?QUE PASO?

Wow, so much has happened in the past few days I can hardly believe it!

 

All of the health volunteers (about 30) were taken way up into the mountains of the Huancavelica region of Peru, southeast of Lima for field-based training exercises.  We had a lovely drive along the coast and then we ascended thousands of feet on switchback roads into the Andes mountains.  After living for a month in foggy, polluted urban Lima it was refreshing to be out in the gorgeous countryside, which alternated between rocky, barren landscapes to lush, green scenery.

 

 

(Photo of mountains in Huancavalica, notice switchback dirt road cutting through the hill in the top photo)

On the first day of field-based training, we stopped in Cañete to conduct a survey of residents who had received improved cookstoves from the volunteer serving in their community (see previous post on improved cookstoves).  Basically, we were simulating a post-test survey to find out if recipients are using the stoves correctly and can demonstrate proper maintenance procedures -- and that they are experiencing benefits from using it, such as lower fuel costs and fewer burns and respiratory illnesses.

Next, we headed to Huaytara, which would serve as our home base while we engaged in activities with the surrounding communities.

In the tiny community of Pilpichaca, we met a volunteer that coordinates health outreach activities with the health center.  This area is one of the poorest in Peru, and has the highest rates of infant mortality, maternal mortality and domestic violence in the country.  Many people cannot read and speak only Quechua, a modern version of the ancient language of the Incas.

One of the most glaring indicators of poor health in Peru is the rate of malnutrition among children, which is often caused by frequent diarrhea (as well as poor diet), which is often caused by poor hygiene.  Volunteers call it “Caca en la Boca” (Poop in the Mouth) because the type of severe diarrhea that causes dire health consequences is almost always the result of getting a bacteria, virus or parasite --normally found in poop -- into your mouth.  Remember those E.coli outbreaks?  E.coli comes from poop and gets in your food because of poor hygiene. (Ewwww!)

The job of the volunteer is to educate the community on good hygiene practices, including hand washing, drinking boiled water, safe handling of animals, proper maintenance of the kitchen, etc.  Some people don’t understand the connection between micro-organisms (magical things that you can’t see!) and getting sick, so they don’t bother washing their hands after using the toilet or keeping their pots-n-pans off the dirt floor of their kitchen where the chickens and guinea pigs have been running around.

 

So, it was our job to investigate people’s kitchens and latrines to make sure that they had soap and clean water for handwashing and that they could explain the signs of dehydration (from diarrhea) and tell us how to mix an oral rehydration solution so that their already malnourished children survive their next illness.

 

Next stop was Quishuarmpampa, where the health volunteers actually built a cocina mejorada (improved cookstove) with the bare hands!  We build it from the ground up using adobe bricks and mud and sheer willpower.  It was a filthy, dirty job, but it was well worth the effort.

 

Following our cookstove construction project, we had fun teaching the kids in the pueblo how to wash their hands properly.  One of the volunteers in our group had the brilliant idea of putting paint in each kid’s hand and them have them shake hands with the other kids to show how germs are passed from one person to another.

 

(Pre-handwashing = sad face)

 

 

Finally, we went back to Huaytara and somewhere along the way I picked up some nasty food poisoning that made me puke all night and most of the next day until there was absolutely nothing more to vomit and I STILL kept puking.  I honestly wondered how I would manage to get myself back to my host family’s home but fortunately the whole gang rallied around me and got me back without incident.  

 

Given the number of people who got sick (about half of our group) it feels like I have earned another check mark on the list of things you have to endure before you are considered a “real” Peruvian volunteer. 

Massive Attack of Food

Please don't misunderstand me, the food in Lima is delicious and plentiful and my host mom makes it just like my grandmother used to cook, especially heavy on meat and potatoes and rice.  Except my grandmother didn't heap ridiculous portions of food on my plate.

Breakfast: Let's consider the first (and most important) meal of the day.  For Peruvians, it definitely takes a backseat to lunch and dinner.  Most often I get a cup of watery oatmeal and a roll with jam, or sometimes with salty cheese or avacado.

Lunch: It's the biggest meal of the day.  And by biggest, let me tell you what I barely managed to get down my gullet (after begging my host mom to put less food on each plate):

--Large bowl of chicken noodle soup
--Full plate of chopped tomatoes and cucumbers
--1/4 Chicken
--Grilled onions
--Sweet potatoes
--Heapting pile of rice

Dinner:  Will probably the same food leftover from lunch, in the same portions.

After downing all that food for lunch, I am in a serious food coma. (Especially after eating fried plantains, fried sweet potatoes, bread, tamale and a papaya smoothie for breakfast this morning).
And I'm completely confounded by the double-down on the carbs -- rice AND potatoes? It seems like carb overkill if we aren't out plowing the fields every day. Why aren't there more obese people in Peru??

What is really odd is that I eat MUCH less than most people eat here. I always ask for less food, but my host mom makes so much fun of me for it -- "Karen eats like a little kitty-cat! She eats like a tiny doll! Oh, here is her little teacup!" [host mom dancing around the table with a toy teacup]. Apparently she thinks that she can shame me into stuffing myself silly, but she doesn't realize that she's dealing with a New Yorker. ;-)

(Photo of fried plantains)

My Peppers are Stuffed!

I’ve been crazy busy trying to absorb all of the new information our trainers have been throwing at us in order to prepare us for our field-based training next week.  Yes, we are actually going to a real site in the hills of Huancavalica, about a 7-hour drive south of Lima.  We will be helping the community build latrines, cooking stoves and micro-garbage dumps. 

Proper places to poop and toss out garbage are essential for obvious reasons – to avoid the spread of disease through proper handling of waste – but what about the cooking stoves?  In rural communities in Peru, women still make small fires on the dirt floors inside their homes to cook their food, which:

--requires a lot of fuel/firewood,

--is a fire hazard,

-- fills the house with smoke (contributing to lung dangerous infections for mothers and      children)

--and the women get a hunchback from leaning over the fire for hours

In response to the need for improved cookstoves, some crafty engineers developed a few designs for cookstoves that solve all of the above issues and are relatively inexpensive to build, and in most cases the Peruvian government or an NGO (an international aid organization) is footing the bill for it.

You can find out more about improved cookstoves (cocinas mejoradas):

http://www.cleancookstoves.org/countries/america/peru.html

In addition to preparing for my field-based training, I have also been working with a local family with a young daughter who is almost four years old.  We have been practicing some of our early childhood development techniques on her, including nutrition education.

Remember the old food pyramid?  Peru’s Ministry of Health has tossed the pyramid out the window and replaced it with three food categories:

--Foods that Give You Energy (carbs, fats and sugars)

--Foods that Help You Grow (proteins)

--Foods that Protect You (fruits and veggies)

Makes sense, right?  It re-arranges everything into new categories, so you’ll find veggies in the carbs/fats category (avocado) which make sense, but also you’ll find proteins in the carbs/fats category (peanuts) which makes my head spin.

Since we are already on the topic of food, we made stuffed peppers (rocoto relleno) in our Spanish class:

 

(Photo of me with my rocoto relleno)

 

(Photo of my Spanish class munching on their rocoto rellenos)

Here's a recipe if you are interested in making one for yourself!
http://perudelights.com/rocoto-relleno-fire-in-your-mouth/