Whenever asked what I am doing for the year in AmeriCorps as a Health Promoter, my response begins with the startling current conditions of the health of this generation. One of the most disturbing predictions, especially for the parents whose children are included in this statistic, is that the Center for Disease Control calculates that one in three children born in the year 2000 will develop type II diabetes in his or her life time, two out of five Latino children. When doing outreach in the community I say to mothers with whom I speak that this prediction does not have to become our reality- and this is why we are inviting you to participate in Cocinas Sanas- because as women we have the power to influence the health of our families and communities.
What we are asking of these women is to alter the current predicted fate of their children and their current food system. We are asking the women to become part of a food sovereignty movement – a task that seems too large to fathom. As Frances Moore Lappe writes in Hope’s Edge: the next Diet for a small Planet: “we humans can’t do what we can’t imagine and we can’t imagine ourselves playing real, satisfying roles in creating life-serving communities- what[I] came to call ‘living democracy’- unless we see regular people like ourselves developing their power, their capacity to create.” Thus in order for these women to become empowered, they must see living examples that this effecting change is possible- this is the idea of a Promatora.
Monica and I began our journey as Health Promoters (Promatoras de Salud) in September. The work of a Promatora de Salud is to circulate that which she has learned about her health to other women. Then these women will in turn spread this information to their families, friends and communities engendering change. We started by collecting information on food- learning about where our food comes from, who is responsible for raising or growing it, how it is raised or grown and how this food affects our health. As we each processed this information, we began to formulate how we would take this information into account in our own lives, and how we would incorporate it into the Healthy Kitchens (Cocinas Sanas) classes. After sometime learning about CAFOs (concentrated animal feeding operations) and how meat is raised my fellow Promatora, Monica has stopped eating meat. At the Cocinas Sanas (Healthy Kitchens) meal this inevitably comes up as a topic of discussion; all of the women are very curious as to why she has made this decision. What I enjoy most about this is watching her tell the story of how she came to this conclusion and seeing the look on the women’s faces. I can never be certain, but within their expressions of intrigue I detect a hint of hope. Hearing the stories of other women, such as Monica, who have made these changes to lead a healthier life, gives me hope that I will have the strength to do the same.
At our most recent workshop each of the four participating women present set a small attainable goal, to begin the movement toward a healthier community. One women aimed to begin eating fruits as snacks and another to begin serving a side of vegetables at dinner. We each planned to try this goal for two weeks and discuss what our challenges were when we meet next. What truly inspired me was to listen to each woman offer encouragement to the other and possible tips on how she could attain this goal. We each shared what motivates us to be well and although each story was quite different the theme was the same: the health of those we love. And so we each thought of these people and mustered our courage to “develop our power”, our “capacity to create” and hope that change is possible. “Honest hope is movement”.
