Nomad JuanCa's Report

HI, i am happy today it was a great day , Maximiliano picked me 7.30am then we met Claudia and Monika. Maximiliano is Argentinian, i forgot to mention it yesterday, he is really a cool guy, we were laughing all the way until Palenque, even though he's got a difficult accent for me in Spanish.. but it was cool to talk to him. Monika in case i didn't mention it, is from Germany, she is coordinating the sensibility trainings in Redima Health Care Facilities.

The way until Palenque is a bit long, 2h far is not so fast even though we made 1h30 because Monika, as many Germans, has Schumacher's spirit inside LOL. We were talking during the trip it was cool, Monika, Maxi and Claudia get along quite well.. it was such a great pleasure to go there with them.

This time i didn't facilitate, i was more on the listening side because Max was facilitating with Claudia, it was funny... first time i listen an Argentinian facilitating, they have some funny expressions . Palenque is very rural zone, along the way there we found lot of farms, cows, chickens, horses, we often had to stop the car to let the cows cross the path!!! (and we almost hit them couple of times cause Monika was driving quite fast .. that was... like a real car race!!) Another cool thing of the trip was that I could see lot of rice plantations, i have always though they look nice... like very well organised...I could also see some very original country side houses made of wood. I didn't see them since when i was a child, it was really cool to see these people keep their costumes with t he difference that now they have electricity what they didn't have when i was a child (Oh God... i am becoming so old... i even have stories to tell!!!).

Once arriving to Palenque we were glad to find a small quiet and very clean town. Like many small towns in Ecuador they have a town centre where the most important buildings are placed. The church, the Major's office, the police department, the park and also the Hospital.

The Hospital is where we had to our training today, i was very pleased to see a very nice and clean building with several facilities one would not expect in the country side.. they even had surgery room... isn't it great? I really think Catholic Church did a great job with this health care facilities, they are really great and a big help for the communities where they are placed. Well, here some pics of Palengue... enjoy it!

The place is very clean and calmed, you can see several cars and mono taxis by the way... people are no longer using horses in the city but bicycles too.

This Hospital "Father Miguel Sesma" receives people not only from Palenque but from other small communes placed several kilometres far... one of the delegates to the session today came from a community placed an hour far from Palenque.

Off course, it was the first time all of us (except Monika) were in Palenque, so we were taking pics like real tourists .

In this pic you can see Claudia and Maxi, believe me Palenque is such a calmed quiet place... one feels like staying there, they only problem i heard is that they don't have very good internet connection... buu :(

Arriving there we met the Director of the Hospital, Mayte from Spain, she is a mature woman in charge that everything works smoothly, it is so cool to see so many foreigners working to help people in Ecuador, they are so open and friendly, it is a rewarding experience.

About the sessions, today it was all cool, there were only 10 delegates because the Hospital had to keep on working, but it was cool, mostly people from administrative departments, some nurses and a Dr. Among nurses there was a Puerto Rican woman :), wow.... i wasn't expecting so many foreigners in such small rural place. Training was fine, they had been trained before on Hiv and for what refers to medical knowledge they were quite good.

Dr Walter had worked in Guayaquil in a centre of scientific research for Hiv (I didn't know there was such a thing in this country.... amazing!!). He had trained most of workers at hospital about Hiv and some others health promoters they train from far away communities. He has done a great job!!!.

Max did a good job relaxing people and helping them to break the ice and to participate in the sessions
Well... there is no much to say about the training itself, i mean it was really fine... but it has a reason... In Palenque there are not Hiv cases known at this time. They had a case but from a far away community.

The lack of Hiv cases is actually due to several situations... not all of them good... first of all... there has not been place in Palenque offering tests for Hiv before... so perhaps the lack of cases is because none has ever test. 25 years after the illness started to spread around the world... there are still places unable to fight it... OH MY GOD!!!.

They have never ever seen a positive person, therefore they were very open to participate feeling like "cool lets know about this, anyways there is none infected nearby". When my time arrived i asked them to seat in a circle with me and i asked them what was their biggest fear about Hiv. Most common answers were:

• The risk of infecting others


• Discrimination I will face


• Lack of medicines


• How long i will live


• Fear of a pity death

I thanked them all for their participation and gave the hand to each one of them... and then i seated and told them..."by the way, you said none except Dr. Walter had ever seen a seropositive person, right?... well it's not like that anymore... because i am seropositive, i am living with Hiv and right now you have seen with your eyes a person living with Hiv and have touched him when giving me your hands". Needles to say they were quite surprised.... but it was hard... while saying all this the muscles of my face reacted... i felt like crying... my eyes got wet... my face... i could not control it... the muscles started to contract and i felt like i would cry in that specific moment.... Not sure if you understand me... it is when your face starts to contract and get like this .

I don't know if it is anxiety, or simply sadness... but i hate it. I have to fight those moments not to cry.... emotional instability is one of the things Hiv has given me since it moved to live with me.. and i don't like it. To cry involuntary and without control is not nice :((( and worst in front of others.... damn!!.

Well.. i sort of controlled myself and didn't really cried, i kept on talking, telling my story, how things happened, talking about their fears and answering from my point of view... i told them about what happened to my dermatologist, i told them about the need of preparing to give a hand to those in need...

Situation in Palenque might seem good from distance but it is actually not so much... being a small town Palenque's inhabitants still suffer of lack of education and paradigms... so when then first cases of Hiv will be detected... those people will have a hard time... really hard. I asked people in the Hospital to stand in their defence.. if in my city (the biggest of this country) we are still having people trying to expels Hiv+ kids from schools.. only because of their stupid fears.... i cannot imagine how many things can happen in that small town. Also in these communities we still have "parteras", they are women who assist other women to deliver children at their homes.. using old and insecure methods.. sometimes putting mothers and sons in risk... now imagine if one of those mothers is Hiv+.... there would not be chance to protect the child in case of such deliverance.

Not sure if you all know this but i guess i have to tell you. There is a thing called "Vertical transmission". Vertical transmission is when Hiv is transmitted from mother to child during pregnancy or deliverance. When there is a Hiv+ mother, there is a protocol that allow her to deliver her son with only a 2% risk for the child to be Hiv infected, in other countries they even have said they could reduce it to zero. The protocol is composed by some steps, like for example the mother have to take ARV meds during all pregnancy, mother cannot deliver son naturally... but with surgery, in that way we avoid the child to touch mother's blood or internal fluids in his way out during deliverance. Once the child is borned, mother cannot breast feed her son... if she does it, she would infect him with Hiv, we use supplements for maternal milk. And finally, after deliverance, the newly borned receives ARV during a period of time... usually a month to try to eradicate any possibility of infection. After the whole protocol have been accomplished children are tested for Hiv at third month if i am not wrong, if they test negative (like most of the cases following this protocol) the test is considered conclusive and we can happily say the child is Hiv-.

It is not an easy thing to do... but it is very important that mother's get tested for Hiv so we can protect their child, this is going to be one of the first points this hospital will work on. These people working here will have a big work to do... and i hope in God they will do it right, i saw them today... they are really a great bunch of people... i know they will help other's in need.

After finishing the trainings we took some time to joke.. specially Maxi because it seems some Argentinian guys are a bit metro (metrosexuals). He was talking about his skin face and how our weather has affected it. LOL... here you can see him watching himself on the mirror of Monika's car LOL :)

I think we really did a good job today. Now i am only missing a testimony, the last one.

I also met people from Care, we greeted shortly cause they were in Palenque in a hurry for some short and fast meetings before travelling to Vinces another town nearby. Well... here some pics after the training.

In the first pic you can see Maxi and Claudia.

In the second pic you can see Monika (back), Mayte from Spain and Maxi (Argentinian).

Afterward and once arriving to Guayaquil i had to pick up a folder i had left forgotten and then talked to my sister to meet in the International Book Exposition in Guayaquil, it was very nice, i met one of the AIESEC advisors at the entrance. There were several expositions and forums about different type of books and other authors, here some pics.

Well i have some pics about this but i am feeling very tired right now... 1.15am here i want to go to sleep right now. Tomorrow i will take my tests at 6.30am... i hope to have them done early so i can come back home and sleep a bit more. Dr requested me following tests

1. Hemogram


2. Glycemy


3. Cholesterol


4. Triglycerides


5. TGB/TBP


6. HCV test


7. TORCH


8. VDRL


9. CD4

Most of the tests are to identify STD (sexual transmitted diseases) and also to see my other indicators of health. I hope they withdraw blood enough for all tests tomorrow... and don't leave my body empty :) Ok--- going to sleep right now.. i feel very sleepy.

Labels: New life, same illness