Here is the video from the Oaxaca AcuProject 2012! 

Plans are currently being made for 2013. This year the emphasis will be on acupressure. This will be a simple, sustainable practice for the promotores and others to learn. There will also be opportunities for continued support of the existing acupuncture practitioners and their clinics. 

Please follow this link to Youtube. At this time I was not able to upload the video directly onto this page. 

http://youtu.be/hkHEHOl7bcI

Oaxaca AcuProject 2012 Video

Blog Design

A reminder for new readers that this blog is arranged from the last to the first entry. To read from the beginning, go to February and the title Arrival.

Thanks for reading this, I look forward to hearing from you!

info@jeyaaerenson.com

Kid Updates

As I am reading the blog today I thought that I would give a couple of updates on two of the kids who have been treated.

On the Blog about the second community clinic I wrote about the 10 year old boy who asked for needles on his second visit. We have such beautiful photos of him and his younger sister sleeping on the sofa during an earlier clinic. To me, he is a sweet, polite, kind boy. To his classmates, he is an underdog and subjected to bullying. Since receiving the weekly acupuncture treatments he is feeling better about himself. He is not as stressed and he is able to focus on his schoolwork.

The one person who probably affected me most in this project, and for me made it all worthwhile, is Luz from the coast who is now beginning to read and write at 9 years old. (See the post about Palma Sola in March) We learned more of her story. Luz's biological mother was raped. She did not want to have the child. Lucia took her in during the pregnancy and offered to help raise the child. Lucia does not have any children of her own. Luz was born prematurely at 7 months. The biological mother left soon after.
One of the ear points that is used is for the sympathetic nervous system - the "fight-flight" response to trauma. This work is especially good for post traumatic stress and Luz's development was infused with trauma and stress. Since she is young and still developing in many ways it seems to me that the treatments, especially the first one, was like pushing a re-set button in her.

The next time that Lauro goes to the coast and sees Lucia he has promised that he will give us an update as to how she is doing emotionally and in school.

Reverse Culture Shock

I have been meaning to write another entry for weeks and here I am back in Oregon, well, at least my body is back, the rest of me has not completely arrived. 


I left off the blog at Charco Redondo. From there, Rico and I spent a few days at the coast relaxing. I spent a couple of those days continuing to deal with the altitude sickness which got re-ignited by the flame of heat and humidity. I was dizzy and nauseas for a couple of days. Although I felt awful I reminded myself that it was better to feel awful in paradise than other places. The coast of Oaxaca is paradise - blue waters, pristine beaches, surfers, not crowded. It was a perfect place to do some self healing. 


Oaxaca Acu Project


I learned a lot through this project. It began with the name The Oaxaca Acupuncture Project and is now shortened to just Acu. This is partially due to the shift in the longer-term ideas for this project and it's expansion beyond acupuncture to include more acupressure. 


In Charco Redondo my thoughts around teaching acupressure were confirmed. My biggest concern around this project has been the needles. I have promised to continue to supply needles to the Promotores for one year and then evaluate. I will be able to see who has been using them, how many treatments have been given, and where they want to go with this. One of the best uses of this is for Post Traumatic Stress. There was an earthquake in Mexico the day we returned to Oaxaca City. The pueblos in the Siera Norte have experienced flooding and landslides. If they are cut off for extended times the way they were last year, they will only have a limited number of needles to use to support their pueblos. At least the pueblos on the coast are much easier to access. 


2013 Project


My plan for next winter is to return and teach workshops in acupressure. This is something that the promotores can teach to their pueblos. Everyone can learn how to do first aid acupressure, pain relief, basic self care. It won't be limited to the promotores treating others, the promotores can learn and teach others. It can be easily integrated into what they already do.

I spoke with Lauro about this and he likes the idea. 


This may or may not be integrated into the tour that I will most likely lead next February. It will be similar to the tour last year and will be open to anyone, not just "healers". The way that I am currently envisioning it is that we will have a healing exchange - we will learn from the indigenous healers of Oaxaca. Traditions such as limpias, herbs including hiking and identifying herbs and making products. We will have a temazcal, a traditional sweatlodge. And we will visit some of the communities and do servicework. This will depend on who is in our traveling community - the healers can do healing work - acupuncture, massage, tuning forks, etc. musicians could play music. Others could help in the community gardens. Sharing our knowledge and skills with each other everyone can benefit, grow and make new relationships. 


The plan is evolving and I hope to have it in place by June. If anyone who is reading this is interested, please email me and I will put you on a list to keep you informed. 


I will post on here when Rico puts videos on youtube and I will also give other follow up information so check back on here occasionally. 


Thank you for your support of this project! It has already changed and improved many people's lives!

Charco Redondo

CHARCO REDONDO

The last of the visits to the promotores. It was perfect that it was in Charco Redondo where a year before, after a community clinic with a group I had made the internal promise to come back and teach. Charco Redondo is home to a group of people who are descendants from Africans. Their community has been extremely marginalized. We learned this time that the community had been across the road but the government decided to put in a reservoir and move the community. Everyone was given plots of land but the money promised to rebuild never came through. They have had very limited access to health care. They have received lots of broken promises so when CECIPROC came to work with them there was a lot of mistrust. CECIPROC followed through with projects of the eco-toilets, gardens and teaching about nutrition and gained their trust. It was why we were able to go there last year and why I felt it so important to follow up and give them what they asked us for last year, the opportunity to have more auricular acupuncture clinics.

We arrived by collectivo. The very old truck had a tarp over it and we sat on wood sideboards. It felt very adventurous.

We arrived to Lucy's home – an open air kitchen with a thatched roof and adobe stove. A clinic where I watched a baby chick walk through the legs of someone receiving a treatment. In the shade of the building next to us a woman played with the children of those receiving sessions. They were using the crayons that I gave to Lucy for just this reason. People relaxed and enjoyed the session.

For me, the best part was what came after. The group stayed and talked for a long time. One outspoken woman complained about her gastritis and how she went to a doctor and he gave her medications without even giving her an exam. She had side effects from the medications and things are the same or worse. It brought up the conversation of how bad the doctors are (although they keep going and there are no longer midwives in the pueblo because everyone goes to the hospital). Someone gave the example of a home remedy for very swollen knees – fill a pot with 2 liters of water and potatoes. When it boils down to 1 liter, drink the water. It might take a few days to work and it will bring down the swelling. They shared with each other more remedies of local herbs. For the gastritis she had been given some bottles of aloe vera juice that was very expensive. We talked about making it herself since aloe grows there, all she needs is a blender which she has.

One woman asked me about her migraines. I have a favorite point on the top of the foot that is very effective for headaches. I showed it to her and how to use pressure. Another young woman asked about the point so I had the first woman become “la doctura” and show her where it is. Then they switched. It increased my desire to return and teach self-help acupressure that everyone can use for basic issues. I showed everyone a method of pain relief with acupressure. This is all information that I share annually at Culture Jam, the teen summer camp that I volunteer at. It is so easy to learn and annually I have had reports back of success stories from the teens using it. In one day with the promotores we could cover a lot of information.

Rico and I stayed for a simple lunch of beans and tortillas. It was so serene there that it was hard to leave.

Monte Oscuro y Cacalote

Backtracking to Sunday, one of the best days of this journey. We had stayed in Rio Grande, which is a tiny truckstop of a town. People get around by moto-taxi's, or for those who have traveled in the east, tuk-tuks. They are three wheeled taxis, cute and loud. I look at them and wonder why they aren't electric. We took one to breakfast and watched the world or Rio Grande go by on a Sunday morning with very loud recorded announcements competing with each other over microphones.

Our first pueblo was Monte Oscuro. Located about 40 minutes down dirt roads it is absolutely beautiful. We asked people when we entered about where Sara lives and they kept responding “el otro lado”, the other side, The other side meant crossing a creek and our taxi barely made it. There is a beautiful walking bridge for the majority of the year when there is too much water to cross it in a vehicle.

Sara's place had kids running around, teenage girls doing laundry by hand on a rock, and mounds of corn husks ready to be filled with masa and tamale makings.

She had not practiced much nor had she set up a clinic for the day. This was not surprising to me, she is a little shy. She also informed us that being Sunday, many people were at the big river or ocean. She left us for a while and we heard a conch shell call. Two different calls. The kids told us that meant a meeting was being called...so now there was going to be a clinic.

It went well and people asked for more. I will be curious to see what happens with her. Some of the other promotores I had already given extra needles to since it would be difficult for them to reach Lauro and re-stock. I know that she will have access to him so I didn't want to leave her with a lot of supplies that wouldn't get used. And...now that people know about it and had good responses, they will be asking her so maybe she will continue to practice. Vamos a ver...we will see.

CACALOTE & ROCA BLANCA

We had a few hours until we were to meet the next promotore, Judith, so we went to the beach for lunch. Wow – it is a paradise there! Thatched palapas serving fresh seafood, small beach with gentle waves and bright blue water, a few surfers and not many others in the small cove. Lunch and a hammock for siesta.

Meeting with Judith was great. There was a general meeting for the parents in the pueblo so not many people came to her clinic but I was not concerned. She already had practice clinics with 6 and 11 people and she was confident. She is a strong woman, she has volunteered with community health since she was a teen, she has an internet computer business, is the first female secretary for the pueblo and is one of the volunteers for the turtle project. All this and not yet thirty years old.

After checking her acupuncture points and treating some of the people who came, she included me in the group treatment. I had almost forgotten how wonderful it is to receive one! I had been exhausted from not sleeping well for many nights and that night I slept 9 hours.

One of the women spoke about her experience with receiving acupuncture from Judith. We have it on video. She is menopausal and was experiencing extreme emotional issues due to hormone imbalance. Sadness, depression, anxiety, feelings of overwhelm. After the two sessions with Judith she feels in control of her life and emotions again. She cried as she shared this with us, she is so grateful to be able to function in the world again. 

After the clinic Judith took us to where they have their turtle project. Dogs, racoons and humans eat the turtle eggs that are laid on the beach. Out of 20,000 eggs laid only about 100 survive in good conditions. For the past year the pueblo goes out at night to gather the eggs and bring them to a protected area. When the turtles are about a month old they are released back into the ocean. We got to release 6 of these baby turtles, putting them into the sand about 30 feet from the ocean. They make their way into the ocean and have the experience of moving from the beach to the ocean so they will know where to come back to later to lay their eggs. It was exciting to watch them make their way to the water...finally make it in then get pushed back onto the beach by the wave. Eventually all 6 disappeared to the new lives off of land.

We went to dinner with Judith and learned more about her story, how it is to be a strong, independent woman in a traditional coastal culture. She is already making an impact in her community. If (and likely when) there is a disaster on the coast I am confident that she will be helping many people and the community acupuncture clinics will be one of the tools that will help them.

We gave Mario, Judith's cousin who was our taxi driver back to Rio Grande, much of the fruit that we were given in Palma Sola - the bananas, plantains, green mangos and tostadas.The next morning we would be moving to the next place and couldn't carry everything with us.

Catching Up - Sierra Norte and Palma Sola

THE COAST

We arrived to the coast today – north of Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca. We were immediately hit by the heat – hot and humid here. And beautiful to see the blue ocean and tropical foliage. Green and lush close to the coast and dry in the mountains next to it. Our base for a few days is Rio Grande which is a small town on the road up and down the coast...Oaxaca's version of Hwy 101 in California.

This afternoon we went to the pueblo of Palma Sola, the pueblo where the promotora Lucia lives. We took a collectivo van north and then a taxi down a dirt/sand road to the pueblo crossing a dry riverbed. It was beautiful and tranquil there. Luz, Lucia's daughter was waiting for us when we arrived and took us to her home where there was a group outside waiting for us sitting in plastic chairs in a circle. It is rustic there, animals in the yard, chickens running loose and pigs tethered nearby. Stick fences encircle green areas of garden, or a tree that needs to be protected from the grazing animals.

We were welcomed and asked if we wanted some aqua. Thinking that she meant water we accepted and then remembered that agua is also the word for a fruit drink so we waited while she prepared one with hibiscus. A few more people arrived and we began.

During the introduction Lucia talked about her daughter Luz. Luz is 9 years old and is very small for her age. She was born two months early and weighed 3+ pounds. She had struggled a lot in school and could not learn how to read. She would get very angry about it and had a lot of resistance to learning and to school. She has been held back twice and is still in the second grade. She wants to be a doctor and Lucia would ask her how she will become a Dr if she can't read or write. Lucia is 50 years old and is going to school full time for basic literacy skills.

After Lucia came back from the workshop she gave Luz a treatment with needles. After the treatment Luz could understand the letters and was inspired and started learning. Two and a half weeks later Luz can do her ABC's and is beginning to read. He teacher says that if she continues like this they will not have to hold her back again. She showed us by sounding out the words on her mother's certificate:
"Aaa-cuuu-punnn-tuuurre"

Luz has a special energy about her. She feels like a healer already. She is very bright, kind and was helpful during the clinic. She received a session during the group treatments – she loves the acupuncture since she got such a profound result. She has made this whole project worth it for me.

The rest of the clinic went very well, 12 or 14 received acupuncture and others, adults and children received pressure seeds. We shared that this was a free clinic today but in the future they can give a donation to Lucia to help cover her costs. I'll continue to supply the needles but she will pay for the other supplies. A few people dropped of 10 pesos (about 75 cents) and are interested in coming back and bringing others. While the treatment was happening it reached that beautiful space of tranquility. There were outside sounds from the chickens, birds, pigs, children playing, the occasional truck going by, the cowboys on horses, while the energy in the circle remained peaceful.

SIERRA NORTE

It was so different from the last clinic in the Sierra Norte in the Mixe region last week. I didn't write about that for various reasons. One was that I so ill from the drive. It could have been from the windy roads. It could have been from taking dramamine for those roads. It could also have been from the altitude of the pueblo. The dizziness and nausea lasted through much of the week. I also didn't write because I had to process internally how I felt about that clinic. Two young women from the pueblo, 16 & 17 years old, had been sent by the head of the women's group to take the workshop. They were shy during the workshop, one more than the other. They had practiced a little since the workshop but this was their first time doing a group. There was a large group of women there. Many of the women did not want to receive a treatment due to their christian religious beliefs (I don't recall which branch of christianity, one of the one's that refuses any sort of medicine). They seemed to resent being asked to be quiet while others were receiving treatments and left with what I perceived as an attitude. The communication was all in their indigenous language Mixe so I missed a lot of details. The young women did a good job but it did not seem to be a comfortable setting for them. I doubt that they will do many clinics like this. What I hope is that they continue to practice with family and friends and that they will keep up these skills and use them when needed. It made me question bringing this style of healing into this culture. It is an Asian value to be quiet and inward. In these pueblos they tend to be talkative and loud. Do people really need to go inward or quiet? Ultimately in the session there it was mostly the elders of the community who received the treatments and they seemed to relax into it. I am curious to hear later how it goes there and what the response actually will be.

This Sierra Norte pueblo was in a beautiful setting – it was like Oregon. It was up in the clouds with trees and ferns. Next to the basketball court where we treated the women, men picked coffee and avocados. There was a small market of 3 people selling vegetables and kitchen goods from folding tables. While the treatments were finishing up, a delivery truck arrived and many people came out to unload it and carry the 50 pound bags of something. It was interesting seeing how people there work together and I am curious about life in a remote Mixe pueblo.

I left the pueblo with lots of questions. Today at the coast was a different story. We were given presents before we left today – a bag of mangoes, of two types of bananas, and tostadas made with chervil, a green herb. We were give the present of an amazing testimonial. Of a community that made us feel welcome. And, for me, the present of feeling that what we are doing can help a small village become healthier in ways that we can't even imagine.