Saludos from San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico!
If I were a truck driver (aka taxi for the area in which paved roads do not exist), I'd be greeting you with some sort of code name such as Black sparrow, Huracan or Pluma roja. (You know how taxis communicate with each other through the radio).
Anyway, we are embarking upon our last couple of weeks in Chiapas. As of now all pre-measurements are done! Farah and I completed the last of the particulate matter measurements and spirometry this past week in Chuchtik, a small community consisting of 28 families. It is much more similar to Quexalhukum, and spirometry was more of a challenge here. The women are extremely shy, which makes it much harder for us to convince them to perform the lung function test. Basically with spirometry, you have to inspire until you lungs are absolutely full, and forcefully expire all of the air in your lungs in the first second (FEV1), then maintain that residual flow of air for 6 seconds. For many, it is an uncomfortable experience, and you also look like you're going to explode in the last 6 seconds. For this reason, the women get very embarrassed and cover their faces in the process. Some women can get it within the first 5 tries. For others, 10+ tries still isn't enough. Fortunately, women are also persistent so we've got a lot of data to work with.
A large part of the work has been done, and now we are waiting for word from Rudolfo so that we can hire a big-rig (rabon) to pick up the stoves in Hidalgo, a city near the border of Mexico and Guatemala. We are going back today and will be distributing cement blocks on Monday or Tuesday. To build the ONIL stove, you need 11 cement blocks as a base along with the stove parts. Thus, although we are receiving the stoves later than we expected, we can still use the time to buy and bring blocks to the families so they can start building the base of their stoves. We hope all goes well with the border, as history has proven that there is plenty of room for complication (like last year's Chiapas group experienced). Fortunately, we have their guidance and the help of Jaime from Medicos del Mundo to faciliate this process.
Looking beyond this, we still have to perform all post-stove measurements sometime in November or December. This will likely take 2 weeks. Afterwards, we will have to analyze the results and make sense ofour data. The stove project is large and a long term commitment, but we are already looking forward to our return trip. Building relations here has made this experience incredibly worthwhile and fulfilling.
After we are done distributing stoves, Anna, CB, and I may head on over to Oaxaca to explore more of Mexico! I am currently searching kayak.com for a plane ticket from Oaxaca to DF, since I made the mistake of buying my outbound ticket out of DF instead of Tuxtla, the capital of Chiapas. As for now, we will return back to Q and will likely be back to San Cris on Tuesday night or Wednesday to rent the truck and drive to the border. Hopefully, all of our GI issues will be resolved by then.
A little blurb about Junax and hippieland: Junax is a hostal for volunteers in San Cristobal. Thus it draws the hippiest of the hippies from all over, including Spain, France, Argentina, Mexico, Canada, New Zealand...many of who have interesting stories and projects. It seems as though most people are working with the Zapatista communities in some way, documenting human rights abuses. Junax is very communal, and we got to bond a little with the Junax kids last night playing this random game called Psicologia. Anyway, it is actually nice getting to do something like that since we are usually running around on trying to get errands done when we are in San Cris. After the game, we went to this "party" that some guy CB and Anna knew from an electronics store. He told CB that he would bring his female friends to the party. This party consisted of Anna, CB, me, and the guy and his wife. He was dressed up like he was going out to dance, cowboy boots and hat with a matching jacket. His wife was also dressed up. This guy, (Juan?), is like a man with ADD on crack...very very nice and friendly, but definitely strange and cartoonlike. They invited us to go to this place called Palace, a discoteca with lots of salsa, mariachi, and durangesa. It was a very peculiar experience, and I fell asleep on the couch when we were all talking, so we went home about an hour later.
That's all folks, updates will come again this week.
Con amor,
Yaquelina
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Saturday, July 19, 2008
more photos!
Just uploaded quite a few photos. . . lots of spirometry action shots and little kids.
Hope you enjoy: http://picasaweb.google.com/aumorgan/ChiapasWeeks23
Hope you enjoy: http://picasaweb.google.com/aumorgan/ChiapasWeeks23
My last blog from Chiapas...for now
My flight back to California leaves from Tuxtla this afternoon, so I have to say goodbye to San Cristobal around 10 am today! I already left Quexalhukum yesterday...it was hard to leave. The only consolation is knowing I´ll be back for post stove measurements at the end of the year. But still, this has been an amazing few weeks and I´m sad to see the adventure and learning experience end.
This week in Q was hectic but very productive. On Wednesday, we started working in Chuchtik. It´s not as far as Puebla but the houses are very spread out, so more walking is involved. One house was so far I left to place a filter and didn´t return for two hours. We basically went up and around a mountain and then crossed a valley. How are 11 cement blocks and various stove parts going to make that trek? They call such houses ´tiradito´which means thrown, and they literally seem like they´re thrown in the middle of a mountain range. But the important thing is that just as planned, 8 filters were placed in 8 homes in Chuchtik, and 8 vichins (young women) came for spirometry on Thursday. Amazing! All that despite the fact that the health promoter from the community mysteriously failed to show up one day and left us without a list of names of stove recipients (our translator on Wednesday forgot to tell us that the promoter was going to the city for a couple of days...fantastic).
We also placed the very last filter and redid some aberrant spirometry tests in Q, and tried to do some spirometry on women who had been too ill to perform the test last Sunday in Puebla. Unfortunately, two women were still sick, but one was able to give us three repeatable data points, so we considered it a small victory.
Jackie and I got back to San Cris last night and finally got to eat Tacos Al Norteno which is my new favorite thing in the entire world. I´m so sad I can´t eat them every night until school starts again...they´re that good. There is nothing like carne asada! Then, we came back to Junax to have chocolate cake that Anna and CB made...we had a little bon voyage cake cutting for me, which was really sweet. I think I ate half of that cake--with extra frosting--which in my book is excusable, considering the dearth of chocolate all week in Q (it was really only 3 days, but whatever). Then we went out to celebrate another productive week!
I went to bed at 3 am but I´m up early to go to the bank, get coffee, and do a little bit of last minute shopping before I leave for Tuxtla. I´m already nostalgic for Q and this whole experience. One of the things I will miss the most is definitely my three Chiapas family members: Anna, Jackie and Chris. One of the absolute best things about this trip is working together with them. Good luck with the stoves next week you guys! Like I said, I´m photoshopping myself into all the stove party pictures once the installation is over!
This week in Q was hectic but very productive. On Wednesday, we started working in Chuchtik. It´s not as far as Puebla but the houses are very spread out, so more walking is involved. One house was so far I left to place a filter and didn´t return for two hours. We basically went up and around a mountain and then crossed a valley. How are 11 cement blocks and various stove parts going to make that trek? They call such houses ´tiradito´which means thrown, and they literally seem like they´re thrown in the middle of a mountain range. But the important thing is that just as planned, 8 filters were placed in 8 homes in Chuchtik, and 8 vichins (young women) came for spirometry on Thursday. Amazing! All that despite the fact that the health promoter from the community mysteriously failed to show up one day and left us without a list of names of stove recipients (our translator on Wednesday forgot to tell us that the promoter was going to the city for a couple of days...fantastic).
We also placed the very last filter and redid some aberrant spirometry tests in Q, and tried to do some spirometry on women who had been too ill to perform the test last Sunday in Puebla. Unfortunately, two women were still sick, but one was able to give us three repeatable data points, so we considered it a small victory.
Jackie and I got back to San Cris last night and finally got to eat Tacos Al Norteno which is my new favorite thing in the entire world. I´m so sad I can´t eat them every night until school starts again...they´re that good. There is nothing like carne asada! Then, we came back to Junax to have chocolate cake that Anna and CB made...we had a little bon voyage cake cutting for me, which was really sweet. I think I ate half of that cake--with extra frosting--which in my book is excusable, considering the dearth of chocolate all week in Q (it was really only 3 days, but whatever). Then we went out to celebrate another productive week!
I went to bed at 3 am but I´m up early to go to the bank, get coffee, and do a little bit of last minute shopping before I leave for Tuxtla. I´m already nostalgic for Q and this whole experience. One of the things I will miss the most is definitely my three Chiapas family members: Anna, Jackie and Chris. One of the absolute best things about this trip is working together with them. Good luck with the stoves next week you guys! Like I said, I´m photoshopping myself into all the stove party pictures once the installation is over!
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Stuck in San Cris
Chris and I are still in San Cristobal. We bid farewell to Jackie and Farah on Tuesday evening. Hopefully they are faring well and aren't having too much trouble completing spirometry and PM in Chuctik (the 3rd and final community they are working in). They should be back on Friday.
We spent Monday and Tuesday trying to navigate the buraucracy of getting stoves across the border. Right now, it seems that Helps (the organization who is donating the stoves), will be paying the importation tax, which is very helpful. They tell us that the stoves will be ready for pickup on the Mexican side of the border probably mid-week next week. We were hoping to start installing stoves on Monday, so this delays us a bit, but it should be fine overall.
Chris and I stayed behind in order to be able to communicate with Helps and any border agencies as quickly as possible (and to let my GI tract recuperate). So far it has been pretty boring. I'm sort of restricted to Junax due to need for bathroom proximity, and we basically wait around for one particular email or phone call. Today Fernando is supposed to be in San Cristobal, so we are going to try to meet with him in order to figure out the best day for us to go to the border to pick up the stoves, and if it is possible to rent a big truck in advance.
I know some of you have been wondering what type of stove we are installing. It is the ONIL stove. More information can befound here: http://www.onilstove.com/
. .. . and as a follow-up from my last post, I forgot to include another one of my favorite aspects of last week.
5. We ate dinner with Antonio and Maura this week. Antonio is a health promoter and Maura is one of Fernando's younger sisters. They live in a pretty painted house, and only use the estufa. They don't have an open fire, which is quite exciting. It is great to hear Antonio's perspective on things. He is one of the only people in Quehalhukum who we talk with regularly who isn't one of Fernando's siblings. He is in his early 20s, and I think Maura is 17. They don't have any children yet. Antonio is a 'multiplicador' health promotor which means, like Roselia and Fernando, he can teach health promotion. He showed us the books that are used to teach health promoters and, as Chris already described, they are very detailed. I described Antonio as an 'old soul', bu I'm not really sure what that means, exactly. He seems quite serious, and is very religiuos. He didn't finish primaria, and learned Spanish while working construction in Mexico City. He is going to go back to Mexico City on Saturday to find work for 3 months, which unfortunately means I may not see him again before we come back to take post-measurements. I asked him why he is going now, and he said it is becasue the corn has all been cleaned, and, basically, there is little farm work to do, so it is best to go to the city now. He is saving up to build a separate kitchen.
Its kind of amazing. When I'm in San Cristobal, Quehalhukum and Puebla seem to exist in another world. Like part of a dream. I guess it can seem too discordant to keep all these different ways of life in my mind at the same time.
When Farah and Jackie return with the computer, I will try to post more pictures.
We spent Monday and Tuesday trying to navigate the buraucracy of getting stoves across the border. Right now, it seems that Helps (the organization who is donating the stoves), will be paying the importation tax, which is very helpful. They tell us that the stoves will be ready for pickup on the Mexican side of the border probably mid-week next week. We were hoping to start installing stoves on Monday, so this delays us a bit, but it should be fine overall.
Chris and I stayed behind in order to be able to communicate with Helps and any border agencies as quickly as possible (and to let my GI tract recuperate). So far it has been pretty boring. I'm sort of restricted to Junax due to need for bathroom proximity, and we basically wait around for one particular email or phone call. Today Fernando is supposed to be in San Cristobal, so we are going to try to meet with him in order to figure out the best day for us to go to the border to pick up the stoves, and if it is possible to rent a big truck in advance.
I know some of you have been wondering what type of stove we are installing. It is the ONIL stove. More information can befound here: http://www.onilstove.com/
. .. . and as a follow-up from my last post, I forgot to include another one of my favorite aspects of last week.
5. We ate dinner with Antonio and Maura this week. Antonio is a health promoter and Maura is one of Fernando's younger sisters. They live in a pretty painted house, and only use the estufa. They don't have an open fire, which is quite exciting. It is great to hear Antonio's perspective on things. He is one of the only people in Quehalhukum who we talk with regularly who isn't one of Fernando's siblings. He is in his early 20s, and I think Maura is 17. They don't have any children yet. Antonio is a 'multiplicador' health promotor which means, like Roselia and Fernando, he can teach health promotion. He showed us the books that are used to teach health promoters and, as Chris already described, they are very detailed. I described Antonio as an 'old soul', bu I'm not really sure what that means, exactly. He seems quite serious, and is very religiuos. He didn't finish primaria, and learned Spanish while working construction in Mexico City. He is going to go back to Mexico City on Saturday to find work for 3 months, which unfortunately means I may not see him again before we come back to take post-measurements. I asked him why he is going now, and he said it is becasue the corn has all been cleaned, and, basically, there is little farm work to do, so it is best to go to the city now. He is saving up to build a separate kitchen.
Its kind of amazing. When I'm in San Cristobal, Quehalhukum and Puebla seem to exist in another world. Like part of a dream. I guess it can seem too discordant to keep all these different ways of life in my mind at the same time.
When Farah and Jackie return with the computer, I will try to post more pictures.
Monday, July 14, 2008
Chiapas: 3 weeks deep...
We are back in San Cristobal de las Casas, and in retrospect, I must say that we accomplished a lot this week. We hit the ground running and look to finish ahead of schedule, able to finish all of the premeasurements of particulate matter and spirometery (almost) in Colonia Puebla, the largest community.
More and more, next week looks to be another hectic one, balancing spirometery, filters, and platicando with Fernando and Helps International to ensure the safe and timely arrival of the ONIL stoves for the communities. To be honest, I am looking forward to it. To see how far we have come and the great relationships we have created with many of the people of Chenalho, I am amazed. We arrived to Chiapas a complete mess: we were told that the stoves were not as helpful as we once thought and that the communities probably wouldn't use them, to being told that we had to compromise the people's solidarity by accepting donated from the Mexican government.
Granted we are nowhere near done with this project, however to be standing here saying that the stoves will be coming as a true donation with no strings and that those families that are signed up to receive them truly want to use them is exciting.
This week not only meant a lot of work, but also a newfound respect for the education of the health promotor. We had the opportunity to take a glance at the texts the promotores had to learn in order to receive their accreditation and it was truly amazing. The amount of knowledge and clinical applications mirrored, if not surpassed, any high yield text needed for the first two years of American medical school. And to see that some of these health promotores have ingested and put to practice this huge volume of information at the age of 18 (!) is truly humbling. These trusted individuals bear the huge responsibility of tending to the health needs of the community with limited "education" (many have not completed grade/middle school). Interestingly, these promotores care for their own rural pueblo better than any physician, nurse, or other health proffesional from the city can ever do. When I was 18 all I cared about was partying and trying to get into college to improve MYSELF. These people have the interests of the ENTIRE COMMUNITY on their minds.
This mindset speaks to one of the largests contrasts between American and rural Chiapan culture. There is no ME in Los Altos, there is only US.
More and more, next week looks to be another hectic one, balancing spirometery, filters, and platicando with Fernando and Helps International to ensure the safe and timely arrival of the ONIL stoves for the communities. To be honest, I am looking forward to it. To see how far we have come and the great relationships we have created with many of the people of Chenalho, I am amazed. We arrived to Chiapas a complete mess: we were told that the stoves were not as helpful as we once thought and that the communities probably wouldn't use them, to being told that we had to compromise the people's solidarity by accepting donated from the Mexican government.
Granted we are nowhere near done with this project, however to be standing here saying that the stoves will be coming as a true donation with no strings and that those families that are signed up to receive them truly want to use them is exciting.
This week not only meant a lot of work, but also a newfound respect for the education of the health promotor. We had the opportunity to take a glance at the texts the promotores had to learn in order to receive their accreditation and it was truly amazing. The amount of knowledge and clinical applications mirrored, if not surpassed, any high yield text needed for the first two years of American medical school. And to see that some of these health promotores have ingested and put to practice this huge volume of information at the age of 18 (!) is truly humbling. These trusted individuals bear the huge responsibility of tending to the health needs of the community with limited "education" (many have not completed grade/middle school). Interestingly, these promotores care for their own rural pueblo better than any physician, nurse, or other health proffesional from the city can ever do. When I was 18 all I cared about was partying and trying to get into college to improve MYSELF. These people have the interests of the ENTIRE COMMUNITY on their minds.
This mindset speaks to one of the largests contrasts between American and rural Chiapan culture. There is no ME in Los Altos, there is only US.
post Puebla
We are back in San Cristobal (of course). We spent longer in Q than expected, and our mothers' reacted in full force--mine called John, and Chris' called the hostel searching for their children.
We stayed in Q in order to finish up a good week of work. We have completed filters and spirometry in Q and in Puebla. Puebla is about 50 very rocky minutes from Quexalhukum. It is a "colonia" so it is semi-urban. There are tiendas everywhere, and the houses are close together. The fact that they are closer together has helped us--we were able to turn over filters quickly--but it also means we got lazy. We had days where we only had 2 hours of work, and then nothing for the rest of the day. On Saturday and Sunday, though, we worked hard. We did spirometry on 5 women in Q and 24 women in Puebla. We only have 8 more houses to do in the next community--Chuchtik. We are starting there on Wednesday at 8 am. It shouldn't take more than 3 days. Fortuitously, we met Tomas, the health promoter in Chuchtik, this morning at Medicos del Mundo, and arranged to meet him at the cooperative tienda on Wednesday. Everything here seems to happen sort of magically--people appear when you need them, and things somehow get done. I don't quite understand it.
Our latest next challenge will be getting stoves across the border. We are working with the administrator of Medicos del Mundo. He is amazing. He does everything so quickly and efficiently. He knows how Mexico works, and calls up lots of people (e.g., customs agencies) and fixes everything rapidly. But, he also has the patience to wait for an email to arrive and chat with us about our lives, and how he has seen San Cristobal change over the past several years. He also knows a lot about Las Abejas, but because he is not part of them, just assisting them, he can tell us what we need to be concerned about. We all have the same interest--assisting Las Abejas in their work--but he has more inside knowledge than we do, so he can warn us of any missteps we could potentially make. He also speaks Spanish a mile a minute, so I have to pay close attention to figure out what is going on.
All in all, we have had a pretty impressive week. The people in Puebla have been amazingly hospitable. They gave us at least one meal a day, at least. We ate lots and lots of eggs and beans. LOTS of eggs and beans. We try to replace as much as we can with beans and rice and vegetables. The children area also fabulous. They are very gregarious and like to say my name and follow us around and carry our bags with machines. The name Anna is very useful here--everyone remembers it easily and calls me Ana all the time. They pick it up faster than Chris, Jackie or Farah.
Spirometry has been a challenge, but also really cool because we get to spend more time with the women, and see them interact with each other. It is really hard to explain how they have to breathe in and then exhale as fast as possible and not breathe back in. In some ways, they are happy to do it, but some just don't really get it. The older women are troopers--they give it their all and it usually works. Its impressive. It is shocking how young some of the women are. Many of them are younger than I am and have several children. And many of the women in Puebla didn't know their birthdate at all--they just gave us a rough estimte of the year.
We have some great pictures. I have some regular ones, but Jackie has some spirometry in in action shots. I'll try to post them sometime soon.
Some of my favorite moments from the week:
1. Playing "bs" with Fernando and Eriberto. We had to tell them that we didn't play cards for money, and then they were happy to play with us. We called it "mentira (liar)," and we played it on the porch of the casa de salud while waiting for the rain to pass. They were both terrible liars, which was wonderful. We also learned how to count to 10 in Tzotzil. I practice my numbers every day with the sisters who live down the hill from us.
2. Playing string games with our neighbors. There is a family who lives down the hill from the casa de salud where we live. They have lots of daughters, and one son who is 2 years old (Juan Alberto), and who rides around on the back of one of his sisters. The girls are Margarita (9), Juanita (8), Angelina (5 or 6), and Senaida (4). They love to watch us. They are getting bolder and bolder and even peep through the cracks in the wall to watch us. I found some string and play cat's cradle with them. They also teach me their own string games. They are pretty complicated and mine never look quite right. On Friday, a brigade of vaccinations came to Quexalhukum. I somehow remembered how to make oragami balls out of construction paper, and played with Fernando's children with the balls. They put them all together to make batman.
3. Doing spirometry. Spirometry is really hard. Its stressful because sometimes we can't get repeatable tests, and we feel horrible making the women blow into the tube over and over and over again. But its also amazing because we get to interact with the women on a one on one basis. We take their height and weight and blood pressure, so we are physically closer to them. Then we demonstrate the test for them, and we try to explain everything that is happening on othe computer. We taught Eriberto and Roselia how to use the program, so they know what to look for, and they can explain to the women in Tzotzil. The women try really hard. Some of them won't give up until they get 3 repeatable tests, others just can't, so we ask them to rest and try again if they want. Usually they will come back and try. Some are sick, so we are going to go back and try again next week if they are better. One of my favorite ladies was older--probably 65. She was ready to go, though. She stuck the nose clip on her nose, and everyone laughed, even she. It was great for everyone to laugh together--probably about 20 of her children and grandchildren, nieces and nephews, etc. Then she just took a deep breath and blew out as hard as she could.
4. Music--Eriberto lent us his CD of Mana and DVD of Vicente Fernanez, who is a classic. He says his dad likes Vicente Fernandez, but he doesn't. In exchange, we make him 4 CDs of our favorite music. He says he likes all the CD's equally (rock, hip hop, alternative, and misc), but I think he may not like any of them and is just being diplomatic!
We stayed in Q in order to finish up a good week of work. We have completed filters and spirometry in Q and in Puebla. Puebla is about 50 very rocky minutes from Quexalhukum. It is a "colonia" so it is semi-urban. There are tiendas everywhere, and the houses are close together. The fact that they are closer together has helped us--we were able to turn over filters quickly--but it also means we got lazy. We had days where we only had 2 hours of work, and then nothing for the rest of the day. On Saturday and Sunday, though, we worked hard. We did spirometry on 5 women in Q and 24 women in Puebla. We only have 8 more houses to do in the next community--Chuchtik. We are starting there on Wednesday at 8 am. It shouldn't take more than 3 days. Fortuitously, we met Tomas, the health promoter in Chuchtik, this morning at Medicos del Mundo, and arranged to meet him at the cooperative tienda on Wednesday. Everything here seems to happen sort of magically--people appear when you need them, and things somehow get done. I don't quite understand it.
Our latest next challenge will be getting stoves across the border. We are working with the administrator of Medicos del Mundo. He is amazing. He does everything so quickly and efficiently. He knows how Mexico works, and calls up lots of people (e.g., customs agencies) and fixes everything rapidly. But, he also has the patience to wait for an email to arrive and chat with us about our lives, and how he has seen San Cristobal change over the past several years. He also knows a lot about Las Abejas, but because he is not part of them, just assisting them, he can tell us what we need to be concerned about. We all have the same interest--assisting Las Abejas in their work--but he has more inside knowledge than we do, so he can warn us of any missteps we could potentially make. He also speaks Spanish a mile a minute, so I have to pay close attention to figure out what is going on.
All in all, we have had a pretty impressive week. The people in Puebla have been amazingly hospitable. They gave us at least one meal a day, at least. We ate lots and lots of eggs and beans. LOTS of eggs and beans. We try to replace as much as we can with beans and rice and vegetables. The children area also fabulous. They are very gregarious and like to say my name and follow us around and carry our bags with machines. The name Anna is very useful here--everyone remembers it easily and calls me Ana all the time. They pick it up faster than Chris, Jackie or Farah.
Spirometry has been a challenge, but also really cool because we get to spend more time with the women, and see them interact with each other. It is really hard to explain how they have to breathe in and then exhale as fast as possible and not breathe back in. In some ways, they are happy to do it, but some just don't really get it. The older women are troopers--they give it their all and it usually works. Its impressive. It is shocking how young some of the women are. Many of them are younger than I am and have several children. And many of the women in Puebla didn't know their birthdate at all--they just gave us a rough estimte of the year.
We have some great pictures. I have some regular ones, but Jackie has some spirometry in in action shots. I'll try to post them sometime soon.
Some of my favorite moments from the week:
1. Playing "bs" with Fernando and Eriberto. We had to tell them that we didn't play cards for money, and then they were happy to play with us. We called it "mentira (liar)," and we played it on the porch of the casa de salud while waiting for the rain to pass. They were both terrible liars, which was wonderful. We also learned how to count to 10 in Tzotzil. I practice my numbers every day with the sisters who live down the hill from us.
2. Playing string games with our neighbors. There is a family who lives down the hill from the casa de salud where we live. They have lots of daughters, and one son who is 2 years old (Juan Alberto), and who rides around on the back of one of his sisters. The girls are Margarita (9), Juanita (8), Angelina (5 or 6), and Senaida (4). They love to watch us. They are getting bolder and bolder and even peep through the cracks in the wall to watch us. I found some string and play cat's cradle with them. They also teach me their own string games. They are pretty complicated and mine never look quite right. On Friday, a brigade of vaccinations came to Quexalhukum. I somehow remembered how to make oragami balls out of construction paper, and played with Fernando's children with the balls. They put them all together to make batman.
3. Doing spirometry. Spirometry is really hard. Its stressful because sometimes we can't get repeatable tests, and we feel horrible making the women blow into the tube over and over and over again. But its also amazing because we get to interact with the women on a one on one basis. We take their height and weight and blood pressure, so we are physically closer to them. Then we demonstrate the test for them, and we try to explain everything that is happening on othe computer. We taught Eriberto and Roselia how to use the program, so they know what to look for, and they can explain to the women in Tzotzil. The women try really hard. Some of them won't give up until they get 3 repeatable tests, others just can't, so we ask them to rest and try again if they want. Usually they will come back and try. Some are sick, so we are going to go back and try again next week if they are better. One of my favorite ladies was older--probably 65. She was ready to go, though. She stuck the nose clip on her nose, and everyone laughed, even she. It was great for everyone to laugh together--probably about 20 of her children and grandchildren, nieces and nephews, etc. Then she just took a deep breath and blew out as hard as she could.
4. Music--Eriberto lent us his CD of Mana and DVD of Vicente Fernanez, who is a classic. He says his dad likes Vicente Fernandez, but he doesn't. In exchange, we make him 4 CDs of our favorite music. He says he likes all the CD's equally (rock, hip hop, alternative, and misc), but I think he may not like any of them and is just being diplomatic!
You may think we're crazy to spend our summer in Chiapas, but we think you're crazy not to!
It has been 7 days since the last visit to San Cris, and oh, what a long week it has been. Actually, it feels more like a conquest. The largest community that will be receiving stoves, Puebla Colonial is basically done! 24 meticulous particulate matter measurements later, 21 trials of spirometry- (some quick, but some painfully long tries) have put us over our largest hurdle on this trip so far. But in Chiapas, there will probably be more challenges to come.
There have been a handful of times in the past couple of weeks in which I thought to myself ¨Why didn't I stay in Newport Beach, where I have the luxury of eating whatever I please and have the ability to walk to the beach on a whim?¨ Generally these wistful thoughts happen when the rain is pouring down hard and we are walking up a steep, slippery hill of mud, or bouncing around in the back of a Nissan, bones colliding with the side of the truck bed. Or when I got a bug bite on my forearm, which became sausagelike and swollen x2 from wrist to elbow. But now that it has been over two weeks, these strange and sometimes uncomfortable scenarios have become a part of everyday life. Quexalhukum has become our home, the botoquin is now our bedroom, and Fernando's family is ours as well. We are not necessarily ¨assimilated" by any ethnographist's standards, but we have gotten to know some people well enough to appreciate what life is like as a Tzotzil in Chiapas, Mexico.
There have been a handful of times in the past couple of weeks in which I thought to myself ¨Why didn't I stay in Newport Beach, where I have the luxury of eating whatever I please and have the ability to walk to the beach on a whim?¨ Generally these wistful thoughts happen when the rain is pouring down hard and we are walking up a steep, slippery hill of mud, or bouncing around in the back of a Nissan, bones colliding with the side of the truck bed. Or when I got a bug bite on my forearm, which became sausagelike and swollen x2 from wrist to elbow. But now that it has been over two weeks, these strange and sometimes uncomfortable scenarios have become a part of everyday life. Quexalhukum has become our home, the botoquin is now our bedroom, and Fernando's family is ours as well. We are not necessarily ¨assimilated" by any ethnographist's standards, but we have gotten to know some people well enough to appreciate what life is like as a Tzotzil in Chiapas, Mexico.
Where am I getting with this? You wouldn't think that people living in poverty, with homes made from wooden planks, with chickens running amuck in the home, and most of the population lacking access to education past the 5th grade, would have formed this sophisticated form of social structure and health organization. Health promoters make major decisions together "platicando" (via discussion). They push for improvement of their communities, striking a balance between the vertical and horizontal structures of donation and service. i.e. they will work with outsiders like us, who want to donate stoves in a manner that allows them to take ownership of the project. However, they will not accept welfare or donations from the a government that has oppressed them for years.
As a whole, I have found that my experience here has shifted many paradigms I've had in the past, about people, race, culture... If I walk down the streets of LA, and I see Mexicans working on a construction project, I may think of people like Antonio, one of the health promoters in Q that has to leave for months at a time to find work that will pay for his wife, Maura's needs back in Q. I may think of the amazing work that Fernando, leader of the health promoters, basically THE MAN in Las Abejas that has helped the communities take immense strides with regards to progress and health. As a small man in stature, wearing the typical button down shirt, belt with large buckle, and a large cowboy hat, one would never guess that he is a large contributor to the health of Chenalho, an essential player in the struggle against the odds of poverty. Some may think that we are nuts to spend our last summer running around in rubber boots, lacking regular access to showers and toilets. I'd say that people are crazy to not experience what we get to see everyday. Having a million dollar view of gorgeous green valleys and mountains ain't half bad either.
Cross your fingers for us while we try and manhandle stoves at the Guatemalan/Mexican border.
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