It's been a busy couple of days...and exhasting as we recovered from the weekend and workshop. Or maybe for me it was the mezcal at our celebration dinner on Monday night...
Monday flew by with the final clinics. We didn't have the numbers of people show up for the clinics as we had hoped for but it was enough that everyone got to practice on a few people. We really encouraged them to begin to practice immediately as soon as the return home to keep it fresh. They were so enthusiastic during these practice sessions. They showed confidence and that was the goal of the workshop - that they would be confident with the 5-needle auricular acupuncture technique.
We held graduation after lunch before the younger women left. We had certificates for everyone. That is a big deal for them. They shared that this will give them credibility that they might ot otherwise have. It shows that they studied in the workshop, that it is aligned with CECIPROC, it is signed by the two teachers, one with an obviously foreign name, and it looks very official. The graduation was beautiful. Everyone will also have photos holding the certificates with the two teachers. Some had very strong emotional reactions. Life is difficult where they live and this is a way they can help their communities.
Rico did individual video interviews with everyone. He asked how/why they came to the workshop, what did they think of the workshop, what is their life in the pueblo - what do they do, how are they going to use what they learned in their communities? This will be part of the videos that he will make for this project - short and long. The director of Ceciproc's parent organization in Mexico City had doubts about this program, the video will be great for showing him what happened. This video will be made in English and Spanish and will hopefully help Ceciproc as well with their fundraising. Laurancio's dream right now is to build a teaching center on the coast where many of the promotores live. He wants to have a building, dorms, kitchens, everything that they will need. As it is now, they have a palapa where they teach sometimes and then people go home to their families and are often very distracted. He needs about $75,000 to build everything, they already have the land. He dreams of it being a place where many workshops can be offered. It is what I believe in and why I did this workshop - Teaching has the biggest impact, the numbers of people who benefit are exponential and they are not reliant on outsiders to help.
The agreement that we made is that for one year I will continue to provide supplies for them to practice and then we will re-evaluate. I think that there will be different levels of practice, some will have ongoing busy clinics. Others may integrate it into what they already do. There might be some who are excited now but will put the needles on the shelf and occasionally think about it. Everyone has 1000 needles plus pressure seeds that they took home. They will keep a record of their treatments and when they use up their supplies they will give the record to Laurencio who will give them more needles. I will keep him supplied with the needles.
Follow-up support is crucial in this project! It was the one thing that the parent organization wanted to be sure happened. In a couple of weeks Rico and I will travel to the different pueblos. I will observe their practice and give them whatever support that they need. I'll also have needles with me to replenish their supplies. Only a couple of them have internet access to ask me questions about issues that come up once they're practicing. Again, Laurencio will be the middle-man for that when I return to the states, they can call him (those who have phones) and he will email me.
The next 10 days to two weeks for me is about immersing in Spanish. I will stay in the city, go to school and study. We will meet soon with Laurencio and plan how we can get around to the different pueblos. We might rent a car or find someone who has a car and can drive so we can go to a couple of pueblos at a time and be efficient about it. The pueblos in the Sierra Norte are in mountainous areas and long distances from each other. I would like to get to everyone if possible. Then will be the trip to the coast. It is much easier to get around there, we can get to the coast in a collectivo van and take buses anywhere we want to go.
I'll write later about the ideas about the longer term support for them.
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