26-28
FROM AWARENESS TO ACTION
The purpose
of helping
people become
more aware of
their situation
is not to
breed anger
or discontent.
Rather it is to
enable people
to take positive
action.
‘Consciousness raising’ that begins only with talk and is not linked to practical skills
or activities, often ends as it began—in just talk. But when the development of
critical awareness is linked to meeting specific local needs, it can help people
find the spirit, energy, and sense of direction required for effective action.
Consider the following example from Honduras:*
In Olancho. Honduras, rural health workers had been active for years, giving
standard health talks and telling women how they should “change their behavior for
better health.” But almost no one paid any attention. Being talked at and told what
to do did not convince anyone to change much of anything.
But when a new, community-based approach to meeting health needs was
begun, things began to change. Women promotoras were trained with a strong
emphasis on self-care and critical awareness of social conditions. Women were
chosen rather than men because women were “viewed as the most stable and
potentially most powerful element in the society—as well as the most oppressed.”
The promotora’s role as a health worker, although important, was seen as
secondary to her function as an organizer and consciousness raiser in her village. It
was, therefore, considered essential that she recognize her own role and the place
of health in relation to the overall social structure in Honduras:
“In the training program, before any health content was taught, the promotoras
discussed issues such as the nature of man, the reality of Honduras, the role of
the Honduran woman, and the role of grass-roots organizations in the change
process. They discussed nutrition ... focusing on the politics of food distribution,
the relationship between malnutrition and oppression in Honduras and all the
Third World . . . and the politics of health care. The women also learned how
to lead group discussions—that is, what kind of questions to ask and how to
lead the dialogue in such a way that their comrades would begin to critically
analyze their reality, looking at root causes and consequences of problems, and
searching for solutions that would bring about radical change rather than mere
reform.”
*This report, with language slightly simplified, is taken from “Cresting Critical Consciousness in Health:
Applications o* Freite’s Philosophy and Methods to the Health Care Setting,” by Meredith Minkler. We also
have visited and worked with promoloras from this program in Olancho, Honduras.