Highland Support Project- Lavender Purpose Project 2019
It’s all too rare to find an agency that truly cares about the world beyond the scope of business — or to put it another way, one that practices what it preaches. But at Patients & Purpose, “purpose” is infused into the culture, and we have opportunities to create meaningful work because of it.
The Lavender Purpose Project is an initiative launched by P&P in remembrance of Yvonne Lavender, a former agency partner. Yvonne was an incredible spirit who was passionate about living purposefully. In her memory, and to carry on her legacy, the Lavender Purpose Project supports agency employees as they positively impact the world.
When I first heard about the Lavender Purpose Project, something inside me lit up. I knew I had to submit a proposal to work with Highland Support Project (HSP), an organization I’d volunteered with in the past.
HSP works to empower indigenous women in the Highlands of Guatemala through development, not dependency. They help to organize women in indigenous communities, provide education, and support local entrepreneurs to create change from within.
Discrimination against indigenous communities in Guatemala began in colonial times and is still prevalent today. These communities have been marginalized to the Highlands, the least productive lands in the country.
Highland communities generally rank lowest in quality of life, life expectancy, and access to basic services. They also tend to have the highest rates of political violence. Many men have either gone abroad for work or have died in natural disasters or war, leaving their wives and daughters home to raise children and run the household.
The leading cause of death in indigenous communities is respiratory illness, linked to the practice of cooking over open-pit fires in tiny, unventilated homes. A woman generally spends the majority of the day laboring over a fire or collecting wood to fuel it. Many families spend the majority of their income treating lung infections.
Clean-air stoves, built by HSP volunteers, channel the thick smoke from cooking fires out of homes via chimneys, significantly reducing smoke exposure and providing a more fuel-efficient method of cooking.
The Guatemalan branch of HSP, Asociacion de Mujeres del Altiplano (AMA) works with indigenous women to facilitate stove building. Their mission is to help indigenous women achieve agency and independence.
“We were bringing antibiotics from the United States to the same people, every 6 months. And we knew we had to get to the cause. The cause of the illness was the cooking stoves.”
— Lupe Ramirez, founder of AMA and HSP
In order to be eligible for a clean-air stove, women must first be active with an AMA Women’s Circle. Circles are facilitator-led groups of 10–20 women that provide education and mutual support. Each circle focuses on 4 main areas: 1) self-esteem and mental health; 2) education; 3) civic participation; and
4) entrepreneurship and business.
In circle meetings, women learn skills including reading and writing, hygiene, community facilitation, traditional midwifery, and more. But participating in a circle also provides a network of mutual support and a forum for sharing and collaborating. After active participation in a circle for 3 months, women are encouraged to write a letter to AMA detailing their need for a clean-air stove and their requests about timing and placement.
Once a request is received, the stove is built by HSP volunteers and the family. Because stoves are more fuel-efficient than fires, women spend less time collecting wood and cooking, and therefore they have more time for active participation within their communities. Through increased community participation, women experience an elevated self-worth and can see themselves as leaders. They can then accomplish more projects to better their communities.
Another primary cause of fatality in the Highlands is mudslides. These disasters are linked directly to deforestation caused by the ravenous demand for cooking fuel. For each stove built by HSP volunteers, 10 trees are planted in the neighboring forests. This is essential to prevent mudslides and replenish trees chopped down for firewood.
One year after submitting my proposal for the 2019 Lavender Purpose Project, I was on a plane with Nora Travis, ready to take on another adventure with HSP. We spent a week in Guatemala, learning about HSP and AMA from the founder, Lupe Ramirez, and experiencing Mayan culture. In addition to building stoves and providing lung health education for some amazing families, we were able to plant a tree in memory of Yvonne Lavender, commemorating her love in another part of the world.
Finding a passion isn’t always a goal we set or something we work toward. It’s something that shapes us, sometimes subconsciously, until we live and breathe even the minute details. Our passions give us a purpose. And being able to live passionately at Patients & Purpose is something I’m immensely proud of.
