Rosa's Story - Coady International Institute - St. Francis Xavier ...

Jambi Kiwa was beginning to attract support for its social vision as well. The new
partnership included funds to expand the School of Andean Medicine. Now it could
provide further training to traditional healers and midwives and implement medicinal
garden projects in a number of indigenous schools.
[In addition to medicinal plant production], our goal is to increase people’s self worth
to such a level that our healers can talk as equals with doctors…In Jambi Kiwa we
prioritize the participation of indigenous campesinos and women. We try to generate
employment for these groups (R. Guamán, personal communication, October 14,
2004).
In keeping with this goal of increasing the self worth of members, gender equality
programs were implemented, with particular emphasis on women’s literacy and
addressing family violence. The impetus for this came from the personal experiences
of many of the women of Jambi Kiwa (see Figure 1).
The association further strengthened its literacy efforts by convincing the Ministry
of Education in Chimborazo to give stipends to eight Jambi Kiwa members to carry
out literacy training with women’s groups. This program was advantageous for
Jambi Kiwa as it financially supported the women trainers who were, in turn, providing
training to women’s groups in the cultivation and use of medicinal plants.
Jambi Kiwa also became an attractive placement for a wide range of volunteers.
Volunteer placements at Jambi Kiwa took one of five forms. More experienced
cooperants from CECI were given one or two year placements. Young professionals
were offered internships from three to eight months in duration by Andre
Larendeau CGEP, Silva Forest Foundation, CSI and Trent University. Unaffiliated
individuals approached Jambi Kiwa for an opportunity to volunteer in various capacities,
depending on their skills. Formal or informal groups of volunteers, from Utahbased
VIDA, offered labour for one or more weeks at a time. Finally, groups of
Ecuadorian university students arrived from the University of Chimborazo
(Business Administration) and Chimborazo Polytechnical University (Industrial Food
Production and Agriculture) to study Jambi Kiwa.
Buoyed by the interest that external organizations were showing, Jambi Kiwa
began to look for new partnership opportunities. In May 2002, Jambi Kiwa members
participated in a workshop in Guayaquil with the Corporación de Promoción
de Exportaciones e Inversiones (CORPEI), attended by a number of Ecuadorian
medicinal and aromatic plant producer organizations. (CORPEI is a national parastatal
organization formed to promote the development of export markets for nontraditional
exports). After the workshop, Jambi Kiwa emerged as a lead member of
the Red de Productores de Plantas Medicinales Mashi Numi (RPPMMN), a nas-
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