Comadrona training in Jacaltenango

This is Kristen Jamsa blogging tonight from Casa del Mundo, a lovely spot on Lake Atitlan, where we are spending the weekend.  The past few days have been incredibly rich and varied.  Yesterday we started off with a full morning of training in Jacaltenango with a group of 29 local midwives, known here as comadronas.  As the lone midwife on our team, I was thrilled to be working with my sister comadronas in Guatemala, a group of hard working, under resourced and often unappreciated women.  Most of the comadronas in Guatemala speak only their regional Mayan language and have little or no formal education, yet they provide care for the majority of birthing mothers in rural Guatemala. They are hungry for knowledge,  adequate resources to provide for women in their communities, and respect for their profession. 

 We had 7 "training stations" set up in one large, cement floored space, each with a different educational topic-  warning signs in pregnancy and labor, nutrition, hemorrhage, shoulder dystocia, newborn resuscitation, breech delivery, and a "birth kit" station which I manned.  We provided a very simple bag containing some essential equipment needed for a birth to each midwife that attended.  My job was to explain the contents of the bags to the comadronas with the help of an interpreter.  The flashlights and digital thermometers were the big hits of my station.   Use of a digital thermometer seemed to be a new skill for all of the women, and they were fascinated by the beeping sound it made.  It was humbling to witness the outpouring of appreciation these women expressed at such a small offering on our part.   Their needs are so great and our ability to meet them so inadequate. 

comadona ice breaker

Yasmin explaining danger signs

Kristen birth kit station

After our morning with the comadronas, we loaded into the PCI trucks which have made our travels here so easy and comfortable and headed back into Huehue and then onto Lake Atitlan, about a 6 hour drive in total.  We spent a fun evening in Panahachel,  a morning at a nature reserve near the lake, and took a short boat ride across the lake to Jaibalito and Casa del Mundo, arguably one of the loveliest spots in Guatemala.   We continue to eat delicious foods, meet wonderfully kind and generous people, and marvel that such richness and abundant beauty can coexist with so much poverty.   

Sunset on Lago Atilán