What is it exactly that I do?

It has been brought to my attention that it’s not exactly clear what I do here in Huantar, Perú.  This is due in part to the fact that until recently I too wasn’t exactly clear about what it was I was doing, and also until recently I wasn’t doing much. 

So now, let me explain some things.

The Community Health Program in Perú has two main goals.

1)      To work with mothers with children under the age of three in order to improve their knowledge and application of knowledge in the areas of nutrition, hygiene, and early childhood stimulation.  This is to be achieved by participating in a program called Viviendas Saludables (Healthy Homes), where I would visit the homes of said mothers twice a month in order to check in, talk, visit, play, and encourage healthy behaviors.

2)      To work with youth, ages twelve to seventeen, in order to encourage healthy behavior, especially in the area of sexual health, as well as to reduce the rates of teenage pregnancy and STIs in my area.  This is to be achieved by participating in a program called Pasos Adelante (Steps Forward), where I teach motivated youth about a variety of topics, such as Self-Esteem, Values, Sex and Gender, Pregnancy, Abstinence, Condoms and Other Birth Control Methods, HIV/AIDS, STIs, and others. By the end of the course, they will be PEPs (Promotores Educadores Pares, aka Peer Health Education Promoters) and able to teach Pasos and pass on their new knowledge to their peers.

 This is what I actually, officially, currently do:

1)      I teach Pasos Adelante to four times a week to twenty-five youths in the local high school.  So far we have covered Values and Self-Esteem, with Sex and Gender happening next week with the help of the obstetra (like obstetrician, but on a nurse/midwife level).  Check out some of my Pasos entries to get an idea of what the classes are like.  Punctuality is improving and I more or less keep their attention.  According to the pre-test (taken in order to measure if they actually learn anything in my classes) an astonishing number of them believe that showering after sex and the pull-out method are effective forms of birth control. 

2)      I help out at my health post, mainly through computer work, making posters for their parades, being an extra pair of hands when they go to the caserios, and by giving talks about anemia during their official trainings for teachers and health promoters.

3)      Starting Monday, twice a month I will be teaching an English/acting class to the 4^th graders of Huantar.  Their teacher approached me several times and is a wonderfully friendly and competent seeming woman.  I’m pretty excited for this actually, because every time I walk into the elementary school about twenty kids run towards me screaming Senorita Keisi, hugging me, and literally cheering when I enter the room.  It’s a good self-esteem booster, and let’s be real, I plan to take advantage of that shit as long as I can.

4)      I’m also the unofficial youth center of Huantar, providing cards, drawing material (Thanks Aunt Judy!), and computer games like PacMan to the neighborhood kids.

Here’s what I hope to soon be doing:

1)      Expanding the current trash route to include another town and to install a trash bin at the paradero (bus stop, car stop, best place to hitch-hike) at the bottom of the hill

2)      Start weekly or bi-monthly movie nights in the municipality where popcorn and kettle corn is for sale, and where the profits go towards buying things the community wants/needs (like a bookshelf for the preschool)

3)      Viviendas Saludables. 

And that about sums it up folks.

Besos!