Health Promotion

NOTE: I wrote this blog post a few months ago, but forgot to post it. School Vacation and the rainy season have now ended. But this is something I was up to in February and March.

Right now we’re in Summer Vacation (technically I guess I should call it “Rainy Season Vacation”) so there’s less work since lots of the families leave during this time of year. While I use my free time for many things like contemplating the meaning of life, staring at the ceiling of my room and torturing the neighborhood with my guitar practice I’ve also visited some of the comunidades, smaller communities outside of town but still in our district (our county, more or less).

Near Galanniog, one of the comunidades. One of the ladies came to the meeting on a horse (to make it through the mountains in time) carrying her baby on her back.

The nurses and technicians from the Health Center in Huallanca visit each of the comunidades every month to track weight and height of all the kids (which they use to estimate malnutrition in the areas), give charlas (educational talks about things ranging from clean homes, to healthy food, to family planning), and administer vaccinations. All of that is referred to as Health Promotion.

Some crazy, bearded gringo up in the hills.

While accompanying them is a good way to help pass time when I don’t have much work, its also useful since lots of my students, who are now attending high school in Huallanca, grew up in those areas. They have to come into town to attend high school since the only two high schools in the district (county) are here. I can also give a hand now and then with a charla or putting one of the bigger kids on the scale.

My most recent one of these Health Promotion trips was to a little town called Llacuash (have fun trying to pronounce that). It was about an hour taxi ride outside of Huallanca. Most of the time we spent making our way up the side of the mountain where Llacaush is located. But once we were up there it was relatively flat. We also had a couple hour wait until the people started showing up.

The little splotches of white you can see in the valley are Huallanca. I took the picture when we were in Llacuash.

I say “town” but its really just a little cluster of a few buildings and everyone who lives nearby walks or comes on horseback with their kids to where we are at.

One of the adobe buildings that makes up Llacaush. Nice view of the mountains in the background.

It takes some of them over an hour of walking to arrive since everyone is spread out on their farms.

Some of the attendees in Llacaush. Everyone brought a dish to share with the nurses and I for lunch. You can also see the traditional dress from the region here. Its becoming less common in Huallanca, but in the more rural areas like Llacaush it is still worn on a daily basis.