I woke up pretty early and went down to the paradero to wait for Elly, the head of the health post in Cabracancha. I was hoping that the level of irritation I had the previous time was due to lack of sleep or PMS or something, and that this time would be much better. I got down to the paradero where we catch a mototaxi up to Cabracancha and Elly was standing there talking to people. She sort of shooed me into a mototaxi and told me to wait. That’s the thing about Elly, I always have that feeling like I’m waiting at my Mom’s office to go home. Does that make sense? The last time I was at the health post, I had to wait for 3 hours for her to finish working before we could go down the hill and I could get my stuff from her house. I sat in a room and read my book, which at the time was a great relief, but also made me feel like a child. Getting shooed into the mototaxi made me feel like a child. I sat in there with my backpack and just waited for her. Maybe I’m just really oversensitive because my inability to communicate makes me feel stupid all the time.
When she finally got in the mototaxi we road up the hill and she was herself, asking the same question a million times and getting about an inch from my face. I finally had the nerve to tell her to just slow down because I couldn’t understand her, which I had to yell at her because she talked over me when I tried to tell her the first time. She started giggling at me, which made me feel worse. Every time people laugh at my Spanish, I just want to tell them to try speaking to me in English, and we’ll see who’s laughing then. My general opinion is that if you can’t speak two languages, you can’t laugh at me trying to do it.
We got up to the health post and Elly started talking about a cake she was going to make for her health promoters and the lunch they were going to have. It was 8am, and there was no way in hell I was going to be stuck in that health post until two or three p.m., so I told her I had to get back in town by 12 because I had to talk to my cousin about wedding plans. People in my neck of the woods tend to have meetings that last ALL day, and they talk about something that we could get done in about fifteen minutes in the States. They usually get to the point where I will some physical harm to befall me just to get out of the situation.
This time, I hung out in the entranceway, reading my book, for the first hour. At 9 a.m., when everyone was supposed to be there, no one was there. Elly called me into a room and I reluctantly followed her in, expecting to just be stuck in there while she talked to the obstetriz, or Obstetrician, about something. She started explaining what the charla was about that day. She was going to make all the health promoters make a schedule for what activity they were going to do in the community that month, with whom, where, and how long it would take. It was a good idea. There were some things that I thought might be better to put in there. I decided, if I’m going to sit here, I might as well try to contribute. I threw a couple ideas out there related to different things she was talking about and she ate it right up. I’d be hesitant before because I felt like I didn’t know much about health promoters, but I realized I had plenty of good ideas that didn’t require an intimate knowledge, though I made a note that I needed to download some of Peace Corps’ resources about health promoter training to help me later.
I was really pleased that Elly accepted my ideas and immediately made an effort to incorporate them. I knew she was eager, and I appreciated her vote of confidence. I started to think working with her might be a lot easier than I thought.
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| A photo of what they talked about for four hours. The poster on the far left says "Work Plan" and has a list of the months and the who, where, when columns. The poster closest is entitled "Activities that They Know and Are Going to Do", and below is a list of the activities that the health promoters know about including; "Hand-washing, classification of garbage, Consumption of safe water, healthy homes, Growth and Development of health children, demonstrative sessions on nutrition." |
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| Elly on the right talking to two of her health promoters and one of their grandkids. The one on the far left is unable to read, which makes the teaching a little more difficult. |
Around 10:00, the meeting with the health promoters finally got going and I sat politely in the corner for it. I pretty quickly got really bored. By 10:45, we still hadn’t really progressed, and I was just watching Elly talk in circles and get in everyone else’s face, which is almost as bad as having her in mine. A mini miracle occurred, however, when my phone rang. It was Kate Barrie, one of the other 18ers. I excused myself and walked outside to chat with her. We talked for quite a while about a bunch of different things and I was grateful for the respite.
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| Elly talking to two of her health promoters. Doña Carmen, the only health promoter in my town is in the one in the middle. |
I walked back in about a half hour later, and they hadn’t progressed at all. By then, it was just a countdown game until 12, when I got to leave. It sounds bad, but working my way in to substantially contributing to the health promoter training is a slow process, which at the beginning mostly involves a little advice here and there, and attendance. I felt I had waited around for long enough. Right before I left, we had started to get somewhere. Doña Carmen, the only health promoter in my whole district, and, coincidentally, my next-door neighbor, decided she would teach a handwashing taller, or workshop, as her activity for the month. I offered to let her come to my English class to teach it because she couldn’t think of a place, and we set the first of February as our date. I was glad to make some kind of connection with her, because I’d heard great things from Barbara about what a great resource she was.
Twelve o’clock came and I excused myself. Elly was completely surprised that it was already 12, and I was relieved to go. I started to walk down the hill into Chota, and, as it always seems to do the moment I walk outside, it started to rain. Luckily about halfway down the mountain a mototaxi came by and picked me up.
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