Today, August 9th, 2020, we celebrate and commemorate World Indigenous Day. Today we honour over 370 million Indigenous peoples of the world. Alongside our partners in Central America and Mexico, Horizons of Friendship stands in solidarity with Indigenous peoples and recognizes the significant contributions Indigenous peoples have made as stewards of the environment, and Traditional Knowledge Keepers of the land, languages, culture, and more. In the face of ongoing struggles with colonialism, which has sought to destroy the cultural, political, and social identity of Indigenous peoples through a campaign of control, genocide, and racism, Horizons recognizes and celebrates the spirit of resilience and strength of Indigenous communities.

Central America and Mexico is home to over 25 million Indigenous peoples, with over 118 diverse communities and languages. Horizons recognizes that the rights of Indigenous peoples are suppressed through political, social, economic, and environmental restrictions. Indigenous communities experience a lack of recognition and legalization of land and ancestral territories; neglect at political and decision-making levels; stigmatization in the media; lack of adequate housing, education, health services, and more. In a direct effort to improve the status of Indigenous peoples in Central America and Mexico, Horizons supports Indigenous-led organizations in the region by providing them with funding and organizational support to ensure that they are heard in the creation of public policies and programs, and that they have the resources they need for greater autonomy in their communities.

The United Nations and World Health Organization marked 2020 as the “International Year of the Nurse and Midwife”. Coincidentally, Horizons is in the process of completing its largest project to date: the Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health: Transforming Indigenous Lives project (MNCH). This project began in March of 2016, in the midst of a public health crisis that saw primarily Indigenous women and infants in Guatemala dying as a result of childbirth. At the time, Indigenous women were twice more likely to die during childbirth than non-Indigenous women in Guatemala. Similarly, Indigenous infants under one year of age, were more likely to die than non-Indigenous children as a result of childbirth. These are just some of the glaring inequalities Indigenous women and children face on a day-to-day basis in Guatemala.

The MNCH project, executed by our local, Indigenous-led partner, PIES de Occidente (PIES), works with Maya K’iche’ communities to improve the expertise of Indigenous Midwives in Totonicapán by providing comprehensive, culturally-relevant training and equipment. PIES work both in urban and rural centres, conducting household visits, women's discussion groups, and training sessions with community leaders and midwives on maternal and infant health and sexual, reproductive health and rights. As a result of this project, which is funded by the Government of Canada through Global Affairs Canada, Horizons and PIES have been successful in stocking Guatemalan health centres and health posts with essential medical equipment and supplies and providing training to health professionals and midwives to reduce infant and maternal mortality in the Indigenous Maya' K’iche’ province of Totonicapán. Because of the achievements of this project, over 30 traditional Indigenous Maya K’iche’ midwives completed a year-long, culturally-relevant training on updated birthing practices. Now, these 30 midwives will train an additional 25 midwives each, meaning that approximately 900 midwives will be trained in the the province of Totonicapán. On this World Indigenous Day, we celebrate these incredible accomplishments made by our local partner PIES de Occidente.

But COVID-19 brings new challenges. For this reason, United Nations is declaring World Indigenous Day’s 2020 theme as “COVID-19 and Indigenous peoples’ resilience”. Indigenous peoples around the world, including Horizons partners in Totonicapán are experiencing substantial setbacks due to COVID-19. Prior to the pandemic, Indigenous communities were facing hardships such as inadequate housing and water, poor access to healthcare. With the burden of COVID-19, this burden is being multiplied due to a lack of essential medical supplies, poor preventive measures such as sanitation supplies, understaffed medical facilities, and discrimination in healthcare services.

Thankfully during the current pandemic, PIES de Occidente and Horizons helped to secure special medical passes that allow the midwives to continue their work during COVID-19. With these passes, midwives in Totonicapán are able to continue practicing and providing care for their patients. Horizons is proud to stand with its Indigenous partners on August 9.