In many Maya communities, women are finding new opportunities to invest in wellbeing as both mothers and individuals. They care for children, support learning, and sustain daily life. But for women to care for their families, they also need the opportunity to care for themselves.
This includes recognizing that wellbeing is not only physical, but also emotional and mental. For many Indigenous women, conversations around mental health have often been shaped by silence and cultural expectations that women endure hardship quietly while continuing to care for others. Machismo can reinforce these realities in both visible and invisible ways, making it difficult for women to speak openly about stress, exhaustion, or emotional pain.
Through Natün’s Women’s Health component, women participate in workshops and group sessions that create spaces for reflection, conversation, and self-care. These sessions help women speak openly about emotional wellbeing, mental health, and the importance of caring for themselves alongside their families. In this context, creating spaces where women feel heard, supported, and valued becomes deeply meaningful for both individual and community wellbeing.
When women strengthen their own health, knowledge, and confidence, they are better able to care for their children, support their families, and contribute to the wellbeing of their communities.
“As a woman, you have to do something for yourself — otherwise you fall apart.” — Petrona
Today, two mothers from the community of Peña Blanca, Deysi and Petrona, who are sisters-in-law and share a home, reflect on how caring for their own wellbeing has helped them care for their children.
Deysi is 26 years old and the mother of two young children. She first started participating in Natün’s Nutrition & Health Program during her pregnancy and continues participating through Creciendo Sano (Malnutrition Prevention), a program that improves the nutrition and health of women and children through a holistic approach that strengthens prevention, self-care, and the availability of healthy foods.
For Deysi, becoming a mother also meant learning that her own wellbeing matters. She believes that when women care for their physical and emotional health, they are better able to care for their children and contribute to their communities.
As Deysi shares, “It is important because, as women, our mental health is important in everything we do. Sometimes, when we are not mentally well, maybe we stop sleeping, we stop eating, and we have more worries, and that affects everything. It affects us physically, it affects the family, it affects the community—it affects everything. When we are not well, we neglect them [our children].”
Petrona is 34 years old and a mother of three. She was referred to Natün after her son Gael was born prematurely and faced frequent illnesses. She wanted to better understand how to support his health and began attending workshops, even when it meant bringing her children with her, so she would not miss the opportunity to learn.
Through the program, Petrona started a family garden—one of 302 family gardens established through Natün’s Nutrition & Health Program—where she grows nutritious, locally available foods such as broccoli and radishes for her family. The garden not only helps increase access to healthy foods at home, but also supports family nutrition and malnutrition prevention.
Women also participate in nutrition and recipe workshops where they learn new ways to prepare the foods they harvest. Last year, participants received guidebooks with recipes, along with instructions for preparing organic fertilizers and natural solutions to help care for their gardens at home.
As Petrona shares, “It was very gratifying because after a short time we were able to harvest, and we saw that there are possibilities to have a garden at home… it is gratifying to go and cut something from your own effort.”
Though their stories are different, both mothers remind us that when women have opportunities to care for their own wellbeing, entire families are strengthened. Their experiences demonstrate how investing in women’s health, knowledge, and confidence creates lasting benefits that extend beyond individuals and into the broader community.
Watch Deysi and Petrona share their stories in their own words below.
