Tia Foundation

Hesperian Foundation: Invaluable Field Partner

The Spanish version of this book, “Where There Is No Doctor” (Donde No Hay Doctor) is given to each of Tia’s Promotores upon graduation. The Hesperian Foundation developed the contents in the 1970s in the mountains of Mexico and now publishes this lifesaving guide in over 80 languages. A practical health ‘bible’, educational tool and resource for our health workers, we cannot sing the praises of this book or our invaluable field partner, Hesperian. We are grateful that they make this straightforward and accessible book very, very affordable for nonprofits, Peace Corp Workers, volunteers, and missionaries. Thank you Hesperian!

Big Thanks to Yesenia and Ynoscabel

Yesenia Monroy Chavez (left) and Ynoscabel Reyes Hernandez (center) were absolutely instrumental in the success of our last project in Cuautitlan de Garcia Barragan. Both work for the local government and acted as liaisons with each department. They assisted us with finding a location for our courses to take place and searching for a great caterer for our brigade and Promotores. Since both these remarkable people come from the Nahuatl community, they guided us through the various villages and helped us recruit the best, most motivated Promotores to serve their people. Yesenia and Ynoscabel went far beyond their job descriptions to make our project sustainable. Thank you both from all of us at Tia!

Meet Tia’s 23 Newest Graduates

We are extremely proud of this recent group of graduates! More than half lived so far away that they had to spend the week in dormitories In Cuautitlan, away from their families, in order to attend the full course. ALL of them passed their final examinations, but Paty Barreto (top row, second from the right) actually scored 100% on the tough exam! Her little daughter was on hand to witness her mother’s proud accomplishment. Congratulations to these hard working group! There are now 280 Tia Promotores serving about 110,000 people.

Cuautitlan, here we come!

This week we are launching a project in the Nahuatl villages in the municipality of Cuautitlan de Garcia Barragan. During our last visit, we snapped this shot of a mother and her daughter in one of these villages. We hope to train 20-30 new Promotoras here who will each serve up to 500 people. The indigenous people live in the high country, making it difficult to get access to health care and other important resources to them. Roads are difficult and treacherous.and bridges are often too narrow for an ambulance to pass. Our brigade from UAG’s Programa de Medicina en la Comunidad leaves before the sun rises Monday morning.

Help Us Bring Healthcare to the Huicholes

The Huichol indigenous people of Mexico are famous for their art, like this intricately beaded jaguar head. The Huicholes live deep inside the mountains of West Central Mexico, in the States of Jalisco, Zacatecas and Nayarit. In fact, their villages are at least an 18 hour drive from Guadalajara and the road is only passable outside of the rainy season. As a result, healthcare is difficult to access. Laura, Tia’s founder has been approached by Huichol leaders because they would like to have Tia Promotores Project in their villages implemented in fall of 2015.

During our trip in August, Laura met with Huicholes who had come to Guadalajara to sell their lovely art. Among them were children, some with permanent learning and health disabilities due to inadequate prenatal care and lack of nutrition during infancy. If you would like to help Tia bring our program to the Huichol people, please click on the Donate Now button on the right side of our home page.