Comunidad Blog

More Donations for the New Dental Clinic at Casa Hogar Canyon Buena Vista

Wed, 07 Jul 2010 19:22:00 -0400

Good news for the Casa Hogar orphanage and the Village of Canyon Buena Vista in Baja. Comunidad Para Baja California has teamed with longtime supporters Dr. Larry Tabor, Rotary of North San Jose, and the Nevada City Breakfast Rotary to provide much-needed equipment to outfit a newly-constructed dental clinic that will serve the children of the orphanage and people of the village. The group loaded a van and made the trip to Casa Hogar to outfit the clinic with donated equipment that will make it possible to provide ongoing dental clinics to the local people.

The first clinic at the new facility is scheduled for August 5, 2010. We expect to see 60 people over the day and a half clinic. Comunidad has been serving the village for the past 8 years from make shift clinics located in schools and churches. The new clinic represents a giant leap forward in the way that Comunidad and its partners can provide dental care in this underserved village.

North San Jose Rotary Annual Auction and Dinner

Mon, 21 Jun 2010 17:19:00 -0400

The Comunidad Para Baja California Team (Bill Rush; Teresa Moreno and husband Johnny; Mo Mahmoud and wife Ada; Dan Figueroa, and myself and daughter Maya) took part in the recent North San Jose Rotary Club annual auction. The event took place June 12 in San Jose and included a number of auction items that generated a solid operating pool for the club's next year.

The North San Jose Rotary has been an active partner with Comunidad Para Baja California in our ongoing activities in Baja. Most recently outgoing president Jaime Angulo joined forces with the Ensenada rotary to put together a long-term engagement with the tribal communities that Comunidad Para Baja California serves. First major program will be the construction of a new clinic for the San Jose de la Zorra tribe. Rotary and Comunidad Para Baja California will be heading down to Ensenada for a series of projects in August. For anyone who would like to participate, contact Bill Rush at 408-499-5088 for details.

Tecate Kumiai Museum in the San Diego Union-Tribune

Thu, 27 May 2010 01:52:00 -0400

Last week the San Diego Union-Tribune ran a great article on the Tecate Kumiai Museum including photos and interviews with local Kumiai people; check it out HERE.

Please show your support by commenting at the end of the article.

CAREM Museum Project

Mon, 17 May 2010 15:25:00 -0400

Whenever possible, Comunidad partners with other organizations in our goal to help the indigenous population of Northern Mexico. Our partners include the Rotary Club (with whom we're building a clinic in San Jose de la Zorra), Project Mexico (building 6 houses this summer in one of the Nativo communities), 1000 Smiles (whose clinic we use for our dental work) and CUNA, the Native Cultures Institute.

Recently one of our board members, Mike Wilken, who has been working with CAREM, a Tecate-based non-profit dedicated to identifying, preserving and educating the public about the historical and cultural heritage of Baja California, told us about a new museum project he's been working on. Check out http://www.carem.org./museokumiai/index-en.html and spread the word. It's a great project and one that has direct bearing on Comunidad, since the Kumeyaay are one of the four tribes that we support. Please spread the word about CAREM and the museum to your friends and associates.

Cucapah Needs Your Help – 7.2 Earthquake Hits Baja

Tue, 20 Apr 2010 03:19:00 -0400

First Haiti, then Peru, then Mexico and now China: the world at large - and specifically non-profits - are seeing a case of 'earthquake fatigue'. It's hard to know which group got hit the hardest, where you should donate, and what that money can do. For Comunidad, the focus is on the Baja earthquake and its devastating effect on the Cucapah tribe, which is located almost at the quake's epicenter. The community, which in the best of times has a barely livable infrastructure, saw its school, common buildings and many of its houses badly damaged by the quake. And with the aftershocks coming frequently, the tribespeople are forced to live outdoors in tents as they try to restore and rebuild.

I know that your wallets as well as your minds are suffering from this 'earthquake fatigue'. But if you can find it in your hearts and budgets to make one more donation, we guarantee you that it will go directly and immediately to the tribes. We have already sent down a mercy mission, with more to follow. Your donations will make a huge difference to a people whose subsistence lifestyle just got reduced to conditions that rival those of any of the earthquake victims around the world.

Please give.

To help the Cucapah, please donate at http://bajacomunidad.org/donate or call me at 408-355-0108.

-Tom Hogan, President, Comunidad Para Baja California

Comunidad Builds a New Dental Clinic for the Casa Hogar Orphanage in Mexico

Wed, 03 Feb 2010 17:00:00 -0500

The fall of 2009 saw the completion of a new dental clinic for the orphans of Casa Hogar, an orphanage located in Canyon Buena Vista, 15 kilometers south of Ensenada. The clinic is the culmination of three years of planning and construction, led by Dr. Larry Tabor, Comunidad's head of Dental Services and Bill Rush, Comunidad's Director of Infrastructure. The clinic will not only help serve the 74 children that live at the orphanage but also the more than 10,000 local residents of the community comprised mostly of migrant workers from Mexico, El Salvador and Guatemala.

The three-chair dental clinic includes a full lab, x-ray room, waiting area and restroom. The construction process took more than 20 trips with various construction talent working four-day w

eekends to accomplish the task. Crews flew in small planes from the Bay Area to Ensenada to transform a piece of dirt into a 3,000 sq. ft. school and dental clinic. Locals also helped install security bars, construct retaining walls and move the mountains of dirt needed for proper drainage and access.

Over the years Comunidad, in association with Los Medicos Voladores (The Flying Doctors), has helped Casa Hogar grow from a dirt-floored structure with random bunk beds stacked to the ceiling to today's collection of buildings, which include a music room, computer room, and now the school and clinic. Larry, in association with Soledad, Casa Hogar's director, has made it his mission to build a proper dental clinic for the orphanage c

hildren and the town in general. He had served this village for years and spent many weekends as a volunteer dentist working out of a small church in less than ideal conditions. With the financial support from Comunidad Para Baja California, Flying Doctors, Rotary Clubs of North San Jose, Auburn, Grass Valley, and Pasadena, along with many personal donors, his idea came to fruition. "All that is left is to stock the shelves and open the door to the community" says Dr. Tabor.

The long-term plan is to have a Mexican dentist work at the clinic full-time and have it available for volunteer groups to run dental clinics for the underserved people living in the area.

Welcome to the Comunidad blog

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 12:31:00 -0400

Comunidad is a group of volunteers based in northern California who work with the indigenous tribes (Kumeyaay, Paipai, Cucapah and Kiliwa) of northern Mexico to improve their health, education and infrastructure.

We have a simple mission: work with the Nativos to identify their needs; provide programs and resources (human and financial) to meet these needs; give them the training and resources to provide for themselves in the future; then move on to help the next tribe.

We've made quite an impact in our first six years of operation, whether it's conducting health fairs and dental clinics, creating potable water and sanitation systems, or funding the education for Nativo kids whose only other alternative is the fields or factories.

We accomplish most of this through 4-day trips down to the Baja region (usually flying down in one of our small planes). To learn more about how to get involved-or to join us on one of our trips-contact me @ thogan@bajacomunidad.org or at 408-355-0108.