       Cloudforest Initiatives | THE CONSTRUCTION OF A NEW CLINIC IN THE HIGHLANDS.Last year we received the following letter from the compa�ros in Magdalenas: "We write respectfully to you and to the international community with the objective of soliciting your help with the construction of a small health clinic that will benefit eleven neighboring communities. This is a great need for our people because there is not in our area any government health services facilities. For this reason our people die in their homes from curable diseases, because they lack medical attention in a local health facility, or because they lack the economic resources to pay for a trip to the clinic in Oventik, or if the case is more extreme, all the way to San Cristobal de las Casas. For this reason, for the lack of resources, our patients receive very little medical attention. The local trained health promoters have been attending patients permanently and free of charge. They have done more than 200 consultations for the last four months in a small and simple house they borrowed. Therefore, we wanted to know if you could help find support for the construction of a clinic." In the highlands villages of Chiapas there is severe malnutrition in children and adults and a high incidence of pulmonary and intestinal diseases. In other circumstances these could be curable, but because of limited economic resources and terrible sanitary conditions, they are epidemic. The Maya autonomous people are struggling to improve their lives in very difficult conditions of extreme poverty, limited resources, deteriorated environment and soil conditions, and a low intensity war directed at their movement for independence and self-reliance. In the area of Magdalenas, ten health promoters serve eleven communities. The health promoters use conventional Western medicine as well as traditional Maya herbal medicine. For the last two years they have treated patients in a small adobe shack. A few months ago, Cloudforest Initiatives received a grant to help in the construction of a new small health facility in the village of Magdalenas. About the same time, a new health organization was formed by the autonomous people in the highlands region, connected to the larger clinic in Oventik, to provide direct health services to the impoverished indigenous population of the region. The health promoters organization of Magdalenas is part of this larger effort and the mini-clinic will be one of four health facilities in the region. In August, construction of the new clinic started. We broke ground when a delegation of five North Americans came to work alongside the local people. Our task was to turn a small hill into a flat site, and after moving tons of dirt we achieved our goal. Now, groups of about twenty local volunteers show up to work every day, coming from the different hamlets that the clinic will serve. All of them are autonomous people working for free as a service to their communities. They know that once the clinic is finished, health care will be provided free of charge to all villagers, regardless of political affiliation or religious background. The clinic will be finished before the end of the year, and for the new millennium, the people of this valley will have a place to go when they are ill. |
