Yesterday we walked the streets of Santiago, conducting informal interviews with the people in the village. Through this we learned of many issues they face with access to water, concerns about the costs of water and other health issues they have. I also learned of many sanitation issues the people have, primarily the lack of hand washing and sewage overflow. Additionally, many of the people in the village have chickens and dogs that roam around in their homes and yard. In America, many of the animals are pretty well kept, and rarely do I find chickens walking around inside a home. Here that is quite normal! The issue I have with it is they often walk around in their own feces and then walk on the counters, tables and other surface areas used for food preparation.
An actual bathroom isn’t very common here in Santiago; in fact, many homes have what we call “pit latrines”, or un-lined holes in the ground. In the maranata (i.e. squatter village) many of these latrines are causing sewage overflow, which leads to many other health concerns. Additionally, there are rarely sinks in the homes and hand washing isn’t a normal procedure, especially with those who have latrines and a pila. A pila is a concrete basin that almost looks like a bathtub on one side and a washboard on the other. The pila is supplied with water every other day and is used for washing clothes, hands and dishes. Most of the time people will have a bowl they use to dip in the pila and then they’ll use that bowl to wash their hands. Soap is rarely involved. The grey water (i.e. dirty water) from the pila typically runs into the street.
We also had the opportunity to meet with the Public Health nurse at the Centro de Salud (Center for Public Health) and we were surprised by our discussion with her. She said that waterborne illness isn’t the primary reason she treats patients, rather, the biggest reasons are for flu, vaginal infections and sexually transmitted infections. Additionally, I learned that the average age for women to have babies is 12. WOW. She said that there is a serious need for women’s health education and HIV/STI education too. This is right up my alley! I asked whether or not the children have sex education in the schools and she said “Yes, only in high school.” The issue with that is, many students are getting pregnant earlier than high school, or they don’t make it to high school. Thus, they are not receiving this education. Also, considering that young pregnancies are pretty common in the village, it doesn’t appear to be “taboo”. However, many young mothers may not know how to properly care for the baby, or don’t want it. This was evident when I was visiting one home and they literally asked me to take their 15-day-old infant with me. Also, the public health nurse made several comments about diarrhea and vomiting that didn’t make sense. So, when we asked what training requirements
Brooke, Miguel and I were asked by a local pastor to conduct a public health fair for the village in a local park! YAY! This will occur on Sunday, the day after my focus group meeting with the photovoice participants! So, expect some interesting posts to come through after the weekend. Right now we are working on a pamphlet to use to distribute to the village. This pamphlet includes information about Engineers Without Borders (EWB), their collaboration with the Master of Public Health (MPH) program and any misconceptions they have about calcium and chlorination of water. We also included little health facts on the back leaf of the pamphlet, and of course, the public health pump handle! J
The next couple of days will be quite a learning experience…I hope you follow to see it all unfold!
Hasta Luego!
SheWhoTravelsForJustice
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