Family Planning for Guatemalans Living in Poverty

A NOTE FROM GLOBALGIVING:

This is the second in a series of snapshots about project leader Laurel White and her organization WINGS.

Thank you for your continued support of Laurel and her tireless dedication to providing rural and indigenous Guatemalans with access to short and long-term family planning methods. We ask you to contribute again today! Feel free to tell your friends about Laurel and her incredible work!

~

“A Million Other Things That Many Of Us Take For Granted”

Guatemala’s fertility rate, at 4.4, is the highest in Latin America, and a Guatemalan woman is 14 times more likely to die during pregnancy or childbirth than a woman in the United States. WINGS is helping Guatemalan men and women escape these statistics. “Every single day, lives are changed by giving men and women control over their reproductive lives,” says WINGS Development Officer Laurel White. “In a country where the poorest fifth of the population averages eight children per family and half of children are malnourished, having one less child, or delaying pregnancy for six months, a year, or five years means a little extra food on the table or a enough money to send a child to school for an extra year or a million other things that many of us take for granted.”

Laurel first traveled to Guatemala two and a half years ago to take a six week Spanish language course. While she was there, she fell in love with the people and culture. She returned to live and work permanently for WINGS in Guatemala after listening to WINGS founder Sue Patterson speak about the important work of the program.

If you were to go visit Laurel and the rest of the WINGS team in Guatemala, they would show you firsthand how their program improves the lives of the beneficiaries.

“We’d take you to one our family planning talks, so you could meet firsthand the men and women who benefit from WINGS," Laurel says. "You will learn that these men and women have often never been given accurate information about reproductive health or family planning by their schools or families. You will see how appreciative these men and women are to have the option of taking control of their reproductive lives. You will understand why $10 or $20 or $50 can make a huge difference and change lives for the better.”