The Quichua Woman’s Project

completes first series

Each month Teresa travels to our targeted Indian Communities, getting to know the families of the FACES kids who have stayed behind in the Quichua villages while their children emigrate to the city to work.   They have graciously allowed her to lead workshops on many topics ranging from “A Scriptural Approach to Family Planning”  to how to set up a Sunday School.  Thanks to generous donations from Elaine and friends, we were able to distribute small gifts at each conference, such as baby bath products, blankets and tee shirts.   In October we awarded certificates to over a hundred women who had completed the series “The Woman of Purpose I.”  They were enthralled by the documentary “The Nine Months of Pregnancy” and were educated about prenatal care.  Other lessons in the series taught the women hygiene and nutrition for newborns and young babies.  But by far the most popular workshop was a simple overview of all the birth control methods that are available here.  Each conference is filled with scriptures that relate to the practical topics. 

“We don’t want to keep having so many babies,” said the male villagers.  “But we are afraid to tell our wives to use birth control.  We have heard that women die from taking pills and that the birth control shot causes cancer.” We had to give this workshop twice, once for the moms and again for the husbands. Hopefully at least in these three Quichua communities, the couples now have the information to make an informed decision about how many children God wants them to have.