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Women to Women, K’uniltik: Liberación y dignidad
by NMiMC
Friday, Nov. 14, 2008 at 4:35 AM
The Escúchame Rugir Collective and the Peace & Justice Center will be hosting our annual benefit event supporting Women’s Health and Midwifery in the Zapatista territories in Chiapas, Mexico. The event is called K’uniltik: Liberación y Dignidad benefiting Women to Women, a project bringing women from our community to share skills and resources with women community health providers in the autonomous regions. Please join us for an afternoon of live music from Felix de los Gatos, pozole dinner, information and community at the St Francis Xavier Parish Hall from 4pm to 7pm on Saturday, November 15, 2008 located at 810 Arno SE.
The Women to Women project has been working in solidarity with the Zapatista autonomous health project since the year 2000. We have been training women health workers on the general topics of women’s health, family planning, as well as the practice of gynecological exams including pap smears. Our most recent trips have been focused on the practice of midwifery.
In spite of the many obstacles they face, a few of the women we have worked with have become important care providers in their regions, taking charge of municipal clinics and attending births. These women have expressed a need for further training as well as material support for ongoing care such as pap smears and birth kits.
We are asking for your generosity in responding to this request for material support. Our goal is to raise $3000. This would provide a fund for pap smear testing which would allow for 20 pap smears for each of the 11 municipalities that form part of the region where Women to Women is working (that's a total of 220 pap smears), 2 small birth kits for each municipality containing the items they have requested (stainless steel scissors and cord clamps), and antibiotics for each municipality to combat infections which can lead to preterm labor.
In the Zapatista territories, the idea of "parejo" is strongly promoted. This means an equal distribution of resources and support. In the region where Women to Women is working there are 11 municipalities, which means that all material support will be divided by 11, so that no municipality is left out. With this in mind, consider donating enough to pay for 11 (or 22 or 33!) pap smears. Each pap smear costs $5, so 11 pap smears would be $55. A birth kit with the items they have requested costs $22, so a kit for each municipality would cost $220. If you are unable to contribute monetarily, consider donating something for our silent auction!
In support of self determination and autonomous health,
The Escúchame Rugir Collective
For more information contact:
Sandra Ortsman: 505-610-4293
email to sandrita@riseup.net.
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