Environmentalist and filmmaker Céline Cousteau made this short documentary from 2009 about Amazon Promise, an organization that provides medical care to remote communities in the Peruvian Amazon basin, with a base in Iquitos. Patty Webster is the founder and and president of Amazon Promise.
In this film, Ms. Webster and her team of volunteers visited extremely remote jungle sites that could only be reached with transportation help from the Peruvian military and other government entities. Most communities that Amazon Promise medical teams work in receive care year round.
Ms. Webster wrote, “In 1993, our fledgling organization made a promise to help the forgotten, poverty-stricken families who live in this region. We have honored this pledge ever since, providing much-needed medical and dental care, health education and training from Iquitos and via outreach to 32 remote river villages located throughout Loreto, Peru’s largest state.”
To learn more about Patty Webster and Amazon Promise, you can read this article on the CNN Heroes page: She’s Indiana Jones, Mother Teresa, Susan Sarandon’ to Peru’s poor.
To learn more about Céline Cousteau, read her bio here.
Comment from Amazon Promise:
Wow, Harry, thank you (and Angels in Medicine) for your post, and the blast from the past!
15 years have gone by since Celine Cousteau created this wonderful film. So much has changed.
While we continue to accept volunteers for our medical outreach teams, our Peruvian medical staff goes out every three months (rain or shine) to provide healthcare, family planning, and health education to the remote communities we serve. This ensures ongoing access.
Volunteers can sign on to these teams. #sustainability
https://amazonpromise.org/outreach-trips/
Along with our partners at Engineers Without Borders USA, we’ve just installed the 19th rainwater catchment system. 19 communities are now drinking potable water which has really improved and changed the lives of thousands of people.
The Amazon Promise office in Iquitos, Peru is open throughout the year to provide followup care and assistance.