Vol. 8, No. 2 Summer 2000

Building Stronger Communities in Oaxaca, Mexico through Agriculture and Health Care

Isidra Pacheo Aparicio is part of the CEPCO network. See larger picture; high resolution.

The population of the state of Oaxaca, Mexico consists largely of very poor indigenous communities who earn their income through small-scale coffee growing. Since the coffee market fluctuates, it is important for farmers to diversify.

Through Grassroots International, UMCOR supports CEPCO, the network of coffee producers in Oaxaca. CEPCO experiments with new cash and food crops and different methods of raising livestock, trains women in food cultivation and animal husbandry, provides seedlings and livestock to women's projects throughout the countryside, and generates income through the sale of food and animals.

Women's health care is also a profound concern. The public health system has deteriorated throughout Mexico–especially in Oaxaca. CEPCO health promoters provide care and education in local communities, but when women need more extensive care, it is no longer available. Clinics offer only the most basic services: prenatal care, care for uncomplicated births, pap smears and family planning. Sexually transmitted diseases, complicated pregnancies, genital cancer and pelvic infections have been deemed "nonessential" health issues.

CEPCO has established health committees in 14 communities to teach basic health care and nutrition and provide education about more serious health problems affecting women. As their knowledge increases, women become advocates for their own health needs, demanding their right to health care.

Participants testify to the value of this project:

"I've joined with an organization of women so my girls do not have to feel the suffering I have felt– to create some change." –Lucia Garcia, from the village of Yosonicaje

"When I used to go to the clinic, I would say I have a pain and they would just give me aspirin. You can't just treat the symptoms, you have to treat the problem. That is what we are doing." –Amada Lopez Lopez, from the village of Miramar

"We feel the pain from working hard and we deserve complete physicals. In order to get care you need to go to a private doctor, but you can't go when you don't have the money. Through the project we force the clinics to meet our needs. Women from three or four communities get together and demand better services." –-Isidra Pacheco Aparicio, from the village of Yosonicaje

How You Can Participate

You can help the indigenous communities of Oaxaca build a better life by giving to UMCOR's "Crop Diversification and Community Health, Oaxaca, Mexico," Advance #523415-5.

Another way to help is to participate in the UMCOR Coffee Program.

Checks may be placed in United Methodist church offering plates or sent directly to UMCOR at 475 Riverside Drive, Room 330, New York, N.Y. 10115. Call (800) 554-8583 to make a credit card donation.