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VISIÓN | VISION
Sánate Boricua es un proyecto emergente para crear espacios accesibles y sostenibles de sanación, aprendizaje, y trabajo organizativo en la costa oeste de Boriké(n)/Puerto Rico por medio de clases, eventos y clínicas de sanación ambulares y una botica en guagüita. Somos liderades por Boricuas, construimos puentes entre Boricuas en todas partes y priorizamos las necesidades de nuestra gente más vulnerabilizadas.
Sánate Boricua is an emerging project to create accessible and sustainable healing/learning/organizing spaces on the West Coast of Boriké(n)/Puerto Rico through classes, healing events and clinics, and an mobile herbal van. We are Boricua-led, build bridges between Boricuas everywhere and prioritize the needs of our most vulnerable[ized] people.
¿QUIÉN? | WHO?
Corilla Organizativa | Organizing Crew
Anelle [she/her] is a Cancer sun, Cancer rising and Sagittarius moon. She is an entrepreneur, chef instructor, evolutionary astrology coach and budding permaculturalist. As a child she loved to sing, dance, cook, write poems & short stories, and read fantasy books. Anelle has a BS in Culinary Management and a degree in Baking & Pastry Arts from Escuela Hostelera de San Juan. For the past nine years, she has been a culinary arts and pasty instructor at Instituto de Banca, Nova College, and Universidad Interamericana de Bayamón and taught cake decorating workshops in various low income communities. She is the former co-owner of DiPastry, a successful cake decorating business. Her experience in culinary arts made her aware of how disconnected food preparation systems are from locally grown food and she is passionate about raising awareness about this on her homeland of Puerto Rico. While working at a farm in California, Anelle was inspired to transition to slow living and heal through plant medicine. Her yoga and Ayurveda practice as well as her experience in Botica del Bosque, which supports women from all backgrounds in growing, harvesting, and producing herbal medicine, have inspired her to create a small lodging business with a permaculture-centered community garden. Anelle has also been invited throughout the island to lead intuitive astrology coaching sessions for healing events.
Anelle Michelle Garcia
Susimar González Martínez
Born in Santurce, PR to a mother of Spanish descent and a father of African descent Susimar [she/her] is a single mother, sister, daughter, friend, Puerto Rican, bonafide farmer, researcher and lecturer. My academic background is in chemical sciences but my knowledge in agriculture was acquired by my maternal lineage from my grandfather Fabian Martínez. My grandfather, born in 1896, a period when Puerto Rico still belonged to Spain, introduced me to my mother Earth (Boriké) as a great school where by playing I learned to love what it offered us. From its tubers (yucca, yam, sweet potato) to its weeds (cundeamor, yanten, rompesaraguey), agriculture is about connecting in the synchronicity of the trees with the bushes, the herbs and the environment, that's what he told me. Since 2011, I work, study and learn from the land that surrounds me full time. I was the owner, designer and speaker of a garden that encouraged the use of medicinal plants in the landscape architecture of gardens in Puerto Rican homes in the southern area of Puerto Rico. For 4 years, I designed areas that not only looked pretty but also provided food supplements for homes. Currently, I have a farm where I practice ancestral agriculture and lunar planting. I guide young farmers in the practice of ancestral agriculture and am a volunteer speaker for organizations like Urbe-apie. I offer workshops on medicinal native and endemic plants of Puerto Rico to preserve the flora that maintains an agriculture with ancestral wisdom. Simultaneously, I’m the owner and designer of Herboestetica, where I make native plants based skin products sourced from Puerto Rican farmers.
Myrna Cabán Lezcano
Myrna [she/they] is a queer Boricua community herbalist, educator, cultural organizer and community weaver. Since 2014, Myrna has been facilitating herbalism classes, leading community circles and sharing response medicine. Music and plants are her sanctuary. Healing home and remixing ancestral recipes are her passions. She is committed to creating healing/learning spaces that are accessible and liberatory for all, especially QTIBIPOC fam and Boricuas everywhere. Myrna knows intimately the experiences of being a working class, survivor, caregiver, living with chronic pain. Her family and ancestors, for at least 5 generations, have been born and raised Borikén (Puerto Rico): Arecibo, Manati, Morovis, Camuy, Lares, Mayagüez, Moca and Ponce. Her abuelxs inspired her to connect to Spirit and healing by growing gandules (pigeon peas), raising chickens, making dream-based predictions, and singing spontaneous songs. Myrna is currently on a journey to dig deeper into her immediate Boricua mixed race lineages. Since 2012, Myrna has been returning to Boriké(n) to heal, learn from the land, connect with her people and provide medicine.
Voluntaria: Apoyante [Comunidad + Recursos] | Volunteer: Supporter [Community + Resources]
Adela Nieves Martinez
Adela Nieves Martinez [she/her] CCT, RMT, ADS, is a Traditional Community Health
Practitioner, Certified Doula, Storyteller and Mama. She is deeply committed to her Taino (Indigenous Peoples of the Caribbean) roots and restorative wellness, practicing Auricular Acupuncture, cupping therapy, whole person natural care, Reiki and Indigenous Traditional medicine for individuals and groups struggling with addiction, PTSD, stress, and trauma. She collaborates with health practitioners, healers, and healing justice organizers, locally and nationally, to create community-informed healing practice spaces, mobile clinics and collectives.
Adela is the founder of Healing by Choice!, a diverse group of Women and Gender Non-
Conforming Indigenous and People of Color Health and Healing Arts Practitioners
based in Waawiyatanong (Detroit). After five years, she transitioned out to return to the
land of her people – Boriké (also known as Puerto Rico). She now dedicates her time on the island to building community-based support structures for health-care, disability and resource-sharing.
Photo of an intergenerational group at a Sánate Boricua gathering. Foto de grupo intergeneracional en un encuentro de Sánate Boricua.
Estamos co-creando
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Una red conectada y sostenible de voluntaries, curanderes, profesionales y facilitadores que se sintonice con las necesidades de las comunidades locales
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Una botica con plantas, medicinas y semillas nativas del archipiélago
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Huerta de plantas (en tiestas y en tierra) que se pueden usar para apoyar la fabricación de medicamentos
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Un programa de sanación híbrida en línea para la Diáspora que cree/fortalezca el puente de apoyo + recursos para el trabajo de sanación de SB y la sanación de DiasBoricuas
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Colaboración con otras personas y grupis locales para apoyar el trabajo de sanación que ya se está realizando
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Clínicas de sanación ambulares en con apoyo con voluntarios y otros grupos
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Eventos y/o talleres de sanación para grupos específicos de personas (familias/niños, ancianos, cuir/trans+, personas sin hogar)
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Una guagua de medicinas ambulantes para compartir medicina y diferentes modalidades de curación con lugares y personas como nuestros mayores, con menos acceso
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Programa de capacitación local de fin de semana que aumentará la preparación consciente del trauma de las personas que apoyan las clínicas móviles de sanación
We are co-creating
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A connected, sustainable network of volunteers, healers, practitioners, and facilitators that will be tuned in to the needs of our local communities on the west side of Boriké(n)
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A people's apothecary centering native archipelago plants, medicine and seeds
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A garden (in pots and in the earth) that can be used to support medicine-making
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An online hybrid healer’s program for Diaspora that creates/strengthens the bridge of support + resources for SB's healing work and DiasBoricua healing
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Collaboration with people and local groups to support healing work already happening
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Seasonal mobile healing clinics in partnership with volunteers and other groups
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Events and healing workshops for specific groups of folks (families/children, elders, queer/trans+, houseless)
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A mobile herbal medicine van to share medicine and different healing modalities with places and people like our elders, with less access
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Organizing local weekend trainings program that will increase the trauma-conscious preparedness of folks supporting the mobile healing clinics
Foto de clase de plantas digestivas nativas con Susimar. Group photo of native digestive plants class with Susimar.
Virtual + In-Person Events in Boriké(n) / Puerto Rico
Eventos Presenciales en Boriké(n)/ Puerto Rico y Virtuales
VALORES | VALUES
Nuestras comunidades tienen todo el conocimiento intelectual, emocional, físico y espiritual que necesitamos para sanarnos. Honramos y celebramos la sabiduría antigua y moderna de nuestras comunidades y compartimos este legado con nuestros pueblos. Por lo cual, estos son nuestros valores: // Our communities have all the intellectual, emotional, physical and spiritual knowledge we need to heal ourselves. We honor and celebrate the ancient and modern wisdom of our communities and share this legacy with our people. Therefore, these are our values:
Empatía y respeto promoviendo un ambiente inclusive para todes, respetando distintos puntos de vista y honrando la historia/sabiduría de cada persona. // Empathy and respect by promoting an inclusive environment for all, respecting different points of view and honoring the history/wisdom of each person
Colaboración: Co-crear y compartir información educativa de plantas medicinales nativas y ancestrales; promoviendo intercambios de medicina herbolaria intercultural sin barreras // Collaboration: Co-create and share educational information on native and ancestral medicinal plants; promoting barrier-free intercultural herbal medicine exchanges
Equidad: Apoyar prácticas de equidad, sostenibles, eco-amigables, basadas en tierra y comunidad. Justo intercambio relacionado a productos de alimentos, hierbas y botánicos //Equity: Support equitable, sustainable, eco-friendly, land and community-based practices. Fair exchange related to food, herb and botanical products
Honestidad y transparencia en el proceso de sanación por parte del individuo y de la persona ofreciendo el servicio de sanación o creando espacio para sanacion de otrxs [cliente: ser honestx en formularios, historial] [practicante: saber límites y comprometer a confidencialidad] // Honesty and transparency in the healing process on the part of the individual and the person offering the healing service or creating space for the healing of others [client: be honest in forms, history] [practitioner: know limits and commit to confidentiality]
Integración de diferentes técnicas de sanación: plantas medicinales, acupuntura, yoga, música, arte, movimiento corporal, practicas energéticas, etc. // Integration of different healing techniques: medicinal plants, acupuncture, yoga, music, art, body movement, energy practices, etc. //
Group photo for a Sánate Boricua native plant medicine-making workshop. Foto grupal para un taller de medicinas de plantas nativas de Sánate Boricua.
¿Cómo definimos "sanación" hasta ahora?
How is "healing" defined by Sánate Boricua so far ?
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una práctica de por vida guiada por el consentimiento y la sabiduría de la persona primero
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arraigado en el cuidado colectivo reflexivo, en vez de una meta o un destino
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compromiso de por vida para deshacer los sistemas de opresión individuales, colectivos y sistémicos [colonialismo, racismo, capacitismo, clasismo, homo/transfobia, etc.]
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exalta el trabajo de las personas que históricamente han hecho este trabajo de la manera que han podido hacerlo en las islas y en la diáspora
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a lifelong practice guided guided by the consent and wisdom of the person first
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rooted in thoughtful collective care, rather than a goal or destination
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a lifelong commitment to undoing and individual, collective and systemic systems of oppression [colonialism, racism, ableism, classism, homo/transphobia, etc]
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uplifts the work of people who have historically done this work in ways they have been able to on the islands and in the diaspora