A Story of Despair and Sorrow Among Mayan Mamas and Their Babies

A post from Vicki at Casa de Sion.  Guatemala Childrens Project sends monthly contributions to help support this program.  Please help by clicking on the donate button and making a donation today.

I spent the better part of yesterday at the Chuti-estancia Mayan mama/tot program. Every Thurs. we have this program in a different community.  The first Thurs. of the month is Chuti. We now have

104 mamas and their assorted kids under 5 so maybe 200 littles. I knew ahead of time there were 4 new Mayan women who wanted to do this program. I was still recovering from strep throat and a fever of 103, but I had been on the Zpac now for 2 plus days and did not want to miss this program. I have to tell you I can  sit there and watch these women and kids and just feel happy, glowing. I don't know why. I don't know why I feel so honored to be helping and learning from this group and my other mama/tot groups. But it is not just me. Lots of our volunteers feel the same way and don't want to miss a mama/tot program while here. I think it has to do with being humbled by their humbleness, by their survival lacking so much of what I take for granted. So let me tell you a little about each one and see if you want to sponsor them and feel that same thrill of being able to help. I am not telling you their names as I can't remember them. But I remember their looks of despair and their sorrowful eyes.I will be getting a written report on each one with their names, etc if you want to sponsor them.

So this young lady is 16. She is in the picture above also. No husband and a 4 month old. She hung back from the others and looked so sad the whole time. She really touched my heart. Her baby is the 4 month old pictured at the bottom of the page  

This one gripped my heart also. An older lady with a 6 year old and a 15 day old. When I asked about the husband/boyfriend the other women told me, "sex, pregnant, papa gone". We have the best time pantomiming our ladies conversations.
 A whole slew of women brought her in to sign up for our programs. I was so proud of their sense of community and women helping women.
To top it all out, she has no breast milk "absolutely none sworn to me by about 15 women"
Neither of these two ladies had any.... nada education. They also both seemed to have lower IQs. Her baby is the 15 day old at the bottom

THIS LADY ACTUALLY LOOKED LIKE SHE LED A LIFE OF LEISURE AFTER THE LAST TWO, BUT SHE IS 19, MARRIED TO A HUSBAND WHO WORKS IN ANOTHER TOWN, HER BOY IS 13 MONTHS. ALL THESE WOMEN NEED SPONSORS OR RATHER PEOPLE INTERESTED IN THEM ENOUGH TO HELP THEM STAY IN OUR PROGRAMS. THEY WERE ACCEPTED YESTERDAY BASED ON MY KNOWING THAT 3 OF YOU WILL STEP FORTH AND SPONSOR THEM.