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Dorothy Granada
Best Practices Award
Maria Luisa Ortiz Cooperative
Good evening. The Cooperative and I are delighted and grateful to receive the Best Practices Award from the Global Health Council. That the Council, this very important and impressive body, believes we are doing the work correctly is an affirmation of priceless value.
We listen to the people we serve with our hearts and minds and try to respond with the correct actions. We believe that health is a human right. We believe that poor women should have control over their bodies and live without violence. Our
work is to accompany these women and, with the best of our combined efforts, to help them achieve their potential as human beings.
Mulukuku, in the northeast of Nicaragua, is the poorest, most isolated and under-served part of the country with the highest number of maternal and infant deaths. Nicaragua itself is the second poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.
The María Luisa Ortiz Cooperative was formed by a group of poor, war-displaced country-women who joined together for survival after Hurricane Joan destroyed their refugee community 1988. Most, were single mothers, widows or those whose partners were away at war.
With the help of International Solidarity the women built their homes followed by a construction block factory and a carpentry shop providing income to support themselves and their children. By 1990 the women became concerned about the great number of lives being lost to unsafe abortions. The Cooperative began looking for a nurse who would help them develop a woman-run reproductive health service to prevent unwanted pregnancies. I was invited and with four others we began studying Hesperian’s wonderful guide, “Where There is No Doctor”, a handbook on pre-natal care and anti-conception, and with a bag of pre-natal vitamins, and some oral contraceptives set up shop. The Contra-Sandinista war had not completely ended in the area and no Nicaraguan nurse or physician would come to Mulukuku. It was not until 1996 that we were able to hire our first physician.
Soon after beginning the health work we began to notice that nearly half of the women showed bruises and other signs of physical abuse. This led to establishing a program for the protection of women and children. Women began to ask for
literacy classes, some were homeless, others had no means of support and all wanted to learn about their rights. Thus, programs grew in response to these needs. A goal of the Cooperative has been to promote reconciliation between former
enemies and help people learn to resolve conflict without violence.
Anna was regularly beaten by her husband, Juan, who threatened her with death should she come to us for help. One day she ran to our clinic being chased by Juan wielding a machete. Anna initiated legal action and Juan was convicted spending several months in prison. On his release, Juan was met by members of our Non Violent Men’s Group. They learned that Juan was a former Contra combatant who had no way of supporting his family. His frustration led to the violence. Juan wanted to be a dealer of pigs. The Non Violent Mens’s Group found him a loan. When his business was established, Juan asked Anna if he could return home and she accepted him.
Again, thank you, for this honor.
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