A Day for Women

Erica Morales is a strong woman - it just took her a while to realize it.  For nearly 25 years, she endured verbal, mental, and physical abuse from her husband. 

But not anymore.

When WINGS went to the municipality of Ciudad Quetzal, Guatemala in search of women to participate in its Voz Collectiva de Mujeres (Collective Voice of Women) Leadership Training course, we met Erica.  After a conversation with WINGS staff member, Erica realized that she did not want to be stepped on any longer, and that she had options – a point of view that was new and exciting to her.  She learned that, as a woman, she has a right to say "no", she has a right to express her opinions, and above all, she has a right to be happy in her life.  

Erica, and women like her, are celebrated on International Women's Day

In Guatemala, a male-dominated society, women often accept abuse from their partners because of ingrained social norms.  In Erica's case, she didn't stand up to her husband because she feared retribution and also because she thought her husband’s behavior was normal in a marriage.  The oppression of women in Guatemala has a long, deep-seated history.  Women were frequently victimized sexually during Guatemala’s recent internal armed conflict, which lasted 36 years, from 1960 and 1996.  Violence became embedded in a culture that continues to struggle with poverty, extreme inequality and disenfranchisement.  Today, women are left behind in the development process:  they earn only 41% as much as their male counterparts, only 8% of elected officials are women, and a staggering 45% have experienced abuse at some point in their relationships. 

Now, Erica is planning a separation from her abusive husband, and will also be seeking legal reparations from him for the years that she has been held back.  She wants to begin studying psychology at university, something she wasn't previously allowed to do.  In her leadership and advocacy training with WINGS, she is also learning how to lead other women in her community to advocate for their reproductive health and other rights.

Erica has a message that she would like to share with the scores of other Guatemalan women struggling with similar issues: 

"Stay positive. Educate yourself. Change is coming but it must come organically, through us."

On International Women's Day, March 8th 2012, WINGS stands side-by-side with women in Guatemala like Erica - women who have voices and strength that need to be supported so that they can be agents for social change, not only in their own lives, but for their communities and their country.

To show your support for Erica, and women throughout Guatemala, please donate to WINGS today.

When Kids Make A Difference

Seeing a room full of children openly talking about sexual and reproductive health in Guatemala is a rare sight.  Nevertheless, WINGS' Youth program, which met last week, challenges youth to be educators and role models in their own communities by taking the reproductive health information they learn in WINGS-led trainings back to their peers.  Last week’s training, in which nearly 50 adolescent girls and boys took part in a day filled with educational presentations and games, was the youth’s final one before being asked to commit to actively participating as Peer Educators in the Youth WINGS program over the upcoming year.  After signing up with the Youth WINGS program, the teens will continue to develop their skills in leading peer discussion groups about sexual and reproductive health. Over the course of a year, each of the Peer Educators will give informational talks to nearly 150 peers.

Here are some pictures from the day's activities:

The students read messages with inspirational messages on them, drawn at random from a box

Byron listens intently as instructions for the next game are given

Each particpant in WINGS Youth receives a notebook and pen to record the day's lectures

Claudia and her team of five brainstorm the negative consequences of being a young parent

During one of the games, Oscar's face shows his enjoyment

Each student learns to speak comfortably about sexual and reproductive health by presenting to their peers

WINGS in the Navy

Men like Jaime Hernandéz, a former WINGS for Men workshop participant and local leader, play a hugely important role by building acceptance within their communities regarding the information and services  promoted by WINGS. Several years ago, Jaime took WINGS’ educational outreach to heart when, as a father of three, he and his wife decided to practice family planning, knowing that they could not adequately provide for any additional children.  Today, Jaime brings a passionate and respected voice in support of reproductive health, family planning and fatherhood to community talks about men’s responsibilities to their families.

Jaime's support has made a different in WINGS' outreach

As a result of his strong community standing and advocacy efforts, Jaime recently negotiated with the Guatemalan Navy, Marina Nacional, to allow WINGS for Men onto its naval base in Puerto San Jose. Beginning in February, WINGS is conducting a six-week educational outreach project with cadets and soldiers at the naval base in the department of Escuintla. 

During weekly workshops, WINGS’ staff will offer information on a wide range of topics including reproductive anatomy and physiology, sexual health, contraceptives and responsible parenting. As part of the large population of male migrant workers in Guatemala, these men are at an especially high risk of contracting and spreading sexually transmitted infections (STIs), including HIV. Research has found that rates of STIs are generally higher in migrant populations, as living and working away from home for long periods leads some men to engage in sexual activity – often unprotected – with sex workers and/or other local women. When they return home, they spread the diseases to their spouses that they contracted while away.

WINGS Educator, Angel Mendez, facilitating the outreach project, tells us, “During the first workshop, it is important to build a rapport with students because discussing sex can be difficult for men, especially for those in front of their peers in uniform. I have to be honest with them. I have to engage them, using words they are used to hearing. At first they will be reserved, and maybe even uncomfortable, but it is my job to let everyone know that sex is a topic that needs to be discussed.”

It is important for WINGS for Men educators like Angel to engage the class.

Just minutes into the first class, the students were blurting out names of body parts, laughing with their friends, and hanging on every word that Angel said.

The workshops use many different methodologies, from lectures and group work to stories and learning games. With a varied range of sexual experience and knowledge among the group, it is very important that Angel keep everyone interested.

The classroom can be anywhere - in this case, a dining hall in Guatemala's naval base.

Antonio, one of the younger workshop attendees at 20 years of age, said that he was excited about WINGS being on base. “I don’t have much sexual experience, not like the other guys here. I have only had sex maybe five times in my life, and every time I have done it safely. But I still have a lot to learn about the subject, and I think it’s great that WINGS has come here.”

Juanito, on the other hand, has had a very different sexual experience in La Marina Nacional. “I have had sex with a prostitute, sure. Many of us have. I know some guys that have prostitutes almost every night of the week. I try to be safe, but not everyone is.”

Young soldiers like this one are at a very high risk for contracting and spreading STIs.

Juanito and Antonio are perfect examples of why WINGS for Men is critically important.  While some of the naval cadets who participated in the seminar had basic sexual health knowledge, most of the men did not have a good understanding of STIs or contraceptive methods.   Even more importantly, the men need to be trained to be consistent in protecting themselves to ensure that they, and their families, remain safe.

If you are interested in learning more about the WINGS for Men program, click here. If you would like to make a donation to ensure that WINGS can continue offering educational workshops to men and changing the lives of Guatemalans, click here.

The following is an article written (translated from Spanish) by CIMAC Noticias, a Mexican organization.
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A Year of Challenges for Sexual and Reproductive Health For Women
By Patricia Alicia and Ana Silvia Monzón
The 2011 has been a year of contrasts on issues related to sexual and reproductive rights. While progress has been made as strengthening the public audit work through the Reproductive Health Observatory, the Network of Indigenous Women for Reproductive Health and Multidisciplinary Group for the Defense of Sexual and Reproductive Rights, among others, the dominant discourses in the election campaign that lasted several months and that was won at a former military-were permeated by ignorance, prejudice and indifference to the human dramas that implies a lack of education, prevention and care issues associated with human sexuality.

Statistics
In Guatemala sexual and reproductive rights of women are severely limited by gender and ethnic inequalities that put girls and women, especially indigenous and rural areas at a disadvantage compared to their partners, limiting their autonomy to decide their sexuality and motherhood. The State does not guarantee social conditions favorable to assume the pregnancy, including relevant information, proper nutrition, prenatal and delivery care. So a good percentage of pregnant women facing pregnancy and motherhood in poor condition and high vulnerability.

In this context, reproductive health concern presents a profile observed in the indicators of teen pregnancy and maternal mortality. In 2011 there were more than 47, 000 cases teen pregnancy between 10 to 17 years old who, many times, see dashed their chances for personal development. Many of these pregnancies are the result of abuse and rape, according to the follow-up made ​​by the Centre in Reproductive Health. This violence is also one of the main causes that lead to abortion practiced in unsanitary conditions that threaten the lives of women, as it is still classified as a crime under national law.

Maternal deaths remain high in the country, according to the National Maternal Mortality Study, 2007, submitted in December 2011, which states that there were 137 maternal deaths in 2007, which represented a reduction while 8.7 percent the period (2000-2007), with an average drop of 1.24 percent per year, still place the country with one of the highest rates in Latin America, according to Dr. Miriam Betancourt, coordinator of the National Reproductive Health Program. This are the latest official data, which shows the difficulties of having updated information on a sensitive issue.

The figures yielded by the study indicate that nine departments with concentrations of maternal deaths, six of them have a high percentage of indigenous population. In fact, the maternal mortality rate is significantly higher among indigenous women, 163.0, 77.7 Ladino than women. Furthermore, the incidence in rural areas is much higher with 66.3 percent of cases, compared to urban area recorded 33.7 percent.

Other conditions, such as schooling and high fertility, they also expose women to die during or after childbirth. According to the report cited by the Ministry of Public Health and the Ministry of Planning and Programming of the Presidency, 88 percent of deaths occur in women with no or little schooling, and cases are more common among women who have had more than four sons and daughters.

It should be noted that maternal deaths are still due to several factors: cultural order associated with machismo at home because, often, is the husband who decides when to move the mother, economic, lack of resources to pay transportation or specialized care when high-risk cases. Also, the lack of adequate services, and nearby Mayan languages ​​makes the difference between life or death of a woman who, in the twenty-first century, risks his life to the time of delivery.

This picture must be added the progression of HIV-AIDS epidemic, especially in women aged 20 to 24 years and restrictions on access to family planning methods, particularly in populations with low education and living in distant parts of the network of health.  

State Response
Although Congress passed the Safe Motherhood in 2010, it still lacks a regulation and resources for their implementation. Among the recommendations of the Study on Maternal Mortality already mentioned, it was decided to develop a national policy on Safe Motherhood and ensure food security and nutrition of pregnant women, provision of vitamin boosters and access to immunizations. Also to provide universal coverage and access to maternal health services - Neonatal-quality, gender and multiculturalism. And very important, as is to perform actions on reproductive health education in all educational levels and through national media social

In that vein, the Ministry of Public Health and the Ministry of Education launched a pilot sex education in the departments with the highest rates of maternal mortality and teenage pregnancies. To comply with these commitments the Presidential Secretariat for Women (SEPREM) is closely monitoring this process and actively participated in the second seminar "Prevention through Education", held in December 2011.  

Iniciativas Cuidadanas
The plight of sexual and reproductive rights organizations mobilized women, feminists and civil society to influence the performance of sexual and reproductive rights of women.
As part of the actions that the organization Tierra Viva, for more than a decade promoting the campaign against fundamentalism, as a means to legalize abortion and continues with a media monitoring sexual and reproductive rights. In a matching line, work the Multidisciplinary Group for the Defense of Sexual and Reproductive Rights. While CERIGUA News Agency highlighted in the news coverage and treatment of sexual and reproductive rights, generated particularly at departmental level.
The Centre for Reproductive Health (Dare) continued to organize meetings of Midwives and supporting situational socialization rooms provided by the National Sexual and Reproductive Health at the departmental level, and advocacy in both the Congress and to the State health authorities.
The National Alliance of Indigenous Women's Organizations for Reproductive Health, Nutrition and Education (Redmisar) achieved the inclusion of an article in the 2012 Budget Act to purchase contraceptive supplies at affordable costs with specialized international organizations in the field. This action is joined the National Birth Control Assurance (CNAA).
Feersigua Association and the mechanism of indigenous research Oxlajuj Tz'ikin presented "Indigenous women sex workers in Chimaltenango: social, sexual and reproductive rights," which addresses a topic that has been considered taboo in indigenous communities.
The Association for Family Welfare (APROFAM) promoted the collective organization of Youth without Censorship for Comprehensive Sexuality Education and a virtual page of information, consultation and expert advice on sex education for young people.
As Uxil Association, based in Petén, produces the show "Sex tips radio" and the drama "Roulette" as well as creative sex education campaigns aimed at young people, particularly the northern region.
This year also launched the National Campaign for Sexuality Education, sponsored by 10 organizations, with the aim of adolescents and young people to demand the implementation of sex education in public and private schools and health services, and compliance of the Law of Universal and Equitable Access to Family Planning Services.

Balance
Cultural and religious patterns, lack of resources in the health system, neglect and violence are factors that still prevent women from exercising their rights to decide over her own body, to have scientific and secular sexual information and care quality in relation to their sexuality and reproductive lives. In 2011 there were ups and downs, those working on sexual and reproductive rights hope that the new officials take office on January 14, continue to have good practices and strategic compass rights as women.    

NY Times Reporter, Nicholas Kristof Acknowledges “The Birth Control Solution”

The global population hit 7 billion people on Monday, October 31. This week in the NY Times, Nicholas Kristof reflects on the importance of family planning education and women’s empowerment in curbing not only  rapid global population growth, but also poverty, conflict and environmental damage. For 10 years, WINGS has been at the forefront of providing family planning education and services for women, men and adolescents and continues to fight for the sexual and reproductive health rights shared by all Guatemalans.

To read Kristof’s piece, please click here.

U.S. Funding Cuts to International Family Planning Programs Will Prove Dangerous

As Robert Walker, Executive Vice President for the Population Institute outlines in his article, Family Planning: 'The Best of Times, the Worst of Times', the United States and other countries are significantly cutting funding for international family planning programs. Such cuts will prove detrimental to global efforts aimed at reducing maternal and infant mortality, thwarting the efforts of important global health initiatives such as the United Nations' Every Woman, Every Child campaign that promises to slash maternal and infant mortality rates and prevent 33,000 unwanted pregnancies. While United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, recently pledged an additional $10 billion to this initiative, without continued investment in international family planning programs, especially in poor countries like Guatemala where fertility rates remain high and access to modern contraceptive levels low, little progress will be made in saving the lives of women and children. We welcome your comments regarding this controversial issue!

You can access Robert Walker's article by clicking here.

WINGS Educator on Working in a Volatile Region

As Guatemala’s fiercely contended presidential elections loom in September, the nation is being ravaged by escalating violence, exacerbated by narcotrafficking. Below Karina Obregon, WINGS’ Youth and Family Planning Educator in the Petén—Guatemala’s northernmost department where we partner with an environmental conservation NGO—talks about working in such a volatile region. Karina’s story exemplifies the many complex socio-cultural barriers WINGS’ field staff face every day as they bring family planning education and reproductive health services to neglected areas of the country.

After a 36-year long bloody internal conflict which ended in 1996, violence is nothing new here. But Guatemala’s new enemy, organized crime gangs fuelled by narcotrafficking, is fast becoming a malevolent force permeating every aspect of chapin life. This was gruesomely brought to international attention in May when 27 innocent farm laborers were killed in the worst massacre seen in Guatemala since the war. Those responsible - the militant Mexican drug cartel The Zetas – were most likely displaying their cruel power to lay claim to disputed territory. The massacre took place in Guatemala’s northern most department, the Peten, which makes up 1/3 of national territory and occupies valuable drug trafficking corridors across the Mexico-Guatemala border.

WINGS began work in the Petén in 2009 to get vital family planning education and reproductive health services to the many neglected, mostly Mayan communities scattered around the Sierra de La Candon national park. By collaborating with Defensores de la Naturaleza, an environmental conservation group in the area, WINGS has been able to marry family planning with environmental protection. Our Petén Educator, Karina, typically spends her time travelling around the jungle park with Defensores de la Naturaleza, visiting isolated communities to teach teenagers, teachers, women and men about family planning. Through educational outreach and house visits, she links the massive reproductive health benefits that family planning offers, with its impressive power to slow environmental degradation (fewer people = less deforestation, less firewood burned, less water contaminated, and a more certain future for communities in the area). 

Karina talking Sex Ed at a school in the Peten

Karina was working in the Petén on the day of the massacre and says she received a chilling call to get out of the park urgently, “we drove out, afraid of every car we passed, not knowing what had happened.” It turned out that although she had never worked directly in the community where the massacre took place, she routinely travelled a few miles from it for her work with WINGS. As a precaution, WINGS suspended work in the region while the Guatemalan military initiated what has become an ongoing state of siege in the Petén to restore security. Although she was pleased with the initial respite, Karina was soon eager to get back to work and felt confident doing so. This is great news as WINGS’ Petén project is currently in its second of 5 years and only getting stronger. Karina has no reservations about continuing, “this is a personal fight between narcos, it is not against the communities, and definitely not against us. Long-term this won’t affect our work.”