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La Casa de las Mujeres que Curan
(The home of women healers)
A group of women in the municipality of Chemax, Yucatan, dedicated to contribute to the physical and spiritual health of Mayan women in the region, through natural and traditional medicine, herbs, and hands-on physical therapy.
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juanita
Director: Ximena Amescua Cuenca
Producer: Graduate Culture and Media Program NYU 2015 | 23 min Mexico
A glimpse into the everyday life of Juanita, a Mayan traditional doctor, midwife, nurse, and activist. Leader of "The Awakening of the Women who Heal," an organization of midwives in the Orient of Yucatan, Mexico. Juanita has dedicated her life to helping others with her gift of healing. The film follows Juanita as she redefines the meaning of ‘modern’ and ‘traditional’ medicine practices. Documentary Short Finalist, SIMA 2016
Juanita (2015 | 23 min), directed, produced, and edited by the young filmmaker Ximena Amescua Cuenca. Juana María Pol Kinil is a Mayan woman who lives in the community of Uspibil, which at the beginning of the 20th century had 19 inhabitants. Uspibil is located in the municipality of Chemax (Yucatan, Mexico), where Juanita lived for thirteen years a story of violence by her ex-husband. Until he decided to leave it.
Descendant of midwives, on the side of mother and father. A long tradition of women healers who survive, in resistance, until the present. He decided to change his life when he could no longer do it: "How about it really kills you," his mother told him, referring to the husband who was preying on his daughter. And Juanita thought, "if you do not value yourself, who will value you". He began to be present in his own life and gave value to his history, to the tradition of which he is a part, that of the women who heal.
In the documentary, she is observed dressed in a nurse's uniform in the office where I work for years, as an assistant and also serves as a translator, since the majority of the population only speaks Mayan. But she is also a midwife, and very much a woman valued by her community because of this important service she provides to women.
Along with other women midwives, yerbanderas and sobadores formed the awakening of women who cure, an organization of traditional medical women from eastern Yucatan. Juanita has been a midwife for six years, but still, she says, she needs a lot to learn. The road is long, and winding, but full of rewards. He is seen in his typical costume walking through the community, crossing the threshold of a home, greeting children and women in Mayan, and sometimes in Spanish. Her job is to coordinate the organization she founded together with other women we see in the documentary.
Her final objective, as she herself mentions it, is to defend the rights of women. His philosophy is "I must sacrifice something to catch something", which means that he is aware that his work involves neglecting his children sometimes. But she knows that, in the end, it is an urgent job, and that ultimately it also benefits her children, because a community without violence, respectful of women's rights, is a healthier place to grow.
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The idea of awakening is the center of its history, the nucleus that moves it to act with generosity, to defend the right of women to give birth according to their traditions, and to live without violence, whatever it may be, including that of medicine. Western, by the way, it has been imposed, endangers the knowledge of the community. The awakening was for Juanita and her companions a new beginning, a way to be aware of their environment, their community, and their lives individually.
"I started like a little worm, crawling," says Juanita towards the end of the documentary. Perhaps being present means realizing who we are in this moment, discovering what life offers us, and doing something with it: creating a new situation that depends on us, to begin, like worms, to ascend towards full consciousness, to heal in ourselves and bring our love to the community, here and now.
Listen to this inspiring Conversation Worth Having facilitated by Claudia Flores, HSP Founder. Her guests are Juanita Pool Kinil, midwife, María de Guadalupe Alejandre, founder of the Mexican Association for Aid to Children with Cancer (AMANC), and Yemile Misrahi, professional chef and mother. They cover the master key of awareness, how to use suffering to uplift ourselves, and the value of being of service to others, starting with health and wellbeing. Spanish with English subtitles.