Muchos saludos de Puno! The sunny skies are returning marking the end of our rainy season. Nights are chilly, but the days are getting up to 65-70 degrees.....in the sun.
We had a lively household this week during the first training of "Promotores de Buena Salud" from both Peru and Bolivia. We were fortunate to have Moises with us, a young bilingual teacher from the Methodist Church's Instituto Americano in La Paz. He was a tremendous help with translation, education, and music.
Ta-dah! A little hike around Sillustani, an old pre-Inca and Inca site known for its funeraries. The huge rock in front of Moises has knobs they would wedge into another huge rock with matching indentations to construct the walls of the burial funeraries.
Part of our training facilities at the Juliaca Methodist Church. Yesirree....behind the white curtain is a toilet which we tried not to use....pretty scarey!
The promotores in training were excited to discover where their lungs and hearts were, and even more excited to listen to them work. We were all alive and well! The initial shyness and modesty did not last long.
They acted out scenarios of different illnesses demonstrating basic questions and exams to decide what to do. Send them to the local Puesto de Salud? Poor Felipe in the chair has a case of the flu....in Spanish, gripe. No.....that is "greeeepay", although he did complain a little about it as well.
They also are learning how to take pulses and temperatures. It is all new! We are preparing them to volunteer with mission teams and their local Puestos de Salud.
The focus of the course is on education and prevention, allowing them to take more responsibility for the health of themselves and others in their communities.
Isidro and Victor planning their presentation! It was fun to see how creative they were. Most of our instruction is based on the basic healthcare presented in the "Healthwise Handbook."
We also learned how many of us we could cram into the restaurant down the street!
Our promotores in training from both Bolivia and Peru. What a crew! The fellowship shared during the exchange and training was heartwarming.
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