Peru -- food!

This post is about FOOD! There is lots to say about Peruvian food, from 2500 varieties of potatoes to omnipresent Chinese restaurants. Here are a few pictures:

This is a really large amount of food!!!! Audra (in pink) and I shared -- with lots of leftovers --the pachamanca you see in front of her, but it really is for one person. In addition to three kinds of meat (no guinea pig, although it was served there) there were several kinds of potatoes, fava beans, and a sweet corn mush inside the corn husk wrappings. The drink you see is "purple chincha," and there was also a "fermented yellow chincha" at the other end of the table.


A Peruvian potato dish: served at a local restaurant with a Veggie Tales tablecloth!

Ceviche: raw fish "cured" with lemon/lime juice.

This is a rough and tough tri-vehicle (tee-hee!) seen on the streets of Huancayo on our way to a restaurant.

I don't remember the name of this fruit, but it's really strange-looking inside! It tasted yummy, though -- one eats the gray seeds and the gelatinous goo surrounding them.

Peru -- training!

Marco (a Peruvian colleague) and I facilitated a Training of Trainers 1 (TOT1) in Huancayo, Peru, for two different mission organizations.

We split up into small groups frequently. Above one mission organization is discussing future plans.
Here's another way of working with small groups: the group above is trying to put in chronological order the steps to implementing Community Health Evangelism (CHE).

Above is a skit: we frequently do a river-crossing drama to illustrate the differences between relief, betterment, and development. In this part of the skit Paul has "hurt" his back carrying Rocio to the island in the middle of the river (relief), so he has no choice but to teach Karen how to cross (betterment going towards development). Then he leaves, and Karen teaches Rocio how to finish crossing the river (multiplication).

And here is a view of the mountains we crossed going from Lima (Pacific coast) to the high valley where Huancayo is located. I've read different estimates, but it appears we got up to nearly 16,000 feet (5000 m). Huancayo is just under 11,000 feet (3300 m).

Future Plans

I've spent the past few weeks preparing for two big events:

1) Training of Trainers 1 in Huancayo, Peru! Two mission organizations have requested Community Health Evangelism (CHE) training there. A Peruvian missionary, who is already using CHE in another part of the country, will facilitate this five-day training with me at the end of August.

2) Move to my temporary assignment in Haiti! In mid-September I will arrive in Cap Haitian, the second-largest city in Haiti. This northern city is also the headquarters for Medical Ambassadors Haiti, and the four Haitian facilitators who are the core of this team have invited me to work alongside them for six months. I'll spend the first few months learning the language and accompanying the team to trainings and site visits, while I also take advantage of my English skills and work on project proposals and continuing relationships they've begun with other non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

Some of the people with whom I'll be working. The woman in the yellow t-shirt is Mme. Grimard, one of the four facilitators with Medical Ambassadors Haiti.

I'm to travel to Port-au-Prince monthly. There were two CHE programs there before the earthquake which are still trying to recover. There are also lots of pastors and NGOs who are looking for ways to move from relief to development and we want to be available to work with anyone who is interested in using the CHE tools.

Since so many of the Haiti CHE programs are involved with local clinics, one way that I will be able to help is with my medical skills, both in consulting and working alongside the nurse auxiliaries. Please pray for me about this: I haven't practiced medicine for three years and although I saw a few malaria cases in the States I have mostly only read about tropical medicine -- 13 years ago in the first year of medical school!

This is a great hand-washing system that we teach: there is a stick this man is stepping on which tips the bottle so that a small stream of water comes out. Soap is hanging next to the bottle, protected from rain by a plastic cup. This particular "tipitap" is right next to the latrine at the Bayeux clinic.

On the road again

We had meetings in Baradero on Friday and Saturday and I asked them to sing the national anthem since their national holiday was celebrated that week!

And above is a fun picture of everyone getting supper ready.


I had all day yesterday in the Dominican Republic and got to accompany Bibiana, my supervisor. We left Santiago at 6:15 am and went to Santo Domingo to say "hi" to the Compassion International staff. Following that we had a meeting with a Dominican pastor whose denomination wants to help in Haiti. Above you see part of our afternoon meeting with the CHE committee in Cambitas, Dominican Republic, along with a group of Canadian youth.

Yay! I met Flor in 2008 at the Nicaraguan internship, and Paula last March. What a joy to see these beautiful women again! They both work with CHE here in the Dominican Republic.

Trip to Haiti

I went to Haiti last month to accompany my coordinator: we visited several different CHE villages and also held a refresher course for CHE trainers from 35 different communities. If you've ever been to Haiti, you know that traveling there is a challenge. We noticed a flat tire on our arrival to Terre Blanche, a village that has started using CHE. Our driver put on the spare while we met with the trainers. Shortly after leaving the village, we got another flat! The driver hailed a passing motorcyclist and took the two tires to "nearby" Gonaives.

We waited by a river in the shade: below you see Madame Grimard (facilitator with Medical Ambassadors Haiti), me, and Bibiana (my coordinator) as I served Argentine mates to the three of us.


Some of the kids who'd been playing in the river came to see us. Renee, a Canadian from Partners International who'd come with us, took some great pictures which they loved to look at. Later (we were there for hours), Madame Grimard played games with the kids.

Two days later we stopped at the town of Ennery on our way to a training in Gonaives. After visiting several CHE homes (where Madame Grimard verified that all latrines had covers in place!) we met with the CHE trainers and several CHE workers. Walking back to the vehicle we met the husband of a CHE worker who had significant pain. Bibiana mentioned that I am an osteopathic physician, so I got to do some hands-on work!

We spent the next few days in Gonaives with 45 trainers from 35 different villages. Below is a photo taken during the morning's study on Philippians.

I facilitated two lessons: the first one taught a game that they can use to identify skills in the community, the second about growth monitoring of children (lots of kids are malnourished).

In the picture above you can see both the "problem tree" and the "solution tree" that we teach the trainers to teach their committees. The problem dealt with above is the lack of immunized children in the communities.


A bus drove many of us back to Cap Haitian, and there was a lot of hymn-singing along the way, which was lovely. However, since the "road" is mountainous, with lots of twists and turns, there was also some vomiting (not so great)! Again, traveling there may not always be smooth, but appears to never be boring!

Traveling

Above is a celebration we drove by in Bolivia (has nothing to do with this post)

First of all, let me say that I am very happy. I was just reminded that I am not going to Haiti on Tuesday. That's right.

Tomorrow morning (Friday) I go to Baradero for a meeting with the Baradero team. On Saturday I have a meeting with people from other provinces, also in Baradero. Then I return home at midnight Saturday night, go to church Sunday morning, then I'm off to the airport Sunday afternoon. Fly all night to Miami. Spend 12 hours at the Miami airport, then a quick flight to the Dominican Republic, arriving Monday night. Then: rest on Tuesday before driving Wednesday to northern Haiti.

I'd forgotten that the tickets to get to the Dominican Republic on Tuesday were prohibitively expensive. And that although it was going to be rough leaving right after another trip (the Saturday meeting was planned months ago), I would still get in some rest. Ahhh....

I'm headed to Haiti to assist my coordinator, Bibiana, during her site visits, training, and assessments. The training sessions are focused now on building capacity in local training teams. There are 29 CHE villages in northern Haiti that are working out how to continue to effect community transformation with the added challenges of refugees from the capital city, Port-au-Prince. I've been there twice before, in 2002 and 2004, during my discernment process to go to the mission field. At the time I was really impressed by the way the CHE tools can work even in such a difficult place.

This trip will also be about discernment for me, but more on that later!

Here I am with an alpaca next to Lake Titicaca in Bolivia.

Bolivian Training of Trainers

Above you see Nora filling out the three different forms required for entry into Bolivia. I also had a visa application which I needed to turn in at the airport, which thankfully went without a hitch -- well, once the visa processing people arrived. It didn't matter that I had to wait for my visa, though, since our next flight's itinerary had been changed to four hours later. As one of that airline's employees said with a shrug: Yeah, some days it leaves at 7 pm, other days at 11 pm.

Isn't the countryside beautiful? This is the Altiplano area, 4200 m (13,800 feet) above sea level. The day after arriving we were driven to the training site along with others who had flown in from the Amazon region of Bolivia. All in all there were 12 health workers from Samaritan's Purse who had come to learn how they could integrate spiritual teachings with their physical teachings.
We shared a time of worship every morning. You can't see him in this picture, but Ireneo is playing the plastic bottle! Yup, just put a few small rocks and dirt in a plastic bottle and you get another percussion instrument.

Here is Felix showing us what his group discovered about the worldview of the community they work in, from the roots (beliefs) to the trunk (values) to the branches (behavior) to the fruit (consequences).

Here you see Ireneo, Magaly, and Beatriz acting in a dramatization called "River Crossing Story," which illustrates the difference between relief and development.

End of the training, each participant with a certificate!

Time for a few last pictures just outside of our training site -- here I am with a herd of llamas.

And here is some llama on my plate! After a week of goat and sheep they offered us llama on the last day, which is surprisingly yummy!

Thankfully, the Samaritan's Purse secretary called to confirm our non-stop return to Buenos Aires that was scheduled to leave at 8:45 am. It turns out it left at 7 am and had a layover! :-)