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The Impact of a Sponsorship

10/31/2016

We continue our series on Pueblo a Pueblo’s Maternal Child Health project. Read the first post here.

Everyday, our Maternal Child Health team -- led by a small but mighty group of three women -- spend their days supporting mothers and infants through the critical periods of pregnancy and early childhood.

Our Maternal Child Health project team (from left to right: Jemima, Rebeca, and Vilma)

From accompanying women to their pre- and post-natal appointments to conducting regular home visits, we are extending access to necessary medical care and knowledge in rural Guatemalan communities, where resources to health services are extremely scarce.

Our beneficiary mothers are carrying out healthy pregnancies, and their children are exceeding the national infant mortality rates. Lives are improving in rural Guatemala.

However, the great successes we have seen so far have only been possible because of the support of our MCH sponsors. A sponsorship makes all the difference.

Anne with her MCH-sponsored child, Anna Veronica

Meet Anne, a 60-year-old educator from Michigan. Anne’s ties to Pueblo a Pueblo run deep, reaching back to 2005, when Hurricane Stan hit Central America-- leaving many Guatemalan communities devastated. Around the same time, Anne had been reading about the high rate of infant mortality in Santiago Atitlan and its surrounding communities.

“I began to learn how children in Guatemala were dying before they were a year old because access to medical services were so rare.” When the hurricane hit in 2005, the few resources that were available in Santiago and other nearby towns were destroyed.

“After hearing about all of this, I wanted to help. I found Pueblo a Pueblo through their website, and saw how this is a program supporting pregnant mothers and infants. I became an MCH sponsor to Elena, a mother, and her daughter Anna Veronica.”

Elena with her daughter Anna Veronica as an infant

Anne quickly became part of the family’s lives, and stayed up to date with Elena and Anna Veronica via correspondence coordinated by Pueblo a Pueblo. Along the way, there have been visits to see the family in Guatemala, and even a song written in honor of Elena. Sixteen years later, Anne is still in contact with her first MCH-sponsored family.

Since 2005, Anne has sponsored three mothers and their children as part of the MCH project. Her monthly contribution as an MCH sponsor has translated into vital pre-natal appointments, preventative check-ups for children, and free clinic visits for sick days.

Maria Gonon and her son Esdras, who Anne currently sponsors

What started as a desire to help mothers and infants in rural Guatemala turned into action, and overtime, Anne’s contributions as an MCH sponsor has had a great collective impact on the lives of multiple families.

Anne’s story doesn’t have to be unique. You can help empower mothers and infants in rural Guatemala too. Your sponsorship translates into real impact- an impact that is transforming lives and communities.

Sponsor a Mother and Her Child TOday

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Harvesting Swiss Chard and Knowledge

10/17/2016

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In a small kitchen attached to Nueva Vida Primary School, seven mothers and students gather around a table brimming with cutting boards and knives, onions, carrots -- and a new and unfamiliar ingredient -- Swiss chard.

Ingredients for the cooking training

Sandy, Pueblo a Pueblo’s Organic School Gardens Educator, leading today’s cooking workshop, describes how they will use this new ingredient to make Swiss chard wraps. Following Sandy’s directions, the students wash the produce, while the mothers chop the veggies and share small talk around the table.

School mothers chopping the ingredients

Together, they stuff the chard with ham, cheese, and veggies, then roll it all into small bundles. They dip the wraps into an egg white batter and lightly pan fry them. When finished, the mothers and students enjoy a meal that is equally delicious and nutritious.

Mothers and students assembling the Swiss chard wraps

Although clearly a lesson in how to cook a new dish, the impact of the workshops extends far past newly gained culinary skills.

Nueva Vida, a small town 25 miles away from Lake Atitlan

In rural Guatemala, where access to good nutrition is limited, economically challenged families lack food security.

The results are profound -- one of every two Guatemalan children under age 5 suffers from chronic malnutrition. The rates are even higher in indigenous communities, where close to 70% of children are malnourished (WFP).

And malnutrition affects all areas of a child’s development -- leading to permanent growth deficits (stunting) and severely impeding a student’s ability to concentrate and excel in school (Dewey & Begum). Without the resources and knowledge to improve nutrition, the cycle of chronic malnutrition continues.

Pueblo a Pueblo beneficiary students with radishes from the Organic School Gardens project

Recognizing the need to increase access to good nutrition, we began our School Health and Nutrition program in 2008. As part of the program, we partner with schools to create organic school gardens, teaching communities how to grow new, nutrient dense vegetables. And the program doesn’t just stop at cultivating the veggies -- through the cooking workshops that Sandy leads, families are learning how to incorporate these foods into their diets.

Sandy leading the cooking workshop at Nueva Vida Primary School

From July to September, we led a total of 12 workshops at 4 beneficiary schools, where 69 mothers and 66 students learned about the olla familiar (the Guatemalan food pyramid equivalent), food groups and serving sizes. They also learned how to cook new dishes featuring vegetables grown in the organic school gardens -- from Swiss chard, to zucchini and spinach.

Mothers playing a game during the nutrition workshop

The program has a real impact when the nutrition knowledge gained during the workshops goes home.

Carmen Lopez and her daughter, Guadalupe

“I heard about Swiss chard before, but never cooked with it. After the workshop, my family and I eat it more,” Carmen Lopez, mother of Nueva Vida students Guadalupe and Carlos Fernando, tells us.

“I loved the cooking workshop, and I think it’s a great idea. The other moms and I all learned something new, and now I know how to use vegetables like Swiss chard and zucchini, and how to use these foods to keep my family and me healthy.”

With Pueblo a Pueblo’s School Health and Nutrition program, we are equipping communities with the tools for good nutrition and empowering them to break the cycle of chronic malnutrition.

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