In early 2019, Solly Baby founder Elle Rowley learned about a population of mothers and babies in desperate need of basic care in the remote mountains of Sepalau, Guatemala. Less than a year later, the Solly Ochoch—a family resource center that provides food, water, healthcare, and training to hundreds of families around Sepalau—was up and running. Today, we’re humbled to share more about its impact through the story of Esteban, the on-site nurse at the Solly Ochoch.
His week starts with a 3-hour commute to work via motorbike, two hours of which are spent slowing climbing a rocky dirt road to more than 6000 feet above sea level. He arrives early Monday morning and stays through Friday, away from his wife and two daughters, Angela (6 years) and Maria (1 year).
This has been the weekly routine of Esteban Chaman since April 2024, when he began working as a full-time onsite nurse at the Solly Ochoch. Before that, Esteban garnered over 16 years of experience in primary and maternal healthcare, working most recently for Guatemala’s Ministry of Health, where he led a team of nurses working in reproductive health and medicine.
The value of Esteban’s expertise and skills in Sepalau—the village where the Solly Ochoch is located—is difficult to overstate. Sepalau is incredibly remote. At best, it’s a 1.5-hour drive away from the closest town, but with current road conditions, the drive is closer to three hours. Hundreds of families in and around the village lack access to basic medical care, including prenatal visits and education, child well-checks, labor and delivery care, and more. Severe malnutrition and disease are rampant, and the need for medical care is great.
Enter: Esteban.
His work week is split about 50/50 between preventative and emergency care. The Ministry of Health sends nurses into the communities in and around the Solly Ochoch once a month, who then refer families to Esteban for well-checks, trainings, and treatment. Topics for prevention range from food cleanliness to avoiding severe diarrhea and respiratory infections (the leading cause of death for children under age 5 in the village). In addition to his prevention work, Esteban offers group trainings for local midwives to learn how to care for postpartum mothers and new babies, as well as workshops that teach families how to grow food to eat and sell.
When he isn’t conducting trainings, Esteban travels in and around the village (sometimes visiting families as far as 2.5 hours away) to complete in-home prenatal, postpartum, and child wellness checks, as well as care for families suffering from severe malnutrition and medical emergencies.
Because of Esteban’s work, hundreds of mothers and children at the Solly Ochoch are receiving the kind of basic medical care that every family deserves. And because of our Solly community, we’re able to continue funding Esteban’s work.
That’s why we donate 10% of the proceeds from our Nursing Cover directly to the Solly Ochoch year-round. And it’s also why we’re donating 100% of profits this Giving Tuesday to the Ochoch. Because empowering families—near and far—is the core of what we do at Solly Baby.
