The Paraguay Project

I’m frequently asked about derma e®’s The Paraguay Project and how it began. So here is the story.

My daughter, Sonny Miles, was in the Peace Corp in Paraguay. As a volunteer in a rural community teaching health and environmental education, she soon fell in love with the country and people and wanted to help her “second home”. When she returned to the U.S. she proposed The Paraguay Project to David and me. At first we began by buying the beautiful spiderweb lace (nanduti) from women’s co-ops. It has been proven over and over again in many less developed countries that giving women income elevates the entire community.

While we still sell the lace on the derma e® website, it soon became apparent that our limited sales were not enough to make a real difference. So David and I decided that a percentage of each sale of derma e® products would also be donated to Paraguay. Sonny was able to identify organizations that would actually put the money to good use instead of helping themselves.

Guyra Paraguay is an organization dedicated to educating the people of Paraguay in order to save the wild habitats that are still left (Rainforest and Chaco (desert)). Global Infancia works directly with women and children (who are often abused) teaching self-esteem, life skills and providing shelter if necessary. Clyde E. Bay Foundation teaches nursing skills and establishes health clinics so that remote villages can have medical assistance. derma e® is very proud of the fact that our donations have enabled this organization to finish a nursing school!

Our most recent special project was in the little village of San Pedro. The community needed another school classroom and asked derma e® for help. This became a joint project between the community and derma e®. We supplied the needed funds and the community supplied the labor. It took only 6 weeks for the community to build a new classroom.

David and I feel very strongly about giving back. derma e® also supports Special Olympics, Heal the Bay, World Wildlife Fund, The Brittany Foundation, The Coalition To End Family Violence, and of course I volunteer at MEND - Meet Each Need with Dignity on a weekly basis giving acupuncture treatments and Chinese herbs to my patients there. Volunteering is one of life’s blessings and if you would like some extra happiness, I highly recommend you give it a try.

I would also personally like to thank YOU for your support of derma e® products, as you too are contributing to the support of all of these great and worthwhile organizations.

Yours in health,
Dr. Linda Miles, L.Ac., D.O.M.