Area Zonta Clubs and Peace Corps helping to save lives in Guatemala

Midwives in Guatemala awaiting birthing kits after a class given by Peace Corps volunteers. COURTESY PHOTO Since 2007, six Zonta Clubs in Southwest Florida have assembled 6,000 birthing kits for use by midwives to ensure safer, more hygienic births in Guatemala, a country with one of the highest infant mortality rates in the world. Reports from Guatemala are that lives are indeed being saved, not only those of the babies but also those of the birthing mothers.

The birthing kit project began in Australia and was witnessed by Nola Theiss, a member of the Sanibel-Captiva Zonta Club, at the 2006 Zonta International convention in Melbourne. Ms. Theiss brought the project to Zonta clubs in Naples, Bonita Springs, Fort Myers, Port Charlotte/Punta Gorda, Sanibel/Captiva and Sarasota. Members assembled supplies — plastic sheeting, latex gloves, gauze, razor blades and twine, all donated by LeeSar, a local medical supply company — in reusable plastic bags; Miracles in Action, a Naples-based nonprofit dedicated to improving the quality of life in Guatemala, provided air transport to Guatemala.

Meanwhile, two Peace Corps volunteers based in one of the poorest, most remote sections of Guatemala recognized the need for this type of medical intervention. Searching the Web, they found a news item about the Zonta birthing kit project in Southwest Florida. Zonta, Miracles in Action, and the Peace Corps then worked together to get the kits into the hands of the Peace Corps volunteers. Now the Peace Corps volunteers hold monthly classes for local midwives who then receive birthing kits for use with their patients. The kits are distributed primarily in Huehuetenango in the western highlands of Guatemala, the home of many Southwest Florida migrant workers.

Zonta International is a service organization of professional women working together to advance the status of women worldwide. Locally, Zonta clubs provide hands-on assistance, advocacy and funds to strengthen women’s lives throughout Southwest Florida. For more information, call Ms. Theiss at 395-2635 or visit www. zontasancap.com. 