Berta Cúmiz Talks About ADEMI's Impact on Women & Children's Health in Guatemala

“Our dream is for women to be empowered and make their own decisions”

Berta Cúmez, pictured above on the left, is the extraordinary director of the organization ADEMI- Asociación de Mujeres Ixpiyakok. As a member of the Kaqchikel Maya community, Berta represents women from the high desert and western part of Guatemala who, like Berta, wish to transform their living conditions and pave the way for a better future for younger generations.

GPA’s Community-Designed Health Grants Program has been working with ADEMI since 2016 on projects that focus on alleviating chronic malnutrition in the rural community of Hacienda Maria, in the municipality of Tecpan. The organization also promotes the participation of women in decision-making and community health committees in the 39 communities where it has a presence.

We recently spoke with Berta to learn about this group of women who work towards creating a more just world.

Berta, what are the primary causes of malnutrition in the Tecpan region of Guatemala?

There is very little employment that generates income here, or if it does, it pays little, around two to three dollars per day. Less if you’re a woman. Hacienda Maria sits in a dry valley so crops only grow in the summer. There’s no water in the winter for planting and the soil is dry. Also, the official health services don’t have the capacity to oversee children’s health. Women don’t trust these services, because they don’t have Indigenous staff that speak their languages, and the women are not treated well.

What does your work involve?

Together with GPA, we work with 70 boys and girls, from newborns up to 6 years of age, and with 75 women who are pregnant, nursing or of reproductive age. We visit the village and share best practices on nutrition, preparation of basic nutritious foods, and ancestral wisdom related to nutrition. Our health promoters provide checkups on the young children, and distribute vitamins and de-worming medication. ADEMI has also created a seed bank program for the community, and has helped women to establish community and family gardens.

We also train several women to become lay health workers (community health promoters) so they can diagnose the nutritional issues affecting the community, detect cases of malnutrition and provide follow-up for recovery.

What results have you had?

There are fewer malnourished children now. The children we have worked with are performing better at school, they are happy and enjoy a better health. The women who have participated in our programs have learned basic healthy dietary habits and have passed their knowledge on to their own daughters, neighbors and family members. When we visit them at mealtimes, we can see they eat a diversified diet.

The health promoters from Hacienda Maria continue to participate in the Food Security Commission, and they have gained authority in decision-making spaces that have traditionally been occupied by men. They have documented cases of malnutrition that have gone undetected by the health services, cases that have subsequently been referred to specialized care centers. This also means that the women undertook a diagnostic assessment of their entire community, leading to the detection of unregistered cases.

How has it been working with GPA? 

GPA has been supporting us for 10 years in Hacienda Maria. GPA is flexible and has allowed us to decide how to use the resources they provide. We hope that the efforts that have helped Hacienda Maria can also be expanded to other communities that have the same needs and are asking for our support.

Learn more about the work of ADEMI at https://ademiguatemala.org/ejes/