Question:

How do the Achuar (Shiwiar) Indians of the Ecuadorian Amazon Rain forest get badly needed medical attention?

Answer:

They often don't. Unless medical care is provided by the Alto Corrientes Health Care Fund, through donations from caring people such as yourself.

The Achuar (also known as Shiwiar) Indians in the rain forest currently have very limited access to medical services and often suffer as a consequence. The villagers maintain a small airstrip and the medical missionaries provide a solar powered short-wave radio in the village for use in emergencies such as a snake bite. Missionary doctors will occasionally fly out to Alto Corrientes but, these visits are too few and far between. Furthermore, due to the high cost of medicine, the missionaries are forced to charge the Indians money for all medical and hospital treatment provided. Having to pay for medical services causes severe financial hardship for the Indians because access to cash in the village is extremely difficult. More often than not people go without the proper medical care needed due to lack of money.

The Alto Corrientes Health Care Fund

The Alto Corrientes Health Care Fund has been created in conjunction with the local medical missionary doctors who specialize in treating the Indigenous population of the Ecuadorian Amazon. They operate out of the Voz Andes del Oriente located near a town called Puyo (which is on the periphery of the Amazon Basin).
The Voz Andes Hospital is part of a legal nonprofit, tax exempt missionary organization based in the U.S., named "World Radio Missionary Fellowship, Inc.", and all moneys donated to the Fund will be handled by this organization.

It is important to note that all donations made out to this organization (which have been earmarked "Alto Corrientes Fund") will go directly to obtaining medicines and/or for providing medical treatment of the Achuar Indians from the Alto Corrientes village area.

2008 MEDICAL UPDATE
1998 UPDATE
1996 UPDATE - on Maclovia, an Alto Corrientes villager who has recently had surgery.
READ Kayashi's Story, a touching tale of how an Achuar boy adopts a new father figure.

Visit the CONTRIBUTION INFO PAGE to get specific information about how you can contribute to the fund.

Pictures of the Achuar People

Juana with her family

Mercedes and her 2 girls

Tukupi, An Achuar Boy

Achuar Sisters

Alto Corrientes Children


To learn more about Dr. Chacon's research on Amerindians consult:

  1. The Taking and Displaying of Human Body Parts as Trophies by
    Amerindians.
    Eds., Richard Chacon and David Dye. Springer Press. 2008.

  2. North American Indigenous Warfare and Ritual Violence.
    Eds., Richard Chacon and Ruben Mendoza.
    University of Arizona Press. 2007.

  3. Latin American Indigenous Warfare and Ritual Violence.
    Eds., Richard Chacon and Ruben Mendoza University of Arizona Press. 2007.

 

Please send your comments and inquiries to: 

Dr. Richard Chacon*
Dept. of Sociology and Anthropology
Winthrop University
Rock Hill, SC  29733
Office phone: (803) 323-4656
Email: chaconr@winthrop.edu

* While Dr. Chacon created the Alto Corrientes Health Care Fund in collaboration with local missionaries, he is in no way involved with any attempts to proselytize native peoples.

Here is Dr. Richard Chacon with the Achuar Indians he lived with, in the Alto Corrientes Village.

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