Last September in Campeche, Mexico, Ka’Kuxtal Much Meyaj and CAN’s alliance, Tumben Kuxtal (New Life), and the Maya communities of Los Chenesinaugurated an integrative health center based in Maya cosmo vision. The Sistema Integral de Salud Maya Jaime Rocha Pech is a collective effort that combines indigenous and western approaches to healthcare.

For more than 10 years, Maya campesino communities of Los Chenes have been building their collective power. Together, they recover native seeds and ancestral knowledge, strengthening their autonomy in their homeland. Since 2019 Tumben Kuxtal has accompanied this effort, facilitating collective dialogues (Encuentros) between women, youth and families about the recuperation and validation of native seeds, including medicinal herbs. Deforestation and contaminated soils and water have cleared areas important for gathering medicinal plants or made them toxic to use. The Jaime Rocha Pech integrative health center is a direct response, reconnecting the community’s spiritual and physical well-being with the well-being of the Maya land.

“The land is like our body, when the land is sick so are we.”

The health center hosts a medicinal garden supported by a network of gardens in over five communities. The gardens are sites where community members recuperate medicinal and nutritional plant uses, healing practices, seed-saving, and intergenerational knowledge exchange. Youth from Ka Kuxtal facilitate workshops for Promotoras de Salud (Community Health Workers). Based on their traditional health expertise the Promotoras bridge general care including midwifery in the community.

Celebrate the collective power of the community of Los Chenes. Donate today!