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The Guatemala Acupuncture and Medical Aid Project is a Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) acupuncture training project that uses a rural community health care model to support sustainable community based healthcare. We work in Petén, Guatemala, as well as throughout Southern Arizona. The acupuncturists we've trained now serve over 20 communities in Guatemala and have been practicing for over 30 years.
It's our goal to create a sustainable pipeline of acupuncturists who not only serve their communities in rural Guatemala, but also train the next generation of acupuncturists. We also strive to create a larger network of practitioners to help reconnect integrated medicine practitioners across the indigenous diaspora with traditional medicinal practices from their homelands.
Uplifting indigenous communities and practices
Grass roots care that's 100% community- led
Community members train the next generation
Sharing knowledge and resources for re-connection
Through an ongoing commitment to our values, GUAMAP seeks to contribute to a more just, connected, and sustainable healthcare future for indigenous communities from Guatemala to those across Southern Arizona.
We deeply respect and support the autonomy of indigenous communities, empowering them to practice their traditional healing modalities and preserve their cultural ways of life. We believe that healthcare rooted in indigenous knowledge and practices is essential for the well-being and self-determination of these communities, particularly in Petén, Guatemala and Southern Arizona.
Why Acupuncture? Acupuncture has a rich history all over the world, including in Mayan culture.
It's commonly known that for over 3,000 years, traditional (and modern) Chinese practitioners have relied on medicinal herbs and acupuncture to successfully treat millions of people. Though, there is also historical evidence of a Maya puncture medicine in Central America that was similar to early Chinese acupuncture.
Acupuncture has also been widely used in Guatemala's more recent history.
Training in acupuncture as preventive and curative medicine began in Guatemala during the 1970s, was used by communities in exile during the 1980s in Mexican refugee camps, and then resumed in Guatemala in the 1990s. The method has been regularly accepted by rural communities and its use is growing.
