Mexico & the Caribbean

Mexico

Ciudad Juarez

Workshop for grassroots healers, Mexico

In May, 2001, the first bi-national workshops were offered for the Ciudad Juarez/El Paso, Texas area. In 2003 a year-long series of Capacitar trainings for border health promoters and people doing community outreach was sponsored by Imelda Garcìa, Director of Bienestar Familiar, the Cancer Consortium, and Candlelighters in El Paso, Texas. Participants have used Capacitar practices in their outreach with youth, children, prisoners, women and families, and people with HIV/AIDS. In 2006 a manual for Living in Wellness with Cancer was developed. The in depth training for 2009 is coordinated by Maureen Jerkowski, SSSF, Director of Centro Mujeres Esperanza.  The training will involve participants from El Paso, Juarez, and New Mexico. 

For information and dates: Maureen Jerkowski matj7@sbcglobal.net.

Nogales

A bi-national Capacitar training was sponsored in February, 2003, by Borderlinks of Tucson, Arizona and Casa Misericordia of Nogales, Mexico. Sixty women and men health promoters and community outreach workers from both sides of the US and Mexican borders participated.

Tijuana

In 2000 Capacitar offered workshops to grassroots leaders and health promoters working with border communities. A bi-lingual training in Multicultural Wellness Education was offered in the San Diego/Tijuana area in 2001-2002 for grassroots health promoters. Ongoing workshops have been offered in Tijuana and border communities by the Capacitar San Diego Border team.

For information contact: Natalia Hernández: natahliah@yahoo.com

Chiapas

Capacitar workshops have been offered since 1996 in Palenque and surrounding communities sponsored by the Franciscan Sisters. From 1999-2002 SIPAZ, an international team working for peace and nonviolence in Chiapas, coordinated Trauma Healing and Transformation trainings in San Cristobal de las Casas for Mayan leaders and grassroots leaders of human rights. A Capacitar-Chiapas team, CAPAZ, was formed with local people to offer ongoing workshops for grassroots people in the communities. 

For information on workshops contact: Mary Litell OSF  marylitell@gmail.com.

Tabasco
Capacitar offered workshops in 1999 in Villa Hermosa and Vernet, for grassroots healers and persons working in nonviolence and human rights, sponsored by SERPAJ, Service for Peace and Justice.

The Caribbean

Belize

Tai Chi in Belize

The first Capacitar workshops for Belizian women's groups in Belize City and for Salvadoran and Guatemalan refugees in Belmopan were sponsored by the Mercy Sisters and Guadalupe Spirituality Center in 1999. In 2000 workshops were offered in Dangriga, Belize City and Belmopan, funded by the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth, for grassroots women, union government workers, policewomen, educators, religious, psychologists and social workers. In 2001 and 2002 team trainings were offered in different parts of the country in collaboration with the Belizian Women's Commission, and Guadalupe Spirituality Center. Presentations were also given in Ambergris Caye at the 14th Annual Congress of CARAIFA for participants from 15 countries representing Caribbean insurance companies. In 2003-2004 trainings in Capacitar practices and leadership skills were coordinated by Denise Sausville, RSM and Joan Condon, in collaboration with Bernadette Reneau and Novencia Diego.  Sylvia Flores will continue to offered Capacitar workshops at her spirituality center in Dangriga. 

For information: Sylvia Flores sylshar@btl.net.

Dominican Republic

Capacitar workshops in the Dominican Republic were offered during February 2002, with five rural communities in La Enea, Higuey under the coordination of Mariselva Garcìa Reyes and the women's committee of "Nuestra Señora de la Altagracia" of Sacred Heart Parish. Workshops addressed the needs of women and families living with domestic violence, the trauma of recent natural disasters, and the trauma of past political violence, as well as the challenges of rural people living with poverty.

Workshop in Thiotte, Haiti

Haiti

Capacitar offered the first workshops in Haiti in February 2003, in collaboration with the Haiti Medical Mission of Wisconsin led by Maureen Murphy-Greenwood, MD. Partnering with a team of Wisconsin doctors and medical professionals who regularly give volunteer service at a rural clinic in Thiotte, Haiti, Pat Cane, with translator Daniel Massillon, led wellness workshops for Haitians waiting to see the doctors for surgery, medical and dental care and medicine. The Thiotte clinic serves the area's 25,000 people who would not otherwise have medical or dental care. Local health promoters in Thiotte will also be trained for ongoing outreach to rural communities.

With Daniel Massillon, Pat Cane wrote and published a Haitian Creole manual of Capacitar basic practices. Kathy Dakter represented Capacitar in Thiotte, Haiti in January 2004, and led wellness workshops along with the medical team. For more information about the Haitian Creole Manual contact program@capacitar.org.