Hola mis amigos.

February was a very busy month here in Yantalo.  There’s been a lot of activity lately, and we’ve still got a number of projects going on at the moment.    Because this area of Peru has the highest infant mortality rate in the country, the Foundation, in conjunction with Not Another Minute, conducted an extensive interview of all the recently pregnant women here.   Thanks to a group of student nurses and caring Yantalinas, 239 women were questioned regarding their child-bearing experiences and resulting health issues.  Great job Gerly!  Thank you and your helpers for the hard work.

At the moment, we are fortunate to have Anjali Hulbanni, a graduate from the University of Michigan, and emergency medicine specialist, who is spending a month here working in the local clinic, as well as the hospital in Moyobamba.   She’s travelled extensively and volunteered around the world, giving her a sound perspective of how health care really exists (or doesn’t) for most of the world.   And from the stories I’ve heard so far, she’s seeing a lot of new things here in the jungle, from machete wounds to a plethora of GI issues.  She will also be helping out the school nurse next week, when the students return.

Regarding the future clinic, we recently purchased and received a large portion of the building materials needed to begin construction.  Wuilman travelled to Chiclayo, where the supplies could be purchased for much cheaper, and arranged for their delivery.    Because the rebar is 9 meters in length, we had to knock down the rear walls of his mother’s house, just so we could have a dry place store it for now.   It is certainly exciting to see the Foundation’s plans turning into reality.  I just wish I had more time here now that the rain is subsiding and things are finally getting under way.
Additionally, we’ve nearly completed renovating the girls’ bathroom at the secondary school.   Originally, we’d hoped to complete both bathrooms, but because of the extensive work needed in the first (including replacing all the water and drain pipes, building a new wash basin and completely stripping the existing cement from the walls with hammer and chisel – which took me about 2 weeks), the boys will have to wait until the next vacation.   Presently we are placing the tiles on the walls.  Tomorrow we should begin covering the new floor.   Despite the pastel green paint, which is standard for the schools here, it definitely looks a lot better than before, and more importantly, will be much more sanitary.   Since I won’t be here much longer, I’m glad I could help with at least one project from start to finish.   … I just wish my hands would stop hurting.  It was better last week when they were just numb all the time.
Monday March 9th is the first day of school, so the teachers are back, attending meetings and preparing for classes.  The school is also constructing a new laboratory which should be finished soon.   Most of my building experience is with wood, so it was very interesting to watch the crew create the new structure from cement, using only form wood and braces from the jungle and rudimentary tools.  Given what they have, it’s quite impressive.    However, I’m a little unclear on what they are actually going to teach in the new lab, being that science curriculum is virtually non-existent here.

As for me, I certainly appreciate the more visceral work lately.   However, the English classes are getting better (and easier to teach) each day.   I mentioned before, I wish I had more time in Yantalo.   It’s been a wonderful experience helping out the Foundation — either with my handful of colored markers and portable dry-erase board, or a bit of elbow grease.   I am truly sad to be leaving, but there’s always next time.  …And that will not be too far down the road.  I know I’ll be back soon.

Take care.  Ciao.

This entry was posted on Friday, March 6th, 2009 at 5:01 pm and is filed under From Yantalo.You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.