Healthcare Solidarity Delegation
August 25 to August 29/31, 2022
While this solidarity delegation will have a significant focus on delivering health care, there is a critical need for participants with no healthcare expertise or background. Or click here to read overall description of the healthcare solidarity delegation
Non-healthcare tasks for people with no healthcare expertise:
Action plan: The single most important task of any of our solidarity delegations is collaborating with our partners to create an action plan detailing specific ways we will work in solidarity after the delegation. We will meet with community, regional and organizational leaders to accomplish this.
Documentation of human rights violations: During meetings with indigenous leaders a key goal will often be documenting and denouncing human rights violations. This may include documenting the history of land rights struggles in specific communities, interviews with former political prisoners and people injured in government attacks, profiling human rights defenders and more. This information may be documented for use in lobbying efforts, public education, to support legal court cases, to raise funds and other related uses.
Video editors, documentary and social media creators needed to document delegation: We would like to create video and other presentations showing the work we did during the healthcare delegation and presenting the connections between the high rates of malnutrition and illness in the communities we visit to US foreign policy, militarism and theft of natural resources from indigenous territory. We are also working with immigration activists in the US to create media exposing the connection between repression and forced migration. We do not currently have the technical capacity to support this endeavor so we need your support!
Music and entertainment: Occasionally musicians travel with us during our delegations, and our partner communities have requested that we bring them when possible. If you are a musician, artist or entertainer, please let us know more about your skills and what you could present to communities.
Trainings and workshops: We are inviting experienced people to lead educational workshops with children and/or adults. Our partners are interested in trainings that promote physical and mental health, confidence building, teamwork skills and/or develop other skills.
Solar power setup and repair: Many of our partners in Guatemala have worked on or are interested in solar power initiatives. While this is not a focus of the upcoming delegation, it is something participants can work on if we have enough support.
Healthcare related tasks for people with no healthcare expertise:
Even if you have no training in providing direct care, you can support efforts to provide care during the delegation in many ways if you are interested:
Health assessments: While health assessments will be led by trained healthcare professionals, there are numerous tasks that do not require significant training. For example taking someone’s weight or temperature is a task that can often be taken on by people without healthcare training. Depending on how many participants we have, it may be extremely helpful for non-healthcare professionals to take on such tasks.
Registration and documentation: We will need support in registering people who come to receive health assessments and/or treatment, and want to document our activities. These tasks do not need to be led by trained healthcare professionals.
Interpretation: While we already have multiple English/Spanish interpreters, having additional interpreters will make the health assessments much easier. Additional Spanish/Q’eqchi’ and Spanish/Poqomchi interpreters are also wanted.
Water filtration setup and testing: We will be supporting the distribution and testing of various water filters and filtration systems. People who are not healthcare professionals can still support or lead these efforts.
Manual labor: If you are physically fit and willing, support for simple tasks like lugging around equipment, helping set up tables at the mobile clinics, carrying water and similar manual labor is greatly appreciated!