Friday, November 25, 2011

Join us in raising $2,000 for Salud Sin Límites during our Season for Solidarity!

Season's greetings!


GlobeMed and Salud Sin Límites have so much to be thankful for.  Thanks to our donors, last year GlobeMed at Duke raised a grand total of $4,500 for our community garden project with our partner, Salud Sin Límites. The garden now provides one hundred and twenty families in the rural village of Las Quebradas with fresh produce, providing vital nutrients that were absent from their staple meals of beans and rice before. 


Celebrating the holidays in Siuna


It’s summer in Nicaragua. The rivers are slowly shrinking in the dry season, and the majority of Siuna’s 89,661 inhabitants are beginning to celebrate Las navidades, ChristmasYamileth will soon be taking the long bus ride to Managua to buy merchandise for the small store she owns and manages, in addition to preparing Sunday school events for her church and caring for her three children, ages 3 to 13. Because her husband, Juan, has a good-paying job as project manager of Salud Sin Límites, she will be able to balance these needs while keeping her family healthy and happy through the holiday season.


Salud Sin Límites and the route to access justice for Nicaraguan women


But not every woman in la RAAN (the North Atlantic Autonomous Region) has the blessings that Yamileth does. Domestic abuse has become a growing concern in this very rural, very poor community; the 64 domestic violence cases last year far exceeded the number of other reported offenses, despite the great lengths that women must go to file their complaint. It may be a day’s journey—walking, on horseback, or by bus—and a life’s savings that are the cost. When a case is filed, the victim must then find a place to stay; she might be lucky and have her story told to a generous family, like Yamileth and Juan, who will take her in for the night; she might choose to sleep in the police station hall; or she might simply turn around and begin the long trip back to the home of her aggressor, going the opposite direction down “the route to access justice for women.” Last year, 3 women died after making this decision.


When GlobeMed came to Siuna for our first Grassroots On-site Work (GROW) internship last summer, we asked Juan which project would best fit our partnership in the coming year, Juan identified the community need for a shelter for victims of domestic violence because local policymakers would not allocate funds for the cause. GlobeMed decided to commit to the cause and raise the $40,000 needed to save these women.


What we can do to help


This winter, GlobeMed is challenging itself—in the 31 days from Thanksgiving Day till Christmas Eve, our goal is to raise $2,000 for the women's shelter project. $20 can cover the price of a bed for the shelter. $100 can furnish a whole room. $250 can pay for a water filtration system to sanitize the polluted local water. $500 can provide a fence to enclose and protect the shelter. Check our online fundraising site, follow us on Facebook and Twitter @GlobeMedatDuke, or read our blog and watch us take on this holiday challenge! We appreciate all of your support—as always, every little bit means the world for Siuna. 




Wishing you the best through the holidays,


from Salud Sin Límites and GlobeMed at Duke