Our (cold) day started off with a meeting at the Ocongate District Municipality with Rene Gonzales, head of the social work department. He told us about Ocongate's health, education, and security. We were informed that the social work department works with the ministry of health to provide things such as beds and blankets for the clinic. Only Cusco has specialized medical professionals, so any major health cases must be taken by land to there. Elsewhere, clinics are staffed more by nurse technicians. Sr.Gonzales mentioned that the city has been building their local clinic for two years now, and it was supposed to be finished last November. This delay is mainly due to lack of support from the local government. They have started having roundtable discussions about childhood malnutrition though, because only 5% of children in the area are okay in their nutrition.
Ocongate has one police station for 18,000 people, staffed with only five officers. I find this crazy to think about, but the communities also do a lot of work and are an important factor too. The community has a civil defense, similar to FEMA here in the United States, to help with hail, rain, and snow damage that can damage property and kill livestock. However, their assistance is limited due to their budget. I found it interesting that they don't have seasons like ours. From December through April is their rainy season; from May through July is their cold season; from August through December is their windy season. None of these seem like fun seasons to me.
It has been discovered that the more education that the mother of a family has, there is a decrease in her kids' malnutrition. Thus, in Huacatinco, there is an early childhood center which we got to visit. The drive there was intense with narrow roads and steep cliffs on mountain sides that kept us all on our toes. All over the walls of this building are informational posters, such as how to breastfeed, how to wash your hands properly, and warning signs in infants. There is also a "talking map" which showcases where every family lives in the community. This helps the workers keep track of who is pregnant and has how many kids and where so that they can visit families in order to give them help. On Fridays, this center would receive about 50 kids and cook for them. Having these children come to the center gives them time with toys that they otherwise would not have and a chance to socialize to prepare them for school later on in their lives. There's a padded floor as well so that it isn't so hard or cold for all of the little ones crawling around. Although there were only a few children there when we visited, they all seemed to be having a great time.
To help tie together traditional practices and modern medicine for child birth, mamawasis have been created. These are like hospitals but more like a mother's home, with accommodations to allow the mother to give birth in the traditional squatting position. The husband is allowed to be there as well, and the midwives would only step in when necessary to protect the mother and the baby. With these accommodations, mothers are much more likely to go to a mamawasi to give birth, instead of the traditional way at home with only the husband present. I think this is great for families, especially the mother and child, as it can drastically decrease the chances of mother or child being harmed.
This day also consisted of a group discussion/debriefing that lasted several hours, although it did not feel that way. We connected what we had discussed previous to this trip to what we had seen so far. While huddled around the fire in a half-circle, many great ideas were thrown around. We also mentioned potential lies that we could have been told by lecturers or government officials during our stay, which led to an intriguing discussion with many critiques. I certainly enjoyed the bright thoughts that were continuously bounced around. It was a great ending to such a chilly day.
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