I can not believe how much they learned today and how well they did! Yesterday morning most of this group did not know what acupuncture is, today they were needling each other and tomorrow they will have two public community clinics.
Most of them have the point locations down. Some need to work more on technique which will come with practice...this was the first day. Confidence will help a lot and they will likely gain a lot of that tomorrow.
We heard some more stories today about their pueblos and the needs of the people. We discussed if they can charge for the treatments and the response was yes, they will have some overhead of things like cottonballs, alcohol, and other incidentals. We/I will continue to provide needles and I have different ideas of how they can get here. The arrangement is that they will fill out a very basic form listing the numbers of people who they treat on a given day. The form is separated into needles or seeds for pressure points (mostly used for children). Initially everyone is given 1,000 needles which is 100 treatments. When they fill out the form they will get it to Laurencio who will hold the extra needles and he will give them more. Some are planning on doing larger community clinics and will quickly run through needles. Others will use this technique more as an adjunct to what they already do and will not use them as much.
One of the participants shared about her situation. She is a curandera, a healer. She does massage, herbs, energy cleanings, etc. Her "clients" pay her in beans, vegetables, whatever they can offer to her. I asked if young people are interested in learning from her and she said no, they're just interested in making money. 1 1/2 years ago hundreds in her pueblo lost their homes to landslides after a season of excessive rain (and deforestation). Her son and grandchildren were one of the families. The government will help them build, but they will relocate them. Relocating these families will have an impact on the structure of the pueblos.
Another participant is going to a 3 year school for literacy. She works hard and pays a lot, 40 pesos each day, for transportation ($3.25). She would like to offer clinics to her community when she is not in school on the weekends. They used to grow limes in her area but the trees became diseased and they are no longer able to. People are struggling to eat.
Rico will interview and film more of them tomorrow. I will upload photos soon. They are working so hard in the class! One of the women was brought to tears tonight as she thanked us.
Some already want to learn more than the 5 point protocol, they want to do all they can. We have explained how acupuncture school is 4 years, they are getting great information and a technique that will go far in helping their people. We are not able to teach them diagnostic skills in a 4 day workshop. This technique is very powerful and simple, a great combination. And...it looks like I will be back not only for follow-up support but also to teach some more. I don't know now how it will look. What I do see is how far our support goes. How these donations that people have sent go far in helping (and I will ask for more eventually to keep them supplied - www.tinyurl.com/oaxaca2012 if anyone is interested in continuing to support this project).
In Gratitude
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