Familiarity is what makes place ‘a’ place

I must confess that I have not taken initiative in learning Kaqchikel. I know how to say the important words, like ulef (earth/soil), ixin (corn), tef (cold), and ixo’qi (woman), but have made little progress in actually being able to understand and speak this language. Language learning is…

Can community health workers deliver complex nutrition education, individualized for each family, and have significant positive results on growth and diet?  Our new publication on child malnutrition and community health care workers shows that they can!  Plus, we managed to grab a quick word with Dr. Boris Martinez,…

Guatemalan women are strong. This is clear in her hands which rub the dirt out of clothes on the pila stone, clap balls of corn masa into perfect tortillas, and swiftly crack a chicken’s ribcage to prepare the caldo de gallina. Her strength is much deeper than her…

  After my first year of medical school, I decided to spend my summer break volunteering with Wuqu’ Kawoq | Maya Health Alliance and learning Kaqchikel, one of the Mayan languages still spoken today in the Guatemalan Highlands. In medical school, I have classes like Biochemistry, Anatomy and…

A woman glances up from where she has been sleeping, on a blanket on the ground. Her voice is distant as she tells us that, yes, her son was born two nights before, stillborn, already in the ground. A mother’s deft hands untie the assortment of cloths that…

“Son muy enojados.” They’re very angry. It’s a phrase I’ve heard time and time again interviewing indigenous Guatemalan women about their experiences of maternal health care in government clinics and hospitals. It’s meant different things to different women. For Leticia, whose first language is Kaqchikel Mayan, “they’re very…

I left Minnesota seven weeks ago. I stepped out the front door of my home and the tears rolling down my cheeks froze in their tracks. In the moment I took this as a sign that I had cried enough; that in order to leave my home and…

When I was preparing to move to Guatemala six months ago to intern with Maya Health Alliance l Wuqu’ Kawoq (MHA l WK), “Why Guatemala?” was often a question posed to me by my friends and family. It was a question I found difficult to answer, since I…

Kate opens up about the biggest lesson she learned being here with us.   Leaving isn’t easy. It is saying “see you later” (not goodbye, because Guatemala and WK have captured my heart and I can’t leave forever) to all the friends I have made in work and…

Dr. Boris Martinez shares his thoughts and experiences:   I started as a full-time physician and research coordinator for WK almost one year ago, and a lot of things have changed since then… Within this year I have built strong and meaningful relationships with people in the several Mayan…