As part of this program update, we would like to start with a short history of the programs that AWB began years ago that are still happening!
- 18 years ago: AWB created the Military Stress Recovery Project to provide trauma-informed care to veterans, military personnel, first responders and their families.
- 14 years ago: AWB began sending multiple disaster response teams and trained practitioners in Haiti, post-earthquake.
- 10 years ago: AWB started the Medicine of Peace project in Israel and the West Bank to support local healthcare practitioners committed to bringing trauma-informed care to their communities. In 2014 we began training Israeli acupuncturists, and in 2018 we started training Palestinian healthcare professionals in the West Bank.
- 8 years ago: AWB began providing refugee support in Greece and other EU countries.
- 7 years ago: AWB provided care throughout Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria and other disasters.
- 5 years ago: AWB began supporting migrating families and asylum seekers at the US/Mexico border.
- 4 years ago: AWB created Colectivo CARE with Livity Rising and the Integrative Healers Action Network to offer care for California farmworkers who grow and harvest much of the nation’s food.
- 1 year ago: AWB started supporting the Lahaina, Hawai’i community after the devastating fire.
Over the years, AWB has grown as an organization that once responded to disasters by providing community-style ear acupuncture, to one that offers multiple trauma-informed therapies to communities damaged by ongoing, systemic traumatic factors.
Here’s a more detailed update on what AWB has been doing this spring and summer…
MEXICO
AWB’s work with the midwives at the Justicia en Salud Clinic continues to deepen. The midwives, led by Ximena Rojas, recently purchased a trailer that will head south along the route used by migrating families, to provide primary, prenatal, and postnatal care. AWB continues to send acupuncturists to the clinic one day weekly to provide treatments and herbal medicine consults, and we just completed two training trips as part of our continuing commitment to strengthen the integrative skills of this amazing group of midwives.
In July, AWB Board member Walter Bosque, one of the community activists that developed the NADA protocol at Lincoln Hospital in the 1970’s, visited the clinic and offered an incredible history and demonstration of NADA for AWB volunteers and clinic staff.
In August, Nawal Awad, team leader of AWB’s Palestinian practitioner training project, joined us at the clinic to assist the midwives as they provide care to the asylum community. It was a deep honor to connect Walter, Nawal, and Ximena, whose communities share similar challenges and resiliency!
NETHERLANDS
AWB continues to work closely with our partners in the EU to support refugees from the Middle East, Africa, and Ukraine. This summer, our team in the Netherlands was approached by the Dutch government to provide ear acupuncture to families housed in refugee centers throughout the country. This is a great example of how this generation of AWB practitioners is going beyond volunteerism to combine service with appropriate remuneration for professional expertise and commitment!
GREECE
Alma Community Holistic Therapies (formerly known as AWB Greece) is expanding services starting in September at a NEW community center in Athens. The center will enable Alma to offer acupuncture, massage, herbal medicine, chiropractic, and homeopathy to refugees and local residents. Alma is thrilled that the center will also be a great venue for classes and educational events.
Stay tuned for a chance to hear from Alma coordinator Eirini Tsilafaki at an upcoming webinar in October (date TBA)! We are also planning an AWB World Healing Exchange trip to Greece next spring. If you are interested in receiving more information, please let us know at carla@acuwithoutborders.org.
CALIFORNIA
In the past six months, Colectivo CARE has provided over 600 integrative medicine treatments to farmworkers and their families at monthly mobile clinics in Watsonville, CA. This joint project (AWB, Livity Rising, and the Integrative Healers Action Network) is wildly successful and growing, thanks to a CORE grant from Santa Cruz County and support from the Pajaro Valley Community Health Trust. This is another example of how AWB is working to make sure that professional practitioners are compensated as they provide services that empower vulnerable communities.
The Inn Spot Community Acupuncture Clinic, one of AWB's MSRP clinics, continues to provide individual and group treatments for veterans, military personnel, first responders, and their families in San Diego. At the end of August, AWB/Inn Spot practitioners offered treatments at the San Diego Memorial 9/11 Stair Climb, one of several annual public events that enables the Inn Spot to bring trauma-informed care to the local first responder community.
HAITI
Week in and week out, Louissaint Alcide and several other practitioners trained by AWB offer treatments in five locations in Haiti, despite incredible violence and social unrest.
“My name is Allen, I live in Maïs gaté. My situation was so complicated due to the situation in Haiti where gangs killing so many people and raped women. This situation traumatized me and my family. I get to a point l lost my self control, very scared for my children. I met Mr. Louissaint who treated me for a week now, I feel much better. I hope AWB can keep sponsoring this program through Haiti. I take this occasion to thank the AWB staff for this beautiful program. Thank you all and God Bless you.”
HAWAI’I/CANADA
AWB continues to support the Lahaina, HI community recovery after last year’s devastating fire, in partnership with the Institute for Clinical Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine. We have also provided supplies and organizing guidance to practitioners in Alberta, Canada who are coordinating recovery clinics in Jasper, also destroyed by fire.
ISRAEL/PALESTINE
If you would like details on AWB’s work in Israel and the West Bank, please email us at director@acuwithoutborders.org.