Activities April-December 2011 Pacca Community and Huandar Community, Cusco

Pacca Community, Anta province, Cusco - Peru

Reproductive health counseling to women of the community regarding menstruation, pregnancy, birth, breastfeeding, and menopause.

Menstrual health and sexuality workshops for girls of intern secondary school by each grade separately (1st thru 5th secondary grade), between 11 and 18 years old.

Menstrual health and self-care workshops for girls of primary community school between 10 and 13 years old (grades 5th and 6th)

Reproductive health and gender relations workshops for boys of primary community school between 11 and 14 years old (grades 5th and 6th), including emphasis in the understanding of woman's reproductive process and their respect and honoring as well as his

Supply of ecological cloth menstrual pads ("Luneras" pads) to women and girls for free

* 4 sessions of 2 hours each.

Wiñaypaq Intercultural School, Huandar Community, Pisaq, Cusco - Peru  http://youtu.be/nmELSHm_29o

Menstrual and reproductive/sexual health workshops for girls between 8 and 14 years old (one multi-grade class from 3rd grade to 6th grade). Dynamics with Drumming, rattling, connecting to their wombs through meditation and touching their own wombs energetically, and singing of Woman Medicine Songs are parts of these workshops. 3 sessions of 2 hours each.

Supply of ecological cloth menstrual pads to girls already menstruating and to the school to provide them when more girls reach menarque

The work in Wiñaypaq school started last year (2010) in September/October with 2 sessions of menstrual and sexual health workshops to girls from 3rd grade to 6th grade, and 1 session to girls from 1st to 2nd grade on the basics of bodily differentiation based on gender and prevention of sexual violence through storytelling and play.

Urpiyay sonqoyay to these girls and their young wombs!

KillaWarmi Presentation

Recovering women's true feminine essence is the only thing that can genuinely bring sustainable “empowerment” back to women, as this has a direct effect on self-knowledge, more self-responsibility towards our bodies, self-love and self-esteem, which are the basic drivers to making and sustaining positive changes in women's reproductive health and lives. A viable way in which Andean women of rural Peru can successfully defend their real agency in reproductive health has to be sustained by the following conditions: to have a solid cultural identity, a local women's network that can support and empower each other and can advocate for the promotion and defense of women's health rights, and the access to unbiased information in reproductive health which is woman-centered.

Thus, Killa Warmi (Moon Woman in Quechua, Andean native language) Project was created for Andean women and girls of Peru, as part of the vision of Hampi Warmi (Woman Medicine in Quechua) non-profit. It is a reproductive health education project aimed to bring reproductive control back to women, focused in the reconnection with the sacredness of women's bodies, the wisdom and knowledge we have as women of our bodies and processes - just by living in them and being connected to our cycles - , the revaluing of our connection to Mother Earth as women, and the strengthening of local feminine support networks. All of these components are transversal to the workshops/ sharings/ women's circles on which the project is based, together with the project's strong focus in the revitalization of Andean local feminine medical knowledge, which is sustained by Andean community midwives whose knowledge is now at risk by the current politics of Peru in public reproductive health. 

Hampi Warmi also celebrates the cultural dialogue between Andean knowledge-wisdom and of other ancestral traditions that also honor women and feminine spirituality, such as the Native NorthAmerican peoples.  Hampi Warmi promotes and facilitates the sharing of this sacred wisdom to be given to women all over the world - regardless of religion, cultural background, or race - so that we can all Remember to live our feminine nature and bodies in a genuinely empowering and sacred way.

Hampi Warmi: “Awakening and strengthening Woman Medicine cross-culturally”