'Godmothers for Life' serve vulnerable moms in Uruguay

Montevideo, Uruguay, Mar 18, 2018 / 02:41 am

An Uruguayan non-profit organization called "Godmothers for Life" has been serving mothers in crisis pregnancies for more than 17 years, working out of a facility at Saint Jerome Chapel in Montevideo.   

Offering talks, one-on-one conversations, and job training, these "godmothers" help vulnerable moms face their pregnancies with dignity and hope, and not to see abortion as the only way out of their situation.

Being chosen as a godparent is a significant honor in Latin America, where godparents are typically highly involved in the lives of their godchildren, which gives the group's name a special meaning.

The organization has its origins in 2000 at Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico. Marta Grego and her husband traveled from Uruguay to visit the shrine where they experienced in prayer what they described as "Our Lady of Guadalupe's call" to dedicate themselves to the cause of life.

Marta felt in her heart that God was asking her to fight abortion and save babies when she got back to Uruguay. However, she did not see a clear path forward at the time, because she was working and supporting her family. Nevertheless, she felt God telling her, "You take care of my things and I'll take care of yours."

When the couple returned to Uruguay, a pregnant woman rang their doorbell asking for food. She had made up her mind to get an abortion. That encounter was how Godmothers for Life got its start, with Marta Grego as its founder and director.

Although the original purpose of the organization was to help women decide to keep their babies, Teresa Rodriguez, the group's current president, explained that they eventually saw "that besides the girls who wanted to abort, there were pregnant girls who were not thinking of aborting but were in a very vulnerable situation."

In response, the group expanded its work by providing free job training courses and workshops on Christian and human formation, "always focusing on the mom and her baby, helping her to value motherhood, but also helping the family," so they can find their way out of poverty. Currently, Godmothers for Life is serving about 60 at-risk women in Montevideo, relying solely on donations for their work.

"A bond is created between us and the mothers which is not based on dependency but on affection. We are one big family," Rodriguez said.

In addition to their main location in Montevideo, Godmothers for Life has a place at Saint Eugene Chapel in the administrative district, where they care for an additional 60 women. They hope to extend the project to other areas of Uruguay. They have already begun plans in several other districts.