Every Monday and Wednesday I walk down to the puesto de salud- the health post. The puesto is a reverted two-bedroom house that provides free medical care to about 2,500 people. Staffed by one doctor (two days a week), three nurses (five days a week) and a tecnico (kind of like a nurse's assistant in the US), the puesto handles everything from prenatal check-ups to, "Oops, looks like I shot myself." My town is lucky enough to have the regional hospital less than 4k away but the wait is long, up to 7 or 8 hours, and the care is impersonal and hurried. Thus, gunshots, bunyons, preggos and all report to the puesto.
The doctor that works at our puesto is the only one in the area and ultimately provides basic care to somewhere between 2,500 - 7,000 people from Monday - Thursday. She is 26, tiny and kind of moves around like a cyclone, asking the patients their names 5 times in a 10 minute visit. She studied in Cuba and speaks some basic English and is known to the people around here as the 'doctorita' - The Little Doctor. And me? I now go by, la doctorita's ayundantita- the little doctor's littler helper.
While I'm still trying to focus on helping the community, well, uh... I can't deny that I'm sucking up these one-on-one medical classes conducted in Spanish- sucking them dry. I didn't think I would be doing much job shadowing in the Peace Corps but if it lands in my lap with a resounding, HOLA!, what am I supposed to do?
And so, my recent activities include getting to know my community (still), planning classes with the professors and directors, working with the youth group to do STI-awareness activities and hanging out with my doctorita on Mondays and Wednesdays. Soon we'll start planning town meetings for specific subjects like : Tips for New Mothers, Managing your High Blood Pressure/Diabetes and Healthier Cooking Techniques. Though unfortunately, we won't be doing any of that until it stops being so cold outside. It turns out people stop leaving their houses/going to school when the cold sets in. And it has set in!
Two nights ago the temperature got down to 0 C and we had a frost in the morning. This might be a refreshing change from the sweltering heat if it weren't for the lack of insulation, HVAC systems, windows, doors, etc. Generally, the temperature is lower inside the houses than it is outside, especially if the sun is out, leaving you to see your breath while you take a shower and relieving that wearisome sensory burden of feeling your toes and fingers. Personally, this inescapable cold has given me the gift of bronchitis. As a rebuttal to the antibiotic I'm on, my body has, in return, given me the gift of vomiting. Some people are just too generous.
In short, I will never again complain about the heat in Paraguay or the healthcare system in the US of A. Wish me luck not catching my synthetic polyester blanket on fire while huddling next to the burning charcoal pit!
29 June 2011
15 June 2011
Culture Clash
What do you see when you picture Paraguay?
Millions of people here are still without running water and use latrines or simply squat behind a 'curtain' that blows in the wind and you're lucky if there is toilet paper even in the public restrooms in schools, hospitals and restaurants. Yet, my neighbor has wi-fi and a pair of Converse All-Stars. That's Paraguay.
How did it happen?
25 years ago, the average citizen in PY was still without electricity, running water and shoes: In 1986. The infiltration of the developed world happened quickly and within a few years most of the population had lights, televisions, and landline phones but the technology- and fashion-forward cultures of the US and Europe bombarded Paraguay too quickly to provide supplemental education. This is common in third-world countries: We bring the goods but not the knowledge. As a result, the latest generation in Paraguay wants everything the US has because they've seen in in movies. They know exactly what they want: Gucci handbags, Bluetooth cell phones, bottle-blond hair. However, most of them do not know where the US is on a map, let alone that New York City has a greater population than their entire country (a lot Paraguayns think this is total bullshit, by the way: Norte liars!). They have MP3 players but do not know how to work their computers to download the music. Why? Their computer programs are all in English, including the instructions.
My host Mom has a washing machine and a Dell but had no idea that sugar caused her son's cavities.
So, here I am preaching dental health and nutrition to a generation of people who consider themselves well-educated and not in need of assistance. Their parents before them would have (and probably did in 1975) happily admit that they were falling behind globally and needed a lot of help. However, I run into people here that don't believe there is anything wrong with their health or education systems and are resistant to foreign aid, Peace Corps included. This comes in part from being located in a semi-affluent area by local standards. I was told a week or so ago that I couldn't change anything here because I didn't have any more knowledge than the people I was working with. Just to clarify, here's what I'm working with.
The team at my health post doesn't put any stock in the 'Germ Theory.'
95% of the country has multiple cavities........ 95.
Commonly-held beliefs of.... pretty much everyone:
-Taking a shower after you've worked out will make you sick.
-Wearing a wet shirt will give you a stomach ache.
-Eating citrus then milk will kill you.
-Leaving your upper chest uncovered will give you a headache.
-Men can do whatever they want.
-If God doesn't want it, it won't happen.
It's rough trying to be a health-worker in a country full of people who don't believe in your witch-doctor science theories, like coughing on people spreads bacteria and sneezing into your hand is generally a bad idea. I wanted to tell that nice man who told me I didn't have any more knowledge than him that I in fact had a BS and a Master's but I didn't. Instead I just kept saying, Jahechata. We'll see. And when he asked me what was so bad about Paraguayan I spit some statistics at him about diabetes, obesity and giardia.
Well, I'll do what I can and leave the rest to TV.
Speaking of TV- Paraguayans love the Simpsons!
At least I can feel useful when, while watching Los Simpsons, random English words pop across the screen and everyone screams, "What is that?!" "And that?!" "That?!" Who's smart now? I speak English, suckers!
Millions of people here are still without running water and use latrines or simply squat behind a 'curtain' that blows in the wind and you're lucky if there is toilet paper even in the public restrooms in schools, hospitals and restaurants. Yet, my neighbor has wi-fi and a pair of Converse All-Stars. That's Paraguay.
How did it happen?
25 years ago, the average citizen in PY was still without electricity, running water and shoes: In 1986. The infiltration of the developed world happened quickly and within a few years most of the population had lights, televisions, and landline phones but the technology- and fashion-forward cultures of the US and Europe bombarded Paraguay too quickly to provide supplemental education. This is common in third-world countries: We bring the goods but not the knowledge. As a result, the latest generation in Paraguay wants everything the US has because they've seen in in movies. They know exactly what they want: Gucci handbags, Bluetooth cell phones, bottle-blond hair. However, most of them do not know where the US is on a map, let alone that New York City has a greater population than their entire country (a lot Paraguayns think this is total bullshit, by the way: Norte liars!). They have MP3 players but do not know how to work their computers to download the music. Why? Their computer programs are all in English, including the instructions.
My host Mom has a washing machine and a Dell but had no idea that sugar caused her son's cavities.
So, here I am preaching dental health and nutrition to a generation of people who consider themselves well-educated and not in need of assistance. Their parents before them would have (and probably did in 1975) happily admit that they were falling behind globally and needed a lot of help. However, I run into people here that don't believe there is anything wrong with their health or education systems and are resistant to foreign aid, Peace Corps included. This comes in part from being located in a semi-affluent area by local standards. I was told a week or so ago that I couldn't change anything here because I didn't have any more knowledge than the people I was working with. Just to clarify, here's what I'm working with.
The team at my health post doesn't put any stock in the 'Germ Theory.'
95% of the country has multiple cavities........ 95.
Commonly-held beliefs of.... pretty much everyone:
-Taking a shower after you've worked out will make you sick.
-Wearing a wet shirt will give you a stomach ache.
-Eating citrus then milk will kill you.
-Leaving your upper chest uncovered will give you a headache.
-Men can do whatever they want.
-If God doesn't want it, it won't happen.
It's rough trying to be a health-worker in a country full of people who don't believe in your witch-doctor science theories, like coughing on people spreads bacteria and sneezing into your hand is generally a bad idea. I wanted to tell that nice man who told me I didn't have any more knowledge than him that I in fact had a BS and a Master's but I didn't. Instead I just kept saying, Jahechata. We'll see. And when he asked me what was so bad about Paraguayan I spit some statistics at him about diabetes, obesity and giardia.
Well, I'll do what I can and leave the rest to TV.
Speaking of TV- Paraguayans love the Simpsons!
At least I can feel useful when, while watching Los Simpsons, random English words pop across the screen and everyone screams, "What is that?!" "And that?!" "That?!" Who's smart now? I speak English, suckers!
03 June 2011
Why Am I Here?
It's a question I can answer for myself with a great deal of assuredness but convincing Paraguayans of the answer is a different matter. From the perspective of someone who lives in a brick/mud house that at times has running water and electricity and is under the authority of a corrupt and stunted government, volunteers seem like crazy people.
What Paraguayans have trouble understanding is why I would leave the US of A, allegedly the birthplace of freedom and the gateway to a better life, to spend two years living in comparative squalor with no benefit to myself. Unless, of course, I was a spy trying to conseguir the Guarani aquifer, one of the world's largest groundwater resevoirs. This they can imagine.
Guarani Aquifer
For me, the answer is the experience in itself. The relationships. And, oh yeah, helping the people.
Last night, I had the most intense conversation with a Paraguayan thus far in my life. This guy wanted to do know what I was doing here so I lovingly gave him the Peace Corps schpiel: I'm here to provide technical support and participate in a cultural exchange. He called my BS. Then he wanted to know why I didn't like America. Because if I've left my native country there's obviously something wrong with it. I explained to dude- very forceful and direct for a Paraguayan- that I love the US but I have a desire to help people in less fortunate situations than we've got going on with Uncle Sam. My Spanish was maybe not so eloquent, but you get the idea. Oh, and they know who Tio Sam is down here. Then he says to me, I would never go to Bolivia because they are poor and I don't want to live with poor people who have worse lives than I do. So why are you here?
Why am I here?
He said, You can't change our behaviors in two years, it's impossible. The things that hold this culture from advancing to the level of a developed country are based in deeply-rooted cultural norms that hang inevitably over every house like the thick cloud of trash-burning smoke that sits there as well. Impossible to avoid, almost impossible to change.
It's true. I can't change the thinking of all 2.000 people in this town in the next two years. I can't turn the culture around overnight and convince the people to partake in the behaviors they already know can improve their lives but choose not to execute.
But if I change the mentality of one child? Of ten, or twenty children? The sustainability of the Peace Corps isn't just in the concept of teaching people to help themselves. It's also in the idea that altering one person's mindset can result in a lifetime of small, seemingly inconsequential changes that, over time and with enough people, can result in the alteration and betterment of a society.
So- one person at a time.
What Paraguayans have trouble understanding is why I would leave the US of A, allegedly the birthplace of freedom and the gateway to a better life, to spend two years living in comparative squalor with no benefit to myself. Unless, of course, I was a spy trying to conseguir the Guarani aquifer, one of the world's largest groundwater resevoirs. This they can imagine.
For me, the answer is the experience in itself. The relationships. And, oh yeah, helping the people.
Last night, I had the most intense conversation with a Paraguayan thus far in my life. This guy wanted to do know what I was doing here so I lovingly gave him the Peace Corps schpiel: I'm here to provide technical support and participate in a cultural exchange. He called my BS. Then he wanted to know why I didn't like America. Because if I've left my native country there's obviously something wrong with it. I explained to dude- very forceful and direct for a Paraguayan- that I love the US but I have a desire to help people in less fortunate situations than we've got going on with Uncle Sam. My Spanish was maybe not so eloquent, but you get the idea. Oh, and they know who Tio Sam is down here. Then he says to me, I would never go to Bolivia because they are poor and I don't want to live with poor people who have worse lives than I do. So why are you here?
Why am I here?
He said, You can't change our behaviors in two years, it's impossible. The things that hold this culture from advancing to the level of a developed country are based in deeply-rooted cultural norms that hang inevitably over every house like the thick cloud of trash-burning smoke that sits there as well. Impossible to avoid, almost impossible to change.
It's true. I can't change the thinking of all 2.000 people in this town in the next two years. I can't turn the culture around overnight and convince the people to partake in the behaviors they already know can improve their lives but choose not to execute.
But if I change the mentality of one child? Of ten, or twenty children? The sustainability of the Peace Corps isn't just in the concept of teaching people to help themselves. It's also in the idea that altering one person's mindset can result in a lifetime of small, seemingly inconsequential changes that, over time and with enough people, can result in the alteration and betterment of a society.
So- one person at a time.
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