Border Partners’ Promotoras earned a certification for the cumulative trainings they’ve taken over the past months.
During the busy month of December 2021, Border Partners’ Promotoras made time to attend and participate in a training at the Asención Medical Center. This
A Border Partners’ Promatora receives the certification she’s earned.
training taught them concepts related to Early Childhood development. The Promotoras will use this information to strengthen the skills of local new moms in Palomas.
Although our Promotoras are also busy on the ground, a promotora is always improving her knowledge of health principles. By definition, a promotora is a Latina community member who receives specialized training so that she can in turn provide basic health education in the community without being a professional health care worker herself. At the training in Asención which was led by registered nurses, our Promotoras were surrounded by nurses from local area. Asención is the seat of government of the municipality, comparable to a county seat in the United States.
Changes due to COVID
Covid tests are now available on an “as needed” basis for free for the Palomas community. All our Promotoras are trained to administer these tests. This week they began assisting border officials to take temperatures of everyone coming across the border from the United States. And, of course, as they have been since the pandemic began, all Border Partners’ staff are executing safety procedures necessary to mitigate the pandemic’s spread as they continue their work.
Due to the recent upsurge in the COVID pandemic, Palomas schools are once again closed this month until further notice. However, the Promotoras will still conduct virtual workshops for prepa (high school) students by using Zoom technology.
As a result of the pandemic, the Mexican schools are no longer allowed to have students eating meals on site. In concern that the students would not be fed, local elementary principals have turned to us for assistance. Promotoras distributed 300 school sack lunches that we provided in December for students to take home with them. Although school is currently closed, the Promotoras plan to again conduct a distribution of sack lunches for local children before the end of January 2022.
These are a few of the students who received school sack lunches in December.