Ambitious project improves health care for remote Colombian tribe
By Joice Biazoto When Dr. Carlos Omeñaca, a physician specialized in infectious diseases with a private practice in Miami Shores, heard from a patient about…
The Arhuaco tribe in Colombia are often left without any health care; in result, a Miami Dr. set out to help with DUNI Project. (Photo: Courtesy of DUNI Project)
By Joice Biazoto
When Dr. Carlos Omeñaca, a physician specialized in infectious diseases with a private practice in Miami Shores, heard from a patient about a remote indigenous village in the middle of the Colombian Sierra Nevada where there was great need for health care, he did not think twice.
He and his wife Tania packed their bags and embarked on a long and difficult journey to find out how they could help.
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To reach the village, the Omeñacas had to face a bumpy ride on a 4×4, then a raft crossing of the river, followed by a three-hour mule ride.
The area is inhabited by various indigenous groups, the largest being the Arhuaco. Because the region is so hard to reach, the Arhuaco people are often left without any health care.
The Colombian government sends two to three doctors to the region every four to six months. The Arhuaco people are largely marginalized by the authorities, Omeñaca explains. The government alone is not able to cover their medical needs.
DUNI Project offers health care for tribes in Colombia. (Photo: Courtesy of DUNI Project)
Omeñaca is a Knight of the Cuban Association of the Order of Malta, a 900-year-old lay Catholic order with 13,500 members worldwide.
The Order is committed to serving the sick and the poor and supports hundreds of social and medical projects in more than 120 countries.
So when the leaders of the Arhuaco community requested that a new health clinic be built on the outskirts of the village of Bunkwimake, Omeñaca turned to Malteser International, the Order of Maltas humanitarian relief agency, for help.
The agency, which opened its American headquarters in Coral Gables last November, specializes in emergency relief, health and water programs for vulnerable and marginalized communities around the globe.
The DUNI Project
The Omeñacas, Malteser International and the Cuban and Colombian chapters of the Order of Malta teamed up to create the DUNI Project — Duni,” in the Arhuaco language, means thank you.”
We are grateful for the opportunity to work with the Arhuaco people, Omeñaca says. As much as we will be there to help improve the health conditions in their villages, we will also learn a lot from their millenary culture and spirituality. For this opportunity, we say thanks.
The regions nearly 3,000 residents struggle with many deadly, but preventable health problems, ranging from malnutrition and maternal and infant diseases such as pre-eclampsia to tropical diseases, tuberculosis, and snake bites.
In addition to helping to design and build the clinic together with the village residents, the Duni Project will coordinate with the government health authorities to provide at least two additional medical missions with Colombian doctors to the region every year.
A water analysis and sanitation project will also follow.
The project counts on support and guidance from the Fundación Pro-Sierra Nevada, a local NGO working for ecological conservation and protecting the cultural heritage of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta region.
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Dr. Carlos Omeñaca and his wife Tania, top right, visit the Arhuaco tribe in the Colombian Sierra Nevada. (Photo: Courtesy of DUNI Project)
