Founders - Asociación Vivir

About Dr. Eliana Garzón, Founder of Asociación Vivir

Over 12 years ago, Dr. Eliana Garzón started Asociación Vivir, an innovative program to assist women to better care for themselves and the health of their children and families in rural villages. Susila Dharma USA helped establish and continues to support this program. Dr. Garzón and Vivir are recognized for educating communities throughout Ecuador and the Andean Region with the technical support of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), the World Health Organization (WHO), and the collaboration of the Ecuadorian Ministry of Health. In June 2000, the WHO and PAHO selected Vivir as one of 15 health projects to serve as a model to the world in integrating new health approaches. Vivir is supported by EU, UNICEF, and the UN. Vivir's Reach includes visits or projects in over 400 rural and urban communities and has assisted more than 80,000 people in basic healthcare and nutrition.

The following words are from Dr. Garzón, regarding her recent appointment to head up an innovative nutrition program in conjunction with the United Nation's World Food Program, as reported to Julia Frischeisen-Kohler, a Vivir Director.

"I have some incredible news. Monday the 30th I was watching news on TV and saw an interview with the new Minister of Social Welfare (in Ecuador). A few minutes later, I got a call from her. She had gotten my number from a friend, a well-known journalist who is now the Secretary General of CAN (Community of Andean Nations). The minister invited me to her office and asked me to take charge of a program that will have a major impact for the country. It's called Alimentate Ecuador (Feed Ecuador). It's a very big challenge, but I feel that it would also be an opportunity to work on a national level with those sectors most in need: children from the poorest levels, mothers, and the handicapped. Now, more than ever Vivir needs systematization because these Vivir methodologies will be applied in the program. Can you imagine that at the same moment that I was in the Minister's office, I got a call from the President of the Republic on behalf of the Minister of Health asking me to be in charge of a family prevention program. I was almost paralyzed and didn't know what to say, but after calming down, accepted the work with the Alimentate Ecuador program. It's a radical change in my life requiring greater organization of Vivir, but we can expand the work. I have a great work team, coordinators all over the whole country and here I am with a new challenge. I know that this work with the government may be temporary because the politics in the country are changing and unstable, but it is an opportunity for Vivir to expand."