Lawi Fetanaan: Indigenous Health & Healing Center
Mindanao Tri-people Women's Resource Center (MTWRC)
South Upi, Maguindanao
The project proposal, Lawi Fetinanaan: Indigenous and Natural Healing Center, is conceptualized from the experiences among indigenous communities on limited humanitarian services, especially on healthcare during and post-disaster situations. The project will be situated in Barangay Pandan, South Upi, Maguindano province. Barangay Pandan had various experiences on different natural disasters and armed-conflict crises. In such emergencies, Because of limited healthcare services, the project aims to provide indigenous and natural healing programs and services to the community. The project envisions contributing to improving the physical and mental health of the community, especially during difficult situations.
The project target community is indigenous people, especially the women from Barangay Pandan. The project will promote indigenous and natural health practices through a communal effort led by community women. In the indigenous community, there are rich knowledge and practices on natural healing observed in many years. However, these healing practices are slowly disappearing in the younger generations. Thus, this innovative project would like to sustain these natural healing practices through the collective initiative of community women that would be supplemental to the existing health programs and services of the Barangay/municipal local government units. The project will be led by five members of the Innovative Team, composed of all indigenous women leaders from the Teduray and Lambangian tribes. Mindanao Tri-people Women Resource Center (MTWRC), a non-government organization based in Cotabato City, will assist the Innovative Team in implementing the project.