Photoville 2025: Women healers of Alto Baudó

Tens of thousands of people in the remote communities of Alto Baudó, in Colombia’s Chocó department, are terrorized by armed groups. Many are afraid to even leave their homes.

Mostly indigenous Embera or of African descent, they fear encountering armed groups, being forcibly recruited, or being injured by a mine explosion. If they need medical care, it can take up to 15 hours to find a health center and two to three days to reach a hospital.

The presence of armed groups in this area, bordered by the Baudó River and surrounded by tropical rainforest, prevents people from moving, fishing, harvesting food, attending school, or congregating for any reason. Violence forced more than 49,000 inhabitants to confine themselves in 2024. Nevertheless, the women of these communities are guardians—of their people and the natural environment. They see how violence sickens inhabitants and the territory, and they work to create healing.

For “Riografías: Women healers of Alto Baudó,” Colombian photographer Fernanda Pineda and Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) intercultural mediators worked with healers and midwives in Alto Baudó to ritually mend the wounds of their home. Their work is the focus of an exhibition featured in this year’s annual Photoville Festival in New York City from June 7 – 22.

Learn more about the event here >>

"Many years ago a doctor from Médecins Sans Frontières taught me how to suture," said community member Carmen Fidela Mena. "Sometimes there are no implements, and we have had to do it with dental floss. Chachajo is sick with fears. I am sure of that, because I, myself, live with that sickness." — "Chachajo is sick with fears," said community member Carmen Fidela Mena. "I am sure of that because I, myself, live with that sickness." | Colombia 2024 © Fernanda Pineda/MSF

“Healing with herbs is a tradition that the elders taught the young people, and the young people, when they had their families, taught their children what they knew."

— María Concepción, the oldest healer in her community

Traditional herbs used for healing in Colombia. — Palm leaves used by healer Dilia to stitch a photo of a room where an Indigenous community member was killed in Puesto Indio. | Colombia 2024 © Fernanda Pineda/MSF

A traditional healer in Colombia. — Midwife Rogelina Arce Campo, from Puesto Indio. | Colombia 2024 © Fernanda Pineda/MSF

Nancy Arce, holding her son, has a partner who was part of the Indigenous guard (a civilian protection group) in Puesto Indio and was murdered months before the birth of her child. The family and wider community continue to fight to preserve his memory. — Nancy Arce's partner was a member of a civilian protection group in Puesto Indio and was murdered months before the birth of her child. The family and wider community continue to fight to preserve his memory. | Colombia 2024 © Fernanda Pineda/MSF

Rogelina Arce symbolically heals a photo of a main street in her community using totumo leaves, which are often used to heal pain during childbirth. | Colombia 2024 © Yazury Dumaza/MSF

Riografías

The Riografías photography project was built on the knowledge and practices of local communities in the remote Alto Baudó region of northwestern Colombia, in line with MSF’s values as a medical humanitarian organization. In partnership with Colombian photographer Fernanda Pineda, we worked with seven women, all midwives and traditional healers, who come from Mojaudó, Chachajo, and Puesto Indio—Indigenous and Afro-descendant communities neglected by the state. They are linked together by the Baudó River, which provides transport, food, and water for washing clothes and dishes, even when widespread violence in the area makes these and other activities extremely difficult.

MSF works in Alto Baudó and other parts of Colombia affected by conflict. Our medical teams provide primary health care, mental health consultations, treatment for survivors of sexual violence, and other services to anyone who needs it, free of cost.

A woman stands in the middle of a river in Colombia.

Colombia 2024 © Fernanda Pineda/MSF

Where has the river taken us?

A journey along the Baudó River with photographer Fernanda Pineda.

In Alto Baudó, MSF tailored our medical humanitarian approach to meet the needs of local communities. People here live far from any clinics or hospitals and are surrounded by armed groups fighting over territory. Many have already been displaced from their homes by violence. They live in fear of being forcibly recruited by armed groups or injured in landmine explosions. This fear prevents them from moving freely, harvesting food, fishing, or attending school. Fear often confines them to their homes.

From 2022 to 2024, our teams trained 48 community health workers and health promoters to help people trapped in remote areas cut off from care by violence. This project helped ensure that people were able to receive basic medical services in their communities.

The healers

The knowledge and experience of healers in Alto Baudó is vital. They attend births, treat wounds, and care for the sick. When the medical needs exceed their traditional knowledge, community members trained by MSF can provide primary care or refer patients to health centers.

The healers applied sutures with medicinal plants to distressed photographs of locations haunted by harm—rebuilding with flowers and herbs what violence has broken. The participating community members were empowered to shape their own stories.

Puesto Indio

Rogelina Arce

On the main street of Puesto Indio, the community prevented the entry of an armed group. The armed group fired into the air and wounded two people.

“Almost everyone in this community is displaced by the conflict. Here, we built our little house where many people live, while back there is our real house and my tools for midwifery. As a midwife, I’ve had to go back and forth, always with fear.

Here, we are still afraid to go into the woods; sometimes we’’d rather go hungry than risk going into the woods, because a mine might hurt us.

Back there, the groups have destroyed our houses, thrown away our food, damaged our clothes, and broken our things, leaving everything in disarray. We want to return, but we are scared. The land is sick from the conflict.”

Chachajo

Carmen Fidela Mena

Community leaders died on this field in Chachajo.

“A healer is someone who, wherever there is a snake bite, people come to tell you and you‘ll go to that sick person and God helps you save them.

Many years ago, a physician from Doctors Without Borders taught me how to suture wounds. Sometimes, I don’t have the tools, like the needles and thread, so I have to use what I have: black thread and a well-disinfected sewing needle. And when there´s no sewing thread, we´ve had to use dental floss.

Chachajo is sick with fears. I am sure of that, because I live here with that illness. I don’t leave my house."

Riverographies of Baudó: the result – Healers and Places – Chachajo

Mojaudó

Teolinda Castro

At the Mojaudó school, there was a confrontation that left bullet holes in the walls and ceiling.

“The resucito plant is used to cure pain. If my child tells me ‘Oh, mom, my head hurts,‘ I get some resucito and wash their little head with it.

The day [the confrontation at the] school happened, I got under the bed because I thought: ‘Am I going to die? If my blood pressure rises, I die here.’ So I stayed still.

Mojaudó is sick with fear. Sometimes when a coconut or some other fruit falls on the roof we want to throw ourselves on the floor, we think it will start again.”

Mojaudó

Margarita Rojas Mena

“I cure the ‘evil eye,’ the evil of the nation. I have my herbs there on the rooftop and I use them for everything—for when children have worms, for stomach pain, for the flu. When there are wounds, I use my herbs, and sometimes I’ve had to do sutures.

Recently, one of the pigs I raised injured my dog’s face, the little black [dog], and opened a big wound. It took several people to hold him down by the legs while I closed the wound with thread and a needle. I closed it up and it healed, he’s much better now.

When the school incident happened, we left and then returned a few days later. The teacher doesn’t give classes there anymore because the school was all destroyed from the gunfire."

Riverographies of Baudó: the result – Healers and Places – Mojaudó

Chachajo

María Concepción Moreno

Two of María Concepción’s children were murdered.

“We only have herbs here. Very few of us buy pills. We lack many things here. One here does not have a water system. The electricity is bad. The health center is empty ... no [medicines], none of those things.

Life has been very hard in this community. Once, they threw us all into the [soccer] field ... the children and everyone. Not one of us could stay in our home; we all had to go there. Then the community was left alone. We all had to flee.

Healing with plants is a tradition. The elders teach the young ones, and they teach their families. We know which herb works for what.”

Puesto Indio

Dilia Rojas Isarama

In Puesto Indio, a member of the Indigenous guard was killed when he fled the community after being threatened. The other [guards] live in fear.

“I was my husband’s assistant; he was a jaibaná [spiritual healer]. With him, I learned to use plants and became acquainted with the spirits.

When we were displaced here, there was no jaibaná, my husband was no longer around, and my children needed medicine. That’s when I started my practice, and I became the first woman jaibaná in these communities.

The violence around here chases us and makes us sick.”

Puesto Indio

Leticia Queragama

“The experience of living through an armed confrontation... The children were running, falling down, the mothers went back to pick up their children. For me, that is the illness of the land, it affects our bodies because we have to leave, abandon our homes, and be displaced. The house I live in still has holes in the mats from the bullets.

More than 34 children have been born in my hands, my mother taught me that. She was the great teacher, she was jaibaná [a spiritual healer]. This year I have attended three births. It is a risk that we take as midwives because we have to go out at any time to attend the birth.
Midwifery is health. Having a full stomach is health.”

Fernanda Pineda is a Colombian photographer and filmmaker focused on documenting identity, diversity, and social issues in communities across Colombia and Latin America. Her collaborative creation approach actively engages protagonists in shaping visual stories, blending artistic exploration and narrative to inspire reflection and action. Pineda sees photography as a space for symbolic exploration, where images become tools for mutual recognition and social transformation.

Her work has been recognized and exhibited in spaces such as LATINAS at Rivoli Galerie in Paris,the Latin American Foto Festival at the Bronx Documentary Center, ArtBo, PhotoVogue Milan, and Arte X Arte Buenos Aires.

In the Indigenous community of Puesto Indio in Alto Baudó, Chocó, the river is crucial for transport, fishing, and washing clothes and dishes. Forced confinement limits these activities — For communities in Alto Baudó, the river is vital for daily life. It's used for transport, fishing, and washing clothes and dishes. | Colombia 2024 © Fernanda Pineda/MSF

Our work in Colombia

MSF recently scaled up our medical humanitarian work in Colombia to care for more people amid the most intense spike in violence in years. Our teams have witnessed the deterioration of people's health in places that have been cut off from care: children suffering from malnutrition, people with chronic diseases like diabetes or hypertension who've had their treatment interrupted, pregnant women who've received no prenatal care, and people with severe psychological symptoms related to the conflict. Many local health centers have closed or suspended activities due to the violence. MSF calls on all parties to the conflict to ensure that people have safe access to medical care.

This year, massive cuts to global US humanitarian assistance could have particularly dire effects on Colombia, which has long been the largest recipient of US foreign aid in the Americas. MSF does not accept funding from the US government, so our projects in Colombia and around the world are not directly affected. However, we know that these cuts will harm vulnerable people in Colombia and many other places where we work.

How you can help

Not everyone can treat patients in emergencies. But everyone can do something.

Some humanitarian crises make the headlines—others don’t. Unrestricted support from our donors allows us to mobilize quickly and efficiently to provide lifesaving medical care to the people who need it most, whether those needs are in the spotlight or not. And your donation is 100 percent tax-deductible.