Semillas’ individual donors program, known as the Red de Mujeres Invirtiendo en Mujeres (Red MIM) (Network of Women Investing in Women in English), is breaking ground in Mexico and in the US. The Red MIM is currently composed of over 430 individuals who are actively engaged in the promotion of Semillas’ mission to achieve social change for women in Mexico.

In 2005, inspired by the lessons learned from the Red MIM in Mexico, Semillas began efforts to build Red MIM chapters in the United States with a special project entitled ”Cosechas”, which means “Harvest” in English. Cosechas is an opportunity for people living in the United States to “cross borders” in terms of their giving capacity and become supporters of Semillas. Today, Semillas has a strong base of supporters in Chicago and with the support of the Women’s Funding Network is building new networks in New York, Texas and the San Francisco / Bay Area. Because in Mexico there is little previous tradition of social change philanthropy and given that few people in the United States are directly supporting the work of Mexican women, the Red MIM in Mexico and in the US is a truly unique initiative.

We invite you to actively participate in our activities in the US, and we thank you in advance for your support! For more information about Semillas’ projects in the US, please contact: ana.enriquez@semillas.org.mx.

In 2002, Ticime received a donation from Semillas to carry out an educational project to detect pregnancy, birth and post-partum risks with a group of indigenous Ikoots and Huave midwives in San Mateo del Mar, Oaxaca. In 2007, Semillas granted another donation so that Ticime could strengthen their fundraising capabilities, as part of their overall capacity building process. Below we present an overview of the work of this organization on behalf of the rights of women, their partners and their babies to more humane and comprehensive pregnancy and birthing care.

The organization, Ticime, A.C., is comprised of a group of women midwives and perinatal educators that support, promote, disseminate and practice professional midwifery in Mexico as a model of care as well as educate women about their sexual and reproductive health. Ticime, which means midwives in Nahuatl, began informally in 1991 with the objective of being a meeting point in which midwives could converse, learn and interchange on diverse topics related to women’s health care and the midwifery situation in Mexico. In 1995 it became a civil association.

From the beginning, Ticime has promoted the idea of pregnancy, labor and childbirth as natural acts in which women have the right to be attended with patience, affection and respect for their specific needs and to enjoy the benefits of modern technology when they are necessary.

Today, in the majority of cases, pregnancy and childbirth care is carried out based on technical and economic criteria. More and more women are submitted to clinical procedures, many times unnecessary, such as cesareans and routine episiotomy (cutting of the perineum), which can have consequences for their health and make the nursing process more difficult.

Many women are losing confidence in their capacity to give birth vaginally. The rate of cesareans in Mexico and Latin America has grown disproportionately, reaching an average of 60% of births. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends a maximum of 15%.

The public sector is unable to deal with this situation because of excessive workloads and personnel and resource shortages while the majority of health providers in private medicine lack interest in changing these practices. A cesarean takes much less time to attend than a normal birth and the economic yield is tripled in the private sector.

It appears that currently the advantages of natural childbirth for women and child’s health are unknown, such as the presence of the father during the birth, the active participation of women in labor and childbirth, different birthing positions, the ability to turn the baby when it comes in the breach position in order to avoid cesareans, and other practices equally recommended by the WHO.

Ticime’s work

In Mexico, pregnancy, birth and post-partum care by means of a professional midwifery model is relatively new and unknown. Some of the differences of this practice from hospital care can be seen in the results of the research carried out by Alina Bishop, director of Ticime, in five public hospitals and three private ones in Oaxaca City during 2000.

These statistics show the advantages of natural birth in terms of the needs of women and their partners, their values and their physical and emotional comfort. Ticime offers this alternative thanks to the Professional Midwifery Model of Care practiced by their members.

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“The funding from Semillas is the first contribution that we received to do research and a report on the discrimination that we live as lesbians and bisexuals. Generally more is spoken about homosexual men’s issues, but violations of lesbian and bisexual women’s human rights are hidden.”

Paulina Martínez
Musas de Metal, Grupo de Mujeres Gay, A.C.,
(Metal Muses, Gay Women’s Group)
Mexico City