A bridge crosses the River Mayo on the road from Sta. Anita to Nuevo Jerusalen.
Amoebasis, ecological latrines, and charlas
I spent my second week in Moyobamba getting to know work at the clinic. On Tuesday, I suddenly came down with fever after a noonday headache. As many foriegners might, I wanted to be sure that I didn't have a serious infection like malaria after being in the villages last week. After a series of lab tests, my fever's culprit seemed to most likely be the extra ameobas in my intestines, making themsleves known to my immune system. I was prescribed some antiparasite medication for the week and the fever passed by the next day. Still experiencing some gastric discomfort while thinking about my family in Virginia, I considered how multifaceted homesickness could be. In those Eeyore momens, what makes me desire to be home or what defines 'home' is more than just the building, its inhabitants and the surrounding territory. We grow very accustomed to crtain emergent properties of the 'things' that make up our home...things like family tea time, parasite-free food and water, and an overall sense of belogning, while navigating our daily tasks. Does it simply take time to develop those 'processes or associations outside of the physical' to which we so strongly adapt? When I wonder if I could pursue such a career or lifestye as community development in villages, it means giving up what I have called home (with all its things and doings). The discomfort to consenting to such a 'sacrafice' makes me think I am 'not cut out for' the job. But if we are ultimately attracted to the associations formed between the things in our life, an altered lifestyle simply requires the development of its own unique and special associations (or an expanded association with things known prior). ...just some thoughts on the depths and shades of homesickness and adaptation.
I have been appointed the task of leading the oral health charla (lesson or talk) when we go to schools in the area with several dentists. Elizabeth (the clinic secretary), Francis, and I constructed a large model with which we can dramatize what occurs microscopically to result in a cavity. It is not an architectural success (the roots do not adequately stabalize the tooth upright) but I hope that it will result in an increased interest and knowledge in oral health amongst the children.
On Friday, we visited Nuevo Jerusalen, a community in which development has been going on for 3-4 years. We talked to various families about the use of their ecological toilets (outhouses with comosting components) and improved kitchens (better constructed furnace with added chimney to keep smoke out of the house). It rained during our stay and this commmunities clay roads looked much like the other two that we visited last week (where we would begin development to improve various health issues). Superficially, in other words, there didn't seem to be a drastic difference between the 'healthy' and 'unhealthy' commmunities. Perhaps it isn't easy or sufficient to measure health by tallying the number of infections or ecological latrines. Maybe a healthy community is one in which the villagers care for the state of their pueblo as a whole and are capable of addressing varous problems as they arise...even if this means they may never arrive as a 'perfect village.' I look forward to learning about the process to which each family in La Flor de Primavera and Nueva York will be introduced.
A lady shows us her 'cocina mejorada' (improved kitchen) in functionality.
My tooth model, bacteria and acid sticking to one side. A bit sad-looking, but functional.
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