Father Ricardo is a current board member of Guatemala Youth Initiative and became involved after meeting the organization’s Executive Director, Greg Lowden, who grew up in the community of Leeds Episcopal Church in Virginia. Greg began attending Saint James Episcopal Church in Guatemala City where Father Ricardo serves as the Vicar. Father Ricardo was excited to see the organization helping some of the most marginalized adolescents in Guatemala City, and thrilled to learn that much of the organization’s support comes from Episcopalians in the Diocese of Virginia. After receiving an invitation to serve on the board of directors, Father Ricardo played a critical role in helping the organization respond to the growing need for comprehensive sexual education and teen pregnancy prevention in Guatemala City.

Last week, Father Ricardo came to bless our new Center in Zone 3, and afterwards, we invited him to stay for a cup of coffee and chat. We had the chance to explain our new projects, share common experiences, and gain perspective from a man who has spent years living in Guatemala.

“I mean we have to be brutal about this…there are 11 and 12 year olds that are having sex and getting pregnant. We have something to offer to other organizations [and the community] and that is part of the synergy and the special vocation that Guatemala Youth Initiative has.”

The reality that Father Ricardo was describing is something we, here at Guatemala Youth Initiative, are all too familiar with. Walking through the streets of Zone 3 – one of Guatemala City’s most marginalized communities – it’s all too common to see a 17-year-old woman with her baby on one hip, leading her toddler with her other hand.

Last year, we conducted a study and found that 44% of the children born in Zone 3 were born to teenage mothers, and this statistic directly correlates to the huge dropout rates of young women in this community. Providing comprehensive sexual education and safe, accessible methods that prevent unplanned pregnancy to the young men and women of Zone 3 was the obvious first step to solving the ever growing problem of under-educated youth with children born 9 months to one year apart.

“Well I think it’s part of our witness in the world to be there. They become pregnant at 10 and 11 and 12…and so you have a cycle that continues and no one can get an education because they’ve got two kids to take care of,” said Father Ricardo. These words ring true in all of Zone 3; one young woman told us, quite simply, “Why are we going to spend money on school if by 15 years old, I’m already going to be pregnant. Everyone here is pregnant by 15.” Precisely for the abundance of unplanned pregnancy among young women that Father Ricardo alluded to, we have expanded our programming to include sexual education and access to contraception.

With 82% of youth in Zone 3 already struggling to pay for high school education, the added pressure and cost of a pregnancy only pushes young women further out of the school environment. Guatemala Youth Initiative is combating that statistic on all fronts, including offering dozens of scholarships. Expanding into counseling, comprehensive sexual education, and access to contraception was a necessary step. As Father Ricardo described, this type of program is “a way of breaking the cycle of poverty because when people have access to sexual education and contraceptives, they also have an opportunity to continue their education.”

He also touched on a crucial part of the equation: familial tension. As he explained, “family is a basic unit in civilization and in church life, but those units are so dysfunctional in these circumstances.” In Zone 3, a young pregnant woman often loses the support of her parents and her options become limited to her ability to keep a man in the house while she cares for the child. “Families in this case are not formed voluntarily, they are forced into, they fall into it and very often they fall into it because of unplanned pregnancy” Father Ricardo reminded us. The simple act of giving young people the opportunity to form families based in love rather than circumstance ensures better relationships for everyone involved, especially for the children born into the family.