ist

I spent this past week in the city if Piura with a member of my community, Rosa, along with all of the other health volunteers in Peru and their community counterparts for In-Service Training. We participated in a 4 day long workshop where we learned about options for community projects which include organic gardens, agriculture, latrine construction, construction of improved kitchens, and early childhood and prenatal stimulation. The workshop was very helpful and I am especially excited that Rosa, who is the president of the Women and Mother’s club in my community, got the opportunity to come to the training sessions to not only learn more about Peace Corps but also take back some valuable and useful skills and information about projects we can do in our community.

sesiones demostrativas

One of the initiatives of the Health program in Peace Corps Peru is prevention of chronic malnutrition. In Peru, 40% of children under the age of 5 years old living in rural areas are chronically malnourished. Along with the NGO PRISMA, I have facilitated several sessions for mothers with young children about the importance of nutrition and how to prepare nutritious meals for their families. The women are so accustomed to serving rice and maybe a little bit of meat to their growing children every day. After talking about the significance of a balanced meal where children can get protein, and the important vitamins to be healthy growing children, we prepared foods from the region to show how easy it is to stay on a budget and prepare food that their kids will enjoy, but also that will provide adequate nourishment.
For this project, I worked with the Health Promoters in my community, who are volunteers who help with health promotion for families in Pampa Elera. It was great that I could get them involved and also that we could show the community that the community is working for itself to improve the health of its own children (not just have a random extranjera come in and teach how they should change their health practices). The sessions seemed to be successful and we plan to do follow up house visits with the families to ensure that they are practicing healthy and nutritional habits in their homes.

visita a la selva

Last week, Dave came down to visit and we took a trip to the jungle of Peru. Being in the jungle was such a cool experience. The culture, climate, and surroundings made me feel like I was in a whole new country. We started in Tarapoto, which is a city in the cloud forest. We visited an amazing waterfall there. The next day, we took a 12 hour boat ride down the Rio Huallaga (tributary to the Amazon) to the little town of Lagunas. The only boat we could get to take us to Lagunas was a local boat where everyone takes their own hammock on the boat. We were surrounded by mothers and children swinging in the hammocks. Once in Lagunas, we met up with our guides, José and Johvita. For the next three days, we explored Reserve Pacaya Samiria, which is Peru’s largest national reserve. José and Johvita took us in a conoe up and down the small rivers and lakes that make up the Western part of the reserve. There, we saw macaws, crocodiles, anacondas, crocodiles, capuchin monkeys, wooly monkeys, butterflies, spiders, lizards, turtles, and many river fish including pirahnas. After the reserve, we took a 2 day boat cruise down the Rio Huallaga to the city of Iquitos. On the boat, we got to see river dolphins, flocks of tropical birds, and views of jungle villages on the river. We spent two days in Iquitos. Our favorite part was our visit to a butterfly farm and animal preserve, where we met several monkey amigos, jaguar, giant ant eater, tapir, three-toed sloth babies, and butterflies of every color. We ended our trip by spending a few days in Lima. We had a great time.