Monday, March 24 we met at our favorite cafe in Oaxaca, Cafe Brujula, to get together and discuss roles for psychologists in promoting community mental health; We also talked a little bit about childhood obesity in Oaxaca. This topic will help us prepare to transition in to our last 2 week class, "Food, Health and Culture". Obesity is on the rise and has become a universal epidemic in both the US and Mexico. More to come on that when we join the food track next week!
Tuesday, March 25th our class went to visit The Fundacion Oaxaquena de Equinoterapia (FOE). We met with a lady named Carolina Gomez Balderas. She started this non-profit organization about 7 years ago. Before she started the organization she was a physical therapist for about 23 years working for the IMSS. FOE defines equinoterapia as equestrian activity for therapeutic methods aimed at the rehabilitation of people through the three-dimensional movement of the horse, which acts in skeletal neuromusculoskeletal system of the human being, with the orientation and accompaniment in the professional area of health, riding and education. It is used as adjunctive therapy in patients with various congenital or acquired pathologies. The place was beautiful, not too big, not too small. She has about 7 or 8 horses, one cow, bunny rabbits and chickens. The land is loaned to the organization by an anonymous person. We first sat down with Carolina to talk about the organization and what she does. Carolina mostly works with disabled children anywhere from 3 months to 21-years-old. We were given the opportunity to watch a couple of the children participate in their therapy sessions riding on the horse with Carolina. A few of us were lucky enough to ride the horses ourselves!
On Wednesday we went out to San Agustin, Etla (St. Augustine) to visit a center where they make paper! Which might sound a bit like a boring factory, but it was actually really interesting and they showed us all the types of cotton and other materials they use to make it. We went step by step through the process and even felt the “paste” of cotton that felt really weird but was pretty cool. Then we went upstairs where we actually got to see a few of the things they did with the paper. In a small store section upstairs we saw intricate earrings, necklaces, and bracelets made out of paper as well as kites and notebooks. They were all so pretty, and definitely what we would call statement pieces.
After that, we went up to CASA which is a center for arts in San Agustin that held a library, classes and workshops for Mexicans, and also (currently) a gallery of Mexican silver from the 1800s until the 200s. The pieces were so beautiful and featured everything from jewelry, to knives and dagger looking objects, to dining sets and coffee pots and more. It was amazing and knowing us we wanted to try on every piece and possibly buy it for our mothers. But, obviously we could not and moved on.
We then had lunch at a really quaint, peaceful place and it ended up being a great day. And, lucky for us, we had the next day off to finish off our last project of the class!
At the end of the week, we took our take-home exam and reflected on our experiences. We went over the main points of the course, remembering our discussions of ideas of “normal” mental health, how communities work as systems of mental health support, and the various prevention models that exist. What an adventure this has been!
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