 Bridge to Community Health
Improving the health of rural communities in Oaxaca, Mexico
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Sad News from the Field  During my last visit to San Miguel Peras, a small mountainous community southwest of Oaxaca City, the town doctor told us that he was very worried. He had just witnessed the deaths of two children under the age of five. They both died of dehydration as a result of diarrhea.
During the hottest part of the year, the risk of diarrhea is at its peak. Malnourished children are in the most danger because diarrhea weakens their already vulnerable immune systems, making it even more difficult to properly recover.
I immediately thought, "What can Puente do?" My co-worker and I saw that this community urgently needed information about the treatment and prevention of diarrhea. We decided that Puente would combine forces with the Community Health Center to work with mothers, specifically focusing on these topics before another painful death occurred. In giving a workshop dedicated solely to the prevention of diarrhea and the use of amaranth to strengthen malnourished children, I hope that we can help the many children that face similar danger before it is too late.
-Carmen Genis Gomez, Healthy Families Project Coordinator
Director's Note: Diarrhea kills more boys (under five) in Oaxaca than in any other state in Mexico. We have heard numerous testimonials from women that feeding their children amaranth helps them to recover from this serious health risk.
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Evaluation Results Are In! Puente is pleased to report the following summary of activities that took place in rural communities throughout the state of Oaxaca, Mexico in 2006.
- Approximately 2,025 women in 22 villages attended more than 281 nutrition workshops. These workshops included amaranth cooking and planting demonstrations as well as discussions about nutrition.
One of these women, Petra Conde Martínez, from Jalapa del Valle commented, "Because of Puente we've learned many things. Now we know how to cook more than just beans and tortillas."
The table below compares evaluation results over the past three years. As word has spread about amaranth, there has been a consistent increase in the number of women planting and consuming amaranth regularly.
The testimonials below are just a few examples of how women are using amaranth to improve their family's nutrition:
"I give my anemic daughters amaranth and it helps a lot."
- Thomasa Reyes Garcia, Nejapa de Madero
"We've learned from Puente. Before I didn't know how, but now I make amaranth atole every day and my children like it."
- Socorro Garcia Velazco, San Luis del Rio
"My husband likes amaranth tortillas, so I make them every Sunday."
- Margarita Manuel Santiago, Santa Lucia Ocotlan
Women continue to talk to their friends, neighbors, and family members about amaranth. The Expansion Rate graph to the right demonstrates how Puente's work spread to 1,602 people NOT participating in our programs in 2006.
- Some 387 children in eight communities attended 39 workshops about amaranth.
- Volunteers from Amigos de las Americas trained and advised by Puente carried out the following activities:
o Gave 248 workshops about nutrition and/or amaranth
o Planted 221 family amaranth gardens
o Planted four community amaranth gardens
o Carried out 315 amaranth cooking demonstrations
- Puente's staff members carried out nine trainings, teaching 200 health workers, doctors, and nurses to promote amaranth in the villages they serve.
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"Thanks to Puente's in-home cooking class, a malnourished little girl in my village fully recovered by eating amaranth."
–Veronica Hernandez Sanchez, Nurse in the village of Nuevo Zoquiapan (pictured left)
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Puente now has its own MySpace page where we've posted photos and updates on our work. To view Puente's page click here, or if you already have a MySpace page add Puente by clicking on the link below.
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Puente is a registered US 501(c)(3) public charity dedicated to the eradication of malnutrition in rural Mexico.
For more information about Puente's work, e-mail us at info@puentemexico.org. We'd love to hear from you!
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