Colca and the Farm Town's of Peru's Coast

We finished up our 48th and last focus group discussion this week in an area called Colca known for having one of the deepest canyons in the world (twice as deep as the Grand Canyon). We spent most of the week in the tiny town of Chivay at 12,500 ft. and it was freezing at night! Every night I put my thick black tights on and climbed inside my sleeping bag with four thick blankets on top of me. The problem here is it is just as cold inside as outside because the buildings are literally just blocks of cement without any insulation. So my guess is that it was in the 30s at night outside (and inside). All the focus group discussions went well this week. The women in Colca wear some of the most beautiful dresses I have ever seen.

Last week we were in the tiny little farm towns around Cocachacra, which are very close to the ocean 2 ½ hours west of Arequipa. The towns remind me a lot of the sleepy little farm towns of Paraguay where I spent most of my time as a missionary. Everything revolves around agriculture there. But it is completely different than the last towns in Puno because the people had tractors and seemed much better off and of course it was much warmer. It’s amazing to see the huge disparities in food security and health as we travel all around Peru. By far, the people who live high in the Andes are the poorest and least food secure. They don’t even have any tools to plant and harvest crops- “just their hands,” as they said. And basically all they live off of is the potato. Many live so far away from a health clinic that they merely just use herbal remedies to heal their families, even with infections as serious as pneumonia. At least the people around Cocachacra had a little more variety with the rice, potato, artichoke, garlic, and onion that they grow. Since everyone works in the farm fields from very early in the morning to around 5pm we only worked at night. I was sick most of the week with stomach and chivivi problems and was completely wiped out after holding our focus group discussions at night. I’m regretting not buying that box of Pepto at Cosco before I left!

This is a girl I met while working on my MPH report in a tiny restaurant that let me plug in my computer for the afternoon in Huambo (pop. of a couple hundred). She was so fascinated with my computer that I had to take a picture of her with Photo Booth. She loved the other feature that made her face stretch all crazy.

Lake Titicaca and Snow in Juliaca

Well I had never seen snow in South America until last Tuesday morning when I went for my run in a snow blizzard. Crazy! It has been really cold here this week as we’ve worked in the town of Juliaca, about 45 minutes north of Puno and Lake Titicaca in southern Peru. We are evaluating the surrounding areas to see if there is a need for a financial program that gives credit with education to the poorest of the poor. We have held focus group discussions with 5-10 women in the some very rural areas asking them about their financial resources, how they make/spend money, and what times of the year are the hardest financially. The people here live off their crops and their livestock- that’s it. One of the most interesting things I learned this week was those who work in the fields are not paid with money but rather with the very crops that they harvest. So they literally work for the food that feeds their families. In addition, everyone here has no concept of saving money. When they need to make a purchase, they go and sell a cow, sheep, llama, or pig in town. So all their savings is pretty much in the livestock they raise. They live day to day so there’s never any extra money to put away for savings.


Another interesting finding is how people here have connected the prevalence of disease caused by lack of food. At the end of our focus group discussions I usually ask, “What diseases are prevalent in this region?” Pneumonia is very prevalent, especially in the colder months of the year, as well as diarrhea (which happen to be the two biggest killers world wide with children under 5). I follow up by asking, “What causes these diseases?” Usually the first answer that comes is, “The cold weather.” But as I have probed more, I have often heard, “Lack of food.” As this financial program is implemented and the people here are able to take out a little bit of money for capital to assure they have enough to eat, infectious diseases will diminish. The research here is rewarding because I feel like we are treating root of the problem here instead of just the disease. Many of these people would love to have a little but more money to plant more seeds, buy more livestock, or sell the clothes they make. But there is never extra money. They are trapped in their poverty without a way out. As a result they don’t have enough food to eat, which ultimately leads to suffering and disease. I feel we are teaching, in our own way, the people here how to fish so they can be more self-sufficient with the food security of their families.

Chanchamayo

We’ve had a good week and got all the surveys, in-depth interviews, and focus group discussions that we needed. The drama for me this week was meeting a woman who lives out in the farm fields so far away. After driving for 1 ½ hours, we had to park the car and walk a couple of miles into her place because the road was so torn up. When we finally got there she told me that her husband was murdered a month ago. He was the sole provider for the family, so now she doesn’t know what she’s going to do. She works in her fields and sells the fruit in town; but it sells for basically nothing. Tears were streaming down her face as she told me all this. I felt so helpless and wanted to give her a hug and tell her everything would be ok. But I just sat there not knowing what to say cause everything is not ok. Her life sucks and it has eaten at me all day. Yeah I can send in my survey with her responses but she needs help right now. I just feel helpless thinking about her. Below is a photo of her and her son.