23 Million Vitamins
GUATEMALA CITY, Guatemala – I went to prison today. Gratefully, I also got out.
The prison was the “Center for the Orientation of Women,” also know as the Pavon Prison outside this capital city. My mission was to deliver prenatal vitamins to the facility’s health center. My accomplices were Woody Woodson and
Dennis McCutcheon of Vine International, a U.S.-based agency working in Guatemala, and Richardo Gonzalez of the local prison ministry El Barrio for Christ.
You might be wondering: why do they need prenatal vitamins in prison? Here are a few reasons:
1. Pregnant women are serving time there. They either come in pregnant or get pregnant inside (a small bribe will often get them a little time with a visiting husband or boyfriend).
2. Their babies, who are going to have a tough beginning to life (they will live with their moms in prison for their first four years), deserve every chance for a healthy start. Prenatal vitamins can be a part of that.
3. The prisons have no resources. Dennis had this to say about men’s prisons in Guatemala: “They are the closest thing I have seen to hell. The only thing 
missing is the smoke and flames.” The women’s prisons are better, but not much. They certainly do not have vitamins to strengthen pregnant moms and their unborn babies.
MAP has had the privilege, through an incredible donation from the Shionogi Inc. pharmaceutical company, to distribute 23 million prenatal vitamin capsules – enough for up to 261,000 women in six countries over the past several months. I am tracking down some of those donations in Guatemala this week. I think the prison was a good place to start. Who else is going to care for these innocent children who will be born soon into hardship?
