MARIA
LUISA ORTIZ
WOMEN'S COOPERATIVE
MULUKUKU,
R.A.A.N., NICARAGUA
cooperative and clinic
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Biography
Dorothy Virginia Granada
Dorothy was born December 8, 1930, in Los Angeles, California, of a Mexican-American mother and Filipino father. In childhood she experienced the poverty of the Great Depression, racism and the violence of a marginalized community.
After being expelled from two high schools in Los Angeles, she traveled to the Philippine Islands, finished high school and studied at the University of Santo Tomas in Manila. Returning to the United States, she was the first Chicana to be admitted to the nursing school of the Good Samaritan Hospital Los Angeles. In 1954 she received a diploma in nursing and a Bachelor of Science from Los Angeles State College.
Her nursing career has included numerous administrative and teaching positions, including: at St. Luke's Hospital in Ponce, Puerto Rico as a worker of the Episcopal Church where she was "matron"; as Assistant Director of Nursing at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts; as Director of Medical Nursing at the University of Chicago Hospitals; as supervisor of nursing of public health for one-fourth of Multnomah County in the Department of Publich Health in Portland, Oregon; and as Director of Inpatient Services at the Community Mental Health Center in East Chicago, Indiana.
The direction of her life has been informed by an understanding of the Christian Gospel to stand with the poor and resist violence. Since 1980 she has lived a simpler life-style and devoted her energies to nonviolent peace and justice projects, including in 1983, the 40 day International Fast for Life, a campaign to promote a nuclear weapons freeze. In 1987 she "lived on the tracks" as part of the Nuremberg Actions at the Concord Naval Weapons Station.
In 1985, Dorothy helped establish the accompaniment program for the Grupo de Apoyo Mutuo (families of the disappeared) in Guatemala who were targeted for death by a government-sponsored death squad. This began accompaniment not only of this group but of other endangered leadership in resistance to state repression.
Also in 1985, Dorothy joined Witness for Peace in Nicaragua as a long-term volunteer. While living in a re-settlement commmunity, she became aware of the need for women-directed reproductive health services for women and girls in the countryside. In March of 1990 she was invited by the Maria Luisa Ortiz Women's Cooperative in Mulukuku to assist in establishing a women's health clinic.
Led by needs that women themselves articulate, the health clinic has grown into a women's center providing a variety of programs that contribute to women's taking control of their lives and claiming their dignity. These include emotional recovery of women and children from violence, literacy training, a loan fund, defense of women and children, legal services, training in gender andmediation skills, and human and civic rights. To promote health in rural communities, education of Community Health workers is offered, as well as providing health care in distant communities.
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