponsors who have internet access, to communicate with us via Email. This saves us both labor, printing and postage expenses. Automatic credit card payment saves administrative costs that offset banking fees. We will of course be glad to accommodate you, if you would prefer to receive and send your letters with your mother and child by regular mail and/or pay your monthly sponsorship by check.



What is my commitment?

We ask that you make a one-year commitment to your mother and child. This is the period of greatest risk to both mother and infant. We hope that you will continue with your sponsorship for the first five years of your child’s life, when he/she is the most vulnerable to disease. You will be this child’s only sponsor. Via letters and photos, you will develop a personal relationship with both the mother and your child. We understand that your financial situation may change over time. If, for any reason, you are unable to continue the financial support of your mother and child, Pueblo a Pueblo will commit to locating an alternative sponsor.



As a sponsor, what will I receive?

If Email is your chosen mode of communication, you will receive your first email and photo attachment of your sponsored pregnant mother within one month. If you choose to communicate via regular mail, you may expect your first letter and photo within six weeks. Either by Email or regular mail, you will first receive a photo and background information about the pregnant mother who you are sponsoring.

Throughout the year you will receive:

Three additional emails/letters from your sponsored mother. Many women have never had the opportunity to attend school and are unable to read and write. Our local staff will assist with answering your letters and will translate from the Maya T'zutujil native language or Spanish. Likewise, they will translate your letters for your sponsored mother. You will also receive:
An additional photograph each year
Birth announcement and photograph of the newborn baby.
Yearly health assessment.


Two newsletters per year will provide you background information about the community and culture of your sponsored mother and child. The personal satisfaction of knowing you have secured the healthy lives of a needy mother and her child.



Will I be able to write and/or visit my mother and child? Can I send gifts?

Your sponsored mother would love to hear from you. Your letters will be delivered, without your address. Exchanging photographs is another good way to get to know each other.

You may write as often as you like. As mentioned above, you can help us keep our administrative expenses at a minimum if you can communicate via E-mail. You are always welcome to travel to Guatemala to see first-hand how important your contributions have been to the lives of your mother and child. If you plan to make a trip, contact Pueblo a Pueblo’s office and we will help coordinate the meeting.

We do not accept gifts to be sent to Guatemala, as the transportation and import duty expenses are prohibitive. If you desire to make an extra gift for holidays, birthdays or special occasions, you may make an additional donation and our staff in Guatemala will purchase and deliver a gift in your name.



Is my sponsorship tax deductible?

Yes. Pueblo a Pueblo is a 503(c)(3) non-profit organization. All gifts to Pueblo a Pueblo are tax deductible under U.S. federal IRS regulations. You will receive confirmation of your tax-deductible contribution for your records.



Can I make a one-time gift in support of this program?

Yes. One-time contributions, whether small or large, will help us to meet the healthcare needs of T'zutujil mothers and children. Many intensive care cases require additional resources beyond a sponsor’s monthly gifts. Your one-time gift will help the Hospitalito Atitlán strengthen its program to ensure immediate and sustained care of these at-risk women and their infants. I cannot sponsor a mother and her infant at this time, but would like to make a donation to support this program.



I am ready to sponsor a pregnant mother and child. What is my next step?

To enroll via the internet or to make a one-time contribution to the Mother and Child Program, please go to: Enroll now

To enroll via the postal service or if you have any further questions, please contact us at: motherchildsponsorship@puebloapueblo.org




Pueblo a Pueblo
© 2006