Women's Health and Empowerment Center, Cerro Limon, Panama

The women of the Ngobe indigenous group in Panama face many challenges arising from poverty, lack of health care, and sexism. This project addresses these issues through the building of two small buildings to serve as a women's health and economic empowerment center.

For many who live near the mountain community of Cerro Limon, accessing western health care involves a long and dangerous journey, and expenses that the women can seldom afford. Female traditional healers often provide the best health care in the area. They serve as midwives and have extensive knowledge of the medicinal value of local plants. Childbirth in particular is one of the most dangerous health issues that these women face, and if they do not have access to a midwife, complications and death from childbirth are common. What is urgently needed in the area is a clean, private place where the traditional healers can treat patients and where women can go to seek their help for childbirth.

The second building would be cooperatively owned by five local women's groups. It would serve as a place for women to meet and sew, providing a sense of community and access to foot-pedaled sewing machines. Every woman will receive enough fabric a year to outfit herself in one dress and each of her daughters in one dress. She will also make a certain number of dresses to be sold to other Ngobe women at a low cost, as well as one dress for a poor child who has no clothing.

If the resources allow, this project could be expanded to Soloy, and the building of a similar facility for the traditional healers and women of that area.

Project mission:

The goal is to create a project that will be self-sustainable. The health and birthing building will be run by the traditional healers, who have shown great interest in this facility. The sewing and empowerment center will be run by the women who use it, with dress sales serving as a source of income for its maintenance, future purchases of fabric and expansion of the coop.

The two buildings will be equipped with a shared cooking area and composting latrines.
They will be built by locals, who have already expressed interest in volunteering their labor. The land has also already been donated and cleared.

Potential impact:

This project will make an enormous difference in the lives of these women, enabling them to access health care, clothe their families, strengthen alliances with other women, while honoring their traditions.

Required resources:

1. Total project needs: $5,000

News:

• medo.awardspace.com/news.htm

Project page URL:

• medo.awardspace.com

Links to other projects by the same organization:

• medo.awardspace.com/projects.htm

Links to external blogs or wikis:

• http://blogs.bootsnall.com/gigirtw/

Additional info:

Local traditional healer and midwife, Dominga Palacio put it best:
"My dream is to have a house built just for the midwives of the area and have several rooms in it with beds…so women can come and wait there to have their babies. I would have it very clean, I would have a place for them to wait, and a place for them to be afterwards. They would not have to walk down the mountain.

I would also have a room, where I could have classes about nutrition and prenatal care, so we would have healthier mothers and babies. I would be able to help them all the way through the pregnancy, instead of just the birth part. They could visit me and I could know how they are doing. I would work with other midwives so it would be a cooperative."