It has been interesting for me to live in a Catholic country and observe customs and beliefs of the people here. I’ve attended masses, baptisms, had interesting conversations about religion with my neighbors, and the priest of a nearby town has even tried to convince me that I should let him baptize me. Last week, I got to witness yet another interesting aspect of the Peruvian Catholic culture as hundreds of pilgrims passed through our valley. As in any Catholic country, saints are a big deal here. In October, Peru celebrates the Saint Señor Cautivo de Ayabaca. This particular saint is the patron saint of the town of Ayabaca, which is in the highlands of Piura (about 2 days by foot from my town). Devout Catholics from all over Peru make a pilgrimage each year to Ayabaca. Pilgrims come all the way from Lima, and even more south. They walk north for weeks as more and more people join them en route to Ayabaca. It was fascinating to see them cross through the valley, only 2 days away from their final destination; some of them in large groups marching to a beating drum, some dragging a huge cross, some carrying a Saint Señor de Ayabaca statue or a portrait of a sick loved one, and others literally crawling to demonstrate the penance of their sins. It was very dramatic; I was tempted to start walking with them. Maybe next year…
The sessions we are having in the center for infant development are going well. Each week more mothers and their babies are attending. It is really exciting to see the progress of this project since its start in May and know that it can only grow from here. Here are some pictures of the babies and infants with their moms playing in the center with the toys that the promoters and I put together.
This month I am celebrating living one year in Peru. It is pretty hard to believe that over a year ago, I left Charlottesville to venture off on a 2 year journey without really knowing what I was getting myself into. There have been ups and downs, to say the least. I have learned so many things about myself and the world that are not only surprising, but also disappointing, exciting, silly, thought-provoking, sad, and blissful. It is hard to put into words the range of emotions, discoveries, and thoughts that I have had in the past year. I have faced challenges that I had no idea I would have to face. I have met wonderful people who have broadened my perspective. I have seen situations of poverty that have changed my outlook on the world forever. I have participated in community and family events that I will never forget. I have started projects that hopefully are starting to improve the health and well-being of members of my community.
It’s weird to think that my time in Peru is not even half way over (27 months in total). But I am really looking forward to the rest of my Peace Corps service. When I got off of the plane a year ago, I was excited, but also really scared about what was to come. Now, I can confidently say that I am excited (but not scared) to continue to learn about myself and the world; and most importantly, make a positive impact in my community.
After a lot of planning, we have finally started our sessions in the infant development center. I have worked closely with 7 women who are the “Promoters” of the center. They are community members who have volunteered to be in charge of running and organizing the sessions. I have given them several training sessions about the importance of early intervention and stimulation and infant development. Our center is focusing on children under the age of three, which is a crucial stage in development. We are starting with the basics by emphasizing the importance of play. Most of these infants are under-stimulated and don’t ever have proper “playtime.” After doing some background research about infant development stages and appropriate games and toys, I collaborated with the promoters to make some basic toys that will stimulate development. While I would have loved to recommend to the mothers the latest Fisher Price toy that stimulates the senses and develops of hand-eye coordination and motor skills, I had to keep in mind what resources we actually had to work with. We had several workshops to make toys such as mobiles, rattles, stacking blocks, textured books, shape puzzles, etc that are made from basic materials that are easily and cheaply available in our town that target development for babies and infants 0 to 3 years old. For example, we made rattles out of plastic bottles and rice rinds (being surrounded by rice fields, this is one material definitely in abundance). After prepping with promoters with some background knowledge and working with them to make toys, we invited the mothers with babies in our town to the center for our first session. While the first session definitely left some room for improvement, both the promoters and the mothers and babies showed enthusiasm and interest.
It is hard to explain the significance and important potential that I see in this center. In the States, the infants are effortlessly stimulated and played with. Surrounded by toys, healthy food, good medical care, and a high standard for learning at a young age, the average infant in the developed world is lucky with what she has, without her or her parents even realizing it. But in developing countries, there has been little or no focus on early infant stimulation. Imagine a home where the two year old literally plays with trash and stares at the ground for hours. She gets fed a plate of rice three times a day and has never visited the doctor. I have seen so many of these homes here, and I think (and hope!) that our new center is going to make a difference for the youngest members of Pampa Elera.
For the past two weeks, I have been working hard with the youth health promoters giving talks in the high school. The peer health promoters have been visiting every classroom in our high school and teaching, discussing, and promoting healthy lifestyles through the prevention of HIV/Aids, Sexually Transmitted Infections, and unwanted pregnancies. It has been interesting, because I know how “sex-ed” talks to teenagers can be awkward. But I think that the students and teachers have been absorbing what we’ve been discussing and hopefully we’re making a difference. I’ve been having the promoters use non-formal educational techniques so that these talks can be (relatively) fun and interesting and (relatively) un-awkward.
In their regular coursework, there is no mention of sex, sexuality, adolescence, or prevention of pregnancy or STIs. And because the majority of the families are conservative and religious, from what I can tell, parents aren’t really giving “the talk” to their kids. In addition to a relatively high prevalence of STIs reported by the health post, there are also a high number of teen pregnancies in my town. During this school year, three of the girls in the senior class (of 25 students) dropped out because they were pregnant.
In our educational sessions in the classrooms, the adolescents are getting a good opportunity to learn from their own peers about these important themes. We have the permission of the teachers and parents, so we are not imposing any taboo topics. We are able to bring up topics that the kids are obviously curious about (and experimenting with) so that they can be safe and healthy.
I often write about work I’m doing or fun events in Pampa Elera, but I have neglected sharing about my everyday routine and basic lifestyle here. I’ll dedicate this entry to the basic life essential: water. After reading this, I hope you all appreciate the next time you turn on your sink and drink a nice glass of clean running water.
None of the homes in my community have running water. We get all of our water from the river. To wash my clothes, we go to the river. To bathe, everyone goes to the river (sometimes I go along; and sometimes, stuck in my American ways, fill up my shower bag and attempt to “shower” in my house with water dripping out of a bag). To cook, clean, and drink, we all haul buckets of water from the river to our houses (which is REALLY HARD!)
Once the water is in their homes, most of the families boil their water to purify it. I use a purification system called SODIS, which is solar water disinfection. It uses solar UV-A radiation to kill pathogens that may cause diarrhea. I put the “contaminated” water into a transparent plastic bottle and then put the bottle on top of my tin roof for the day. In 6 hours of direct sunlight, the UV-A rays kill the microbes and improve the quality of the drinking water. Although time-consuming, it’s a pretty cool method and the water tastes fresh and delicious.
Since June, I have been working with a group of 7 high school students on an HIV/Aids prevention project. The teenagers participated in 15 hours of training that I put together and they are now certified as Peer Health Promoters. (Getting certificates is a big deal here, check out the pictures of our certification ceremony with their parents). During their training, the promoters learned about themes such as adolescence, gender and sexuality, reproduction, prevention of STIs and pregnancy, and all about HIV and Aids.
After their certification, we wrote a grant proposal for funding for a promotion campaign. We are soliciting funds from PEPFAR, which is the President’s Emergency Plan For Aids Relief. The US government has money set aside for small projects in developing countries with HIV prevalence. We have turned in our grant and are waiting to hear if we are approved! If we get the funding, we plan on doing a radio show that promotes healthy lifestyles, three educational sessions in all of the high school classes, making t-shirts and other promotional materials, and putting on a health fair on December 1, which is International HIV/Aids Awareness Day. The Peer Health promoter project is probably the biggest project I am working on right now, and will be spending a lot of time from now till December working with the teenage promoters and the rest of the school. Stay tuned for more updates!
