The Fundación Hacienda del Mundo Maya, A.C. is a group of professional people that works together with 16 rural Maya communities helping them design and execute programs dealing with education, health, housing, and the environment, while always focusing on integrating human and community development.
One example of this is the creation of the project primary health attention being achieved through rescuing traditional and herbal Maya medicine. A series of studies showed that one of the greatest problems the Maya people face in their villages is the lack of attention in the Health Centers. The promoters and the Maya came to the conclusion that reviving traditional Maya medicine could be the answer.
While working with the Maya, they discovered that they had quite a wealth of knowledge that had been sleeping as they slowly adopted modern medicine that is not always accessible to them. This incredible experience turned everyone’s eyes toward the local “bone crunchers,” the medicine men, and a local man, Dr. Gilberto Balam Pereira (Master’s in Health and Doctorate in Sociology.) Collections of medicinal plants were gathered in various communities and the project was born. Health promoters were trained to collect the traditional medicine knowledge from the village people while promoting the rescue of this knowledge that had been lost to modernization.
These efforts brought about the installation of Health Centers in 6 communities, including: Temozón Sur, Itzincab Cámara, Santa Rosa, Chunchucmil, Uayamón, and Granada. The stars are the health promoters in these villages. They have also instituted a Botanical Garden at the Hacienda Santa Rosa de Lima in Maxcanu. This installation had abandoned gardens, aqueducts and water holding tanks that have been rehabilitated. The property is approximately 2.5 acres and has more than 230 species of plants divided into groups according to the use they are given: aromatics, palms, garden, multiple uses and medicinal for various problems including respiratory, dermatological, and digestive problems.
The fundamental object of the gardens is to classify and identify the names of the plants in Maya and Spanish, state the use of each plant, be a site for the propagation and conservation of all the samples and promote conservation and environmental education. The gardens are open to the public.
The Foundation supports the local groups in analyzing the viability, sustainability, financing, and bringing the projects to life, and then accompanies them as they position their products in the market for fair sale.
We invite you to visit the craft stores where their products are sold. The crafters of these quality products have won 1st prizes nationally for creativity and taste in detail. When you buy one of their products in these stores, you are helping these families break the vicious cycle of poverty: Casa de Montejo on the Zocalo in Merida, the Centro Cultural y Artesanal of Izamal, in Campeche opposite the Hacienda Puerta Campeche, as well as the Parador Ochil and the boutiques at Haciendas Santa Rosa, Temozón Sur, and San José.
www.haciendasmundomaya.com
Recommended reading:
– Haciendas Foundation of the Maya World – Folk Art
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