Delivering medical supplies to Bolivia's most isolated communities
In our Fall Impact Report, we introduced Sister Zenobia Mendoza, a member of a religious community associated with the San Lorenzo de Moxos Parish in the department of Beni, Bolivia. Sr. Zenobia is one of many Bolivians from across the country who came to visit our supply warehouses during the pandemic and helped us distribute critical medical supplies to more than 80 hospitals and other healthcare providers in 2021.
Sr. Zenobia lives in the tiny indigenous village of Oromomo located inside the TIPNIS (acronym for “Territorio Indígena y Parque Nacional Isiboro Securé” or Isiboro Securé National Park and Indigenous Territory), an area protected for its biodiversity and as the ancestral homeland of multiple vulnerable native communities. In July 2021, she visited Puente de Solidaridad in search of medical supplies. She selected nearly 5,000 items from our warehouse to distribute to the 18 communities she serves in the TIPNIS. These villages are home to members of the Tsimané (also known as Chimane), an indigenous group that has lived along the same Amazonian rivers since long before the country of Bolivia was established.
Sr Zenobia traveled two weeks by canoe to distribute the supplies to health service outposts in the various communities. On January 21, 2022, she returned to Cochabamba and shared photos she took to document the distribution. She even shared a video clip of her crew and boat motoring along the rivers of the Bolivian Amazon (be sure to turn up the volume!). Medical supplies were stored under tarps to keep them dry. There wasn’t room for much else, so the group traveled lightly and camped along the river or overnighted in one of the communities.
July 13, 2021, Sr. Zenobia signs for her donations. SB and PdS keep a detailed inventory of medical supplies, and donation recipients sign institutional agreements regarding their use and distribution to communities in need.
During the COVID-19 crisis, it has been especially difficult for small clinics in remote areas to procure even basic supplies. Many rely on local community members like Sr. Zenobia to travel to the large cities to seek out their own supplies. Here she is delivering supplies for a clinic in Oromomo staffed in part by recent medical school graduates performing their compulsory social service rotations.
The Tsimané communities grow yucca, rice and corn, and hunt and fish in the surrounding forests and rivers. Sr. Zenobia and her group fished from their canoe for many of their meals. Here, she shows off a surubí, the Guaraní name for the local catfish that is an important source of protein for the Tsimané.
Sr. Zenobia was thrilled to meet one of the newest members of the settlement she described as the most isolated and underserved of all those along her route. The most recent census data, from 2012, reported a population of just under 17,000 members of the Tsimané indigenous group. Since 2007, the Tsimané language is recognized by the Constitution of Bolivia as one of the 36 official indigenous languages of Bolivia. The schools in the villages visited by Sr. Zenobia are required to teach in the Tsimané language, so this baby will help carry on the language and culture of the community.
After her recent visit to Puente de Solidaridad, Sr. Zenobia departed Cochabamba with another 24 boxes of supplies for the Tsimané as well as other communities in the region including the Yuracare and Trinitarios. She invited us to visit the TIPNIS with her as soon as it is safe to do so to assess other ways that PdS and SB could help improve access to healthcare for the region.
