Pandemic Times
2020-2021
WE CONTINUE TO SUPPORT OUR STUDENTS DIGITALLY
Goal
To stay in touch with our students and offer support
Objectives
To hold regular zoom sessions during which we could offer support, advise and more than anything, let them know they were not isolated and alone. To offer a series of online classes on topics of interest.
Results
The COVID-19 Pandemic struck hard in the rural areas where our students live. Few resources, little information, isolation, fear. If we were having a hard time, our students’ experiences were ten times harder. We communicated with them using zoom digital platform. The first time we could see each other, and talk was heart breaking. The stories of death and suffering saddened us, but the compassion that our students had for their fellow affected neighbors and family were also uplifting. In Guatemala the economy, and life for that matter, had come to a stop. Hospitals were overwhelmed and non-functioning therefore, our students started playing the role of local healers. People started turning to them for help not trusting the conflictive information that was out there regarding the virus and the modern medical treatments. Our students from Bolivia and Mexico told us of similar stories, they had also become trusted local healers and helped neighbors using their ancient medicine modalities. We combined all our Spanish speaking students in those calls and introduced each other. We are creating a true international community of healers, health care promoters. We alternated calls of support with calls during which we addressed a topic of interest and taught about it. We had two of our wonderful volunteers, Nutritionist Marcela Lucena and Reflexologist Lizette Rojas each teach classes on Female Hormones and Reflexology. The students were delighted with the well-presented and full of information classes. We followed up those classes with questions and case studies. Our students also gave presentations on what they had done to take care of family and neighbors. Don Elias from Concepcion, Bolivia gave a magnificent talk and showed us the herbs he had been using to combat and prevent the virus. It was truly inspiring. One topic to which we dedicated a few classes was Compassion Fatigue on the Caregiver or Burn out. They all could identify with that. We had an expert in the field, Dr Laurie Nadel, give a great practical presentation on the subject, and we followed up with other classes on self care techniques from our Chinese medicine tradition. These days, while we still use Whatsapp to answer questions and stay in touch, we also have planned zoom gatherings to continue the support and camaraderie.