WINGS News
W I N T ER 2013
Filling the Family Planning Gap in Alta Verapaz
WINGS is now well into our first year of work in Alta
Verapaz and every day we are motivated by the great need
for our presence in this hugely disadvantaged region. Alta
Verapaz has the highest poverty rate of all of Guatemala’s
22 departments; 79% of inhabitants are unable to meet
their basic food and service needs, and 44% survive on less
than $1.25 a day. Rates of adolescent maternal mortality
and gender-based violence are the highest in the country,
and 59.4% of children under five are physically or mentally
stunted due to chronic malnutrition.
As a predominantly rural and indigenous region, poor
transport and service infrastructure combine with cultural
and religious conservatism to greatly limit family planning
access. Over the last ten months, WINGS has provided
reproductive health services to thousands of people living
in communities neglected by the state and other service
providers. In this newsletter you will find a collection
of stories which highlight the life-changing impact of
our programs, and also the great and ongoing need for
reproductive health services. Your support makes our work
possible, and we are grateful that you choose to invest in
WINGS. Thank you for standing with us as we strengthen
Guatemalan families through reproductive health.
Veronica
I am 21 years old and I am the mother of two children.
Being pregnant in my village is frightening because if
you get sick or if it is a difficult birth, you have to walk
to the nearest town to get help. Besides that, it would
be terrible for me to get pregnant again because we are
poor and we would not have enough food for all of us.
If WINGS had not come to my community I probably
would have gotten pregnant again, because the local
health center is often closed or does not have family
planning methods. Recently I went there to get my
[contraceptive] injection, but they had run out. It is very
expensive to travel to the next town, and even when we
do, it is hard for us because the health workers don’t
speak to us in our language so we don’t understand
what they are telling us. WINGS’ staff explained
everything to us in our own language and I chose to
get Jadelle [sub-dermal hormonal implant]. I am very
happy to know that I don’t have to worry about getting
Gabriela, a new WINGS beneficiary, with her five month old
daughter Lucia.
pregnant for the next five years.
DID YOU KNOW? WINGS provides reproductive health education to women, men and teens; subsidized
contraceptive methods; cervical cancer prevention services; advocacy for better public health care provision;
and capacity building for other organizations.
Filling the Family Planning Gap in Alta Verapaz
Continued from page 1.
WINGS’ staff members Ana Itzep and Rosa Cal with beneficiaries in
Alta Verapaz.
Luisa
I have two children and both were very difficult
pregnancies. My second baby was born by emergency
Caesarian and I almost died, which is why my husband
and I decided to use family planning. We love each other
and our children, and we do not want to take the risk of
me getting pregnant again. If a woman goes into labor in
the evening, she has to give birth by herself because it is
too dangerous for the local nurse to travel at night, and
the road is so bad that you can’t drive in or out of the
village. We don’t have electricity or running water here,
and the price of food is going up quickly. When we don’t
have money, we don’t eat, because there is no longer any
macuy [wild plant eaten in Guatemala] left in the forest.
Getting family planning methods from the local clinic
is hard—we have only one nurse to attend to the whole
village, and often she doesn’t have even simple painkillers.
Now that we have a WINGS Family Planning Promoter in
our community, I am very relieved because I know that I
can always get birth control pills, and they are very cheap.
María
My husband and I were happy that the WINGS clinic
was coming and I would be able to get the little sticks
[sub-dermal hormonal implant] put in my arm—we had
talked before about not having more children but until
now we didn’t know where to go to get the medicine. I
have five children living. Two months ago my youngest
child died; while I was pregnant, I fell out of a pickup
truck that was still moving and was dragged along the
road. I went into labor and they rushed me to hospital,
but the baby was too small and he didn’t make it. I
almost died as well because the birth was very difficult.
I asked the hospital to operate on me so that I wouldn’t
have more children, but they said that I would have to
buy some of the supplies for the operation, and I didn’t
have enough money.
Today WINGS did a pregnancy test and it was positive—I
am really, really sad. I don’t want to have any more
children and I don’t know what to do. It isn’t that I
won’t love the baby, but the problem is that we are very
poor—my husband is an agricultural laborer and I feel
very sorry for him because he has to work from dawn
until dusk for very little money. The money he makes
doesn’t go far and everything is getting more expensive.
Our children are still very young and we did not want
to have another baby, but we will keep struggling on. I
hope to God that WINGS returns so that I can get the
little sticks put in my arm and take care of myself after
having the baby. I can’t have any more children—I feel
very ill and I am scared of dying and leaving my young
children without a mother. There are many more women
like me who need these medicines so that they don’t keep
getting pregnant.
A WINGS patient
receives a sub-dermal
hormonal implant
that protects against
unplanned pregnancy
for up to five years.
page
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and read stories from the field.
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WINGS’ New Documentary Film Available Now
Blessed Fruit of the Womb explores the barriers to
family planning in Guatemala and links the lack of
family planning to many of the country’s most pressing
development challenges:
Undeterred by Guatemala’s powerful religious organizations,
conservative politicians, and a male-dominated culture
that leaves women without a voice, Evelyn and Ester
courageously travel the countryside on a journey to provide
women with family planning education and access to
contraceptive methods. Blessed Fruit of the Womb is their
story—a story about the fight for reproductive rights and
freedom in a country gripped by staggering poverty, the
highest fertility rate in Latin America, and one of the highest
rates of chronic malnutrition in the world.
We hope you will be inspired by the film and proud of
the role you have played in supporting WINGS’ work. To
watch the documentary and learn about how you can host
a screening with friends, family, and coworkers, please visit
our website or email [email protected].
W inner ,
S an F rancisco
I nternational
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page
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DID YOU KNOW? WINGS’ documentary was also selected to compete in the United Nations Association
Film Festival.
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C O N TA C T U S
I N T H E U N I T E D STAT ES
I N G U AT E M A L A
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El Rosario, Casa #3, La Antigua
415-230-0441
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