Summer 2019 Service Learning Trip to Guatemala
Midwifery and Women's Health in Guatemala: Weaving Mayan and Western Medicine
Trip Summary: May 18–May 25, 2019
Guatemala Service-Exchange Program - In May of 2019, the VCU Institute for Women’s Health hosted its annual “Midwifery & Health in the Americas: Weaving Maya & Western Medicine” service-exchange program for the tenth year, in partnership with the Highland Support Project in Richmond and the Association of Highland Women in Guatemala.
This year's group included an interdisciplinary team of eighteen women from VCU and the surrounding community. VCU students and staff included social work, psychology, anthropology, biology, bio-medical engineering and nursing students, a VCU Alumni/returned Peace Corps volunteer, a birth doula and a student midwife. The Assistant Coordinator for the VCU Humphrey Fellowship Program in the Department of Psychology, led this year's trip.
The week-long exchange included participation with community leaders, village women, and Mayan midwives all providing training and services related to maternal and child health. The local Guatemalan group Association of Highland Women (AMA) works to empower and support traditional midwives by providing comprehensive and culturally appropriate training in holistic health care, essential equipment, and practical support.
The emphasis of mutuality and the collaborative nature of this trip was evident from the first days. Beginning with a stove build in the community, the group got their hands dirty working alongside community members to help channel smoke out of a future homestead. The typical cooking fire produces about 400 cigarettes worth of smoke an hour, but replacing this with a wood burning stove improves the air quality within the home. This hands-on activity leaves a lasting mark on the family’s health by decreasing respiratory issues prevalent among families that cook with open pit fires in the indigenous communities within the Mayan highlands. Together over four days, the team participants and the community members built six new stoves, learned about each other’s lives, shared meals and cultivated lasting memories.
Other team activities included a presentation from the local bonesetter who taught a class on herbal and medicinal plants. This session brought together the area midwives and engaged participants in learning how to use these traditional remedies with pregnant women; they also shadowed a midwife on a home visit with a pregnant woman and participated in a discussion of cultural practices related to hygiene both during and after childbirth.
The team had an opportunity to experience Guatemala’s many cultural sights and activities including the shopping markets of Panajachel, a boat ride across Lake Atitlán following a visit to San Juan La Laguna and tour of local ‘Cooperativa de Cafe,’ a coffee cooperative. On this tour, the participants learned first-hand the important role that cooperatives play in the local economy. Stories were shared through an interactive experience connecting the environmental impacts of both chemical or sustainable practices and their effects on the citizens of the Highland region of Guatemala.
The group experienced a once in a lifetime opportunity by participating in a traditional Maya ceremony led by a local shaman. After completing the stove building the team was rewarded with a visit to the area thermal baths (with waters originating from the Zunil volcano) at the local ‘Fuentes Georginas’ hot springs.
The final days allowed our group to wander through the of Pre-Columbian Mesoamerican archaeological site of Iximche and a final night in the picturesque Antigua. This city in the central highlands of Guatemala is famous for well-preserved Spanish Baroque influenced architecture and local artisan markets.
The Midwifery & Health trip provided the opportunity to be in community with a group of women in the Highlands region of Guatemala, to learn from and with during a week-long exchange. It provided a transformative experience for the participants to increase their intercultural understanding through personal development and community building. As evident by the statements made by participants, “Every interaction I had with individuals on the trip were absolutely incredible. The people of Guatemala were so welcoming and kind, and I really felt like I was part of the community while I was there,” and “it was a transformative experience that reestablished my passion for comprehensive women's health,” and “it was life-changing.”
Team members comments:
- “I can't even put into words how impactful my interactions with the people were. My ability to speak Spanish opened me up to a world of hearing stories of crossing the border into the US, bonding with the staff of AMA, and overall immersing myself further in the world that we were experiencing. I learned so much from the people on this trip and I'm so grateful!”
- “I think this trip just reminded me why I am pursuing the career I am. There are so many individuals with inadequate access to healthcare and that need alternative forms of treatment. As a healthcare provider, my duty is to provide to everyone, no matter their financial status or cultural beliefs.”
- “It made me see how other people live and how it compares to how I live.Traveling out of the country is always a great thing to put on a resume. It also helps me sit back and look into someone else life before I judge or speak.”
- “It has reaffirmed my desire to enter the women's health field.”
- “Overall, this trip was really a once in a lifetime, life-changing trip for me.”
- “You need to go. It will change your view of everything in the USA.”
- “A transformative experience that reestablished my passion for comprehensive women's health.”
- “The trip was amazing, sobering, fun, educational, and just wonderful!”