Clayton Dunnaway, a Boy Scout with the Highlands Ranch Troop 665 in Colorado, has inspired four international organizations to join him in his quest to help poor Mayan women in Guatemala—and at the same time, earn the coveted Eagle Scout ranking for his project.
The Boy Scout Troop; Finding Freedom Through Friendship in Lexington, Kentucky; Adopt-a-Village in Guatemala and the Rotary Club of Palmetto, (both located in Florida); joined the team project that would bring aid to Mayan mothers—two international borders away and some 5,000 miles from Clayton’s home town. It is unlikely that he could have realized the heartwarming impact his project would have upon them.
Guatemala has one of the highest rates of maternal and child mortality in the world. Mayan mothers suffer from malnutrition, as well as with severe anemia, parasitic diseases and other untreated infections, making them vulnerable to life-threatening complications during pregnancy. Prenatal care is rare. Babies are birthed by a village midwife, who, often as not, has little training and no equipment.
Clayton’s inspiration centered on helping these mothers. He and his fellow Scouts sought donations of newborn clothing, hand-knitted baby caps, cotton diapers, and baby blankets, and raised funds for partial transportation costs. He partnered his Scout troop with Finding Freedom through Friendship, an organization that helps single mothers with food, staples, and safe housing. which added 
midwifery equipment and prenatal vitamins to the donations, who shipped the jam-packed duffle bags to Palmetto, Florida. The third partner, the Rotary Club of Palmetto, arranged for shipment from Florida to Adopt-a-Village headquarters in northwestern Guatemala.
That organization, led by president Frances Dixon, made the final leg of the journey—a five-hour bone-jarring trip in a four-wheel drive vehicle over a rugged mountain track to the village of San Juan Tutlac. There, grateful mothers received their gifts, while the village’s two midwives practiced with the stethoscopes and blood pressure cuffs. San Juan Tutlac is the first village of several that are receiving supplies. It is estimated that 170 newborns will benefit from this project.
The gift of prenatal vitamins, more perhaps than any other, was met by quiet awe from mothers. Such vitamins are highly prized—but completely beyond their reach. A one-month supply would mean a month’s work in the fields, and other necessities are seen as more pressing.
The village gathering included mothers and their curious children, the midwives, the village health aide, and community leaders. Diego Pedro, the health aide, spoke, imploring the mothers to try to better feed themselves, not only for their sakes, but for the sake of their unborn children. He told them that without adequate nourishment in the earliest years of life, their children would be destined to suffer from stunted growth, brain damage, disabilities, diseases and infection. And that malnutrition would lead to diminished educational achievement.
Attacking chronic child malnutrition is at the forefront of Adopt-a-Village goals. Recently, the organization launched its boldest program ever—a sustainable organic mini-farming program to stem the debilitating hunger of the region’s children. Guatemala has the highest rate of chronic child malnutrition in the Americas, and the fourth highest in the world, according to United Nations statistics. In this remote region of Guatemala, hunger is the standard for indigenous children. Some, notably those of widows and single mothers, eat only every other day.
In time, and with the help of volunteers and donors, AAV hopes to reach dozens of villages and schools and initiate sustainable food production. Creating improved nutritional health will be the cornerstone for wellbeing of the future generations of the Maya.
