Holistic Medicine: Acupuncture, and Physiotherapy in Rural Guatemala
In 2023, The Garden’s Edge Health and Wholeness Program took an interesting turn. We began offering alternative medicine to community members in the rural Maya Achi villages outside of Rabinal. This unique collaboration came about when Aurelia Xitumul, an experienced naturopath, met Daniel Chen, a young physiotherapist just beginning his practice in Rabinal.
Collaborative learning in the field of holistic medicine.
Aurelia, is a naturopath, from the village of Chiac, and long-time collaborator with The Garden’s Edge. Through a series of Creative Solutions grants, Aurelia started her own business called B´IXAL´ Ya (Song of the Water) where she attends patients in her home-clinic and apothecary. Aurelia provides acupuncture, cupping, and therapeutic massage with essential oils, teas, tinctures and salves that she elaborates with plants from her garden. After years of hard work, she recently hired her first employee. Aurelia has dedicated her life’s work to the preservation and practice of traditional medicine.
Daniel Chen is from the village of Guachipilin. He recently earned his bachelor’s degree in physiotherapy. Through a series of Creative Solutions Grants he has equipped a small clinic in Rabinal where he attends patients. From a very young age, Daniel recognized his calling to help people heal with his hands. It’s unusual to meet someone his age (26) with such a clear gift and dedication to helping people heal.
Twice a week, Daniel and Aurelia travel to rural communities where together they provide group consultations, offering acupuncture, therapeutic massage, and meditation. We focus on education and prevention, diagnosis, and treatment (when possible), with alternative therapies and natural medicine, attending patients in their native language.
Stress and worry leads to chronic pain and there are many stressors in rural communities.
Climate change impacts people’s mental and physical health and extreme weather events contribute to economic instability. When people lose their harvest, due to floods or droughts, or when storms damage their crops or homes, they experience financial hardship and are more likely to get sick because their immune system is weakened. Sadly, the public health system doesn’t meet the needs of many Guatemalans. When patients go there, they are diagnosed and given prescriptions for expensive medications that they can’t afford. When people can’t afford the medication they stop taking them leading to more complicated health issues. For people in rural areas, sometimes it is hard to have the proper education and financial resources to take their medication consistently as prescribed. Many times people’s health slowly deteriorates due to something as simple as high cholesterol or a buildup of uric acid, causing inflammation of the joints.
Because these services are ineffective and unattainable, people are very grateful for our Community Health Visits and there is a great need for repeat visits to these communities for follow-up sessions.
We treat common health problems such as stress, anxiety, depression, headaches and physical pain. Many community members do not understand how illnesses such as hypertension, diabetes, respiratory infections, if left untreated, affect their bodies. Other patients have injuries and need rehabilitation. Through physiotherapy, they are provided with an exercise routine to relieve pain in different parts of the body and correct bad habits, such as poor posture and diet, thus avoiding long-term physical damage.
During these community health visits we also offer acupuncture, therapeutic massages, meditation and education on diet and the use of natural medicine. People pay a small fee for these services and this helps to cover our transportation and meal costs while we work in the villages. Over the past year we have expanded our coverage to include a total of eight communities, rotating between them with two community health visits per week. Daniel has helped many people affected by illness, injury and disability through movement and exercise.
The collaboration between Daniel and Aurelia has enhanced their knowledge of the body, and how to treat a wide variety of physical and emotional pain. Although the demand for these holistic health services is more than we can supply, it’s important to us to provide follow up visits with many of our patients.
We would love your support to continue this essential program next year. Donate here!