The Tepehua Community Center is an oasis of hope located in the heart of one of Chapala’s most downtrodden barrios.
Its multifaceted programs and services are focused on promoting health, education and self-sufficiency for women and children as a pathway out of poverty.
The latest expansion is the center’s new maternity clinic, opened last December and labeled “our pride and joy” by Moonie King, the center’s founder and director.
The maternity wing was built with the generous support of private donors and furnished with funding from Rotary clubs. It comprises an examination room divided into two fully equipped cubicles and an adjacent doctor’s office.
On one side is a well-stocked, tightly controlled pharmacy. On the other, an ample storage room filled with supplies. A laboratory room is already built, but won’t be used for much else than storing materials until it is properly equipped and under the supervision of a trained technician. King is hoping to line up a grant to achieve those goals.
King’s philosophy is to first get facilities built in brick and mortar, then attract additional supporters to fulfill all other needs. “Most people won’t sign up just for an idea,” she says.
The maternity clinic is currently open two days per week for consultations on pre- and post-natal care, STD treatments and general female health care. Fridays are generally the busiest with an average of 50 patients showing up in the space of four hours, King observes.
King actively recruits the most vulnerable patients, going out to the community’s best known “house of ill repute” set on the grounds of a junk yard in Santa Cruz de la Soledad.
“Most of the women are mothers. They are susceptible to both disease and unplanned pregnancy because their clients won’t use condoms,” she says.
All patients may be referred to the Tepehua Community Center’s dental clinic. The space previously employed for medical services will be adapted for an ophthalmology unit in the future.
The center operates entirely with volunteers. “We have as many Mexicans as foreigners,” says King, noting that, “loyalty is tremendous.”
Most are poor women who go there for free medical care, access to the in-house thrift store where they can purchase inexpensive clothing for their families and other services not readily available to the underprivileged.
Above all, King sees the center as a gateway to education, where kids congregate for learning experiences and women acquire self-employment skills. Over the past five years, 17 promising young people have been selected for sponsorships to study university careers.
Channeled through Rotary Club of Ajijic, the Tepehua Community Center has received more than $US50,000 from Rotarians in Canada and the United States who have funded selected projects. Churches, American Legion posts and even the Zurich Switzerland Comedy Club have chipped in for the cause. All are recognized on plaques installed outside the Tepehua soup kitchen that was the center’s genesis.
The growth and expansion of the Tepehua Community Center has been guided by what the people say they need and want. Those who have become more involved are being brought in to act as a shadow board, like actor understudies who learn the ropes to be able to step in and take charge at any given moment.
One important facet of the maternity clinic will be opening services up to women suffering from substance abuse. Many female addicts get started by self-medication of over-the-counter products and then graduate to harder stuff, King says. Unlike men, they have few options for getting clean. There is nowhere for them to go locally and most rehabilitation centers in the Guadalajara metro area don’t accept women who are pregnant or lactating.
Going hand in hand with the center’s maternal health program is a budding project to build a separate women’s facility on the grounds of the existing CREEAD rehab center for men, situated on Chapala’s northeast outskirts. Blueprints are already done and a septic system has been installed. Men confined in the rehab program are eager to finish clearing the land and provide manual labor for construction. King hopes the local business community will get on the bandwagon.
“If we have to build it in stages, we will do it brick by brick,” she states with firm determination.