They have their own languages, cultures, traditions, and only recently have been in contact with the Western World. Missionaries have Christianized the population to a certain extent and the Ecuadorian government assists them with medical issues. I was lucky enough to be invited on one of the government's trips adentro to help with a medical survey.
Like Peace Corps Volunteers, the Ecuadorian Department of Health needs to figure out where problems are and what are the needs of the community before they can begin working. To this aim, the Department of Health sends doctors and sociologists to jungle communities to talk with the residents about what their health problems are, when these problems are worst and what they think could be done to alleviate these problems. I was there doing some research for another PCV who will be working with community gardening in these communities. I wanted to find out what the farming practices were for the Achuar people, what plants they cultivated, and anything else that would be helpful for the PCV.
We flew about an hour in a small 5-seater plane from Puyo to the small Achuar community of Charapacocha or Turtle Lake. The view from the plane was amazing as we flew deeper into the Amazonian Rain Forest. We could see small and large rivers snaking down from the mountains and tiny communities consisting of a few houses surrounding a small landing strip.
When we arrived at Charapacocha we set up tables in a large open building that was recently constructed by the community for the Achuar Nationality Congress. The doctors with us were gong to have people from 8 surrounding communities draw community maps, make calendars of typical diseases and the months when they are most prevalent, and had them draw pictures of they way life used to be and the way they would want it to be. The sociologist with us was then going to compile everything and present the data to the heads of the provincial health department so that future programing could be planned and communities with the most problems could receive the most help.
It was interesting to see how the Achuar communities saw themselves and their future. I didn't really help too much with the diagnostic, but it was worth the trip. I told the PCV who will be working with the Achuar that she will have to focus on very small family plots that will hopefully fortify their typical diet of plantains, yuca, and taro root. Fertilizer will be a big problem, so dry toilets that can be designed to use human urine as a fertilizer may be an option. I'm sure the PCV will have a lot of problems getting the communities to change their ways, but it will surely be an adventure.
The plane we flew in on...God help us
Creating a community needs assessment
Looking at the finished product
The house where we stayed...nicest room in town (you can see the building where we worked in the background)
Eating lunch
More drawings
This is a fish they caught in the river. It is called bagre and we had it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for three days.
A small indigenous community from the air
Notice the airstrip to the pilot's left
The house where we stayed...nicest room in town (you can see the building where we worked in the background)
Eating lunch
More drawings
This is a fish they caught in the river. It is called bagre and we had it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for three days.
A small indigenous community from the air
Notice the airstrip to the pilot's left
Puyo as seen from the air
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