In the pre-dawn rain, the plaintive call of the patutu drifted down the valley. The cow-horn patutu is blown to call the leaders of the surrounding pueblos to meeting.
The purpose of today’s gathering was a village-by-village evaluation of health services in the valley. It lasted three days. Nurses Paulina Sepeta and Jean Lechtenberg listened to reports from each pueblo. Toward the end of the second day the leader abruptly queried, “Quien es la rubia alli?” – “Who's the blond in the back there?” Jean (Juana) was introduced to the larger community and kindly applauded.
Visiting the pueblos involves leaving early by car or on foot, tramping the dripping jungle lanes and mountain paths. The pueblos are actually scattered clusters of slope-side adobes. Most have a muddy dooryard with a water standpipe, chickens, dogs, maybe a sheep or pig.
The shy, smiling, barefoot children greet the nurses and call their mothers. Their clothes are permanently soiled - not torn but worn-through and threadbare. Many speak only Aymara.
The homes have a dirt floor, and may be partially roofed. The stove is a fire pit in the corner.
Scattered on the floor beside the nurses bags are children’s playthings – a hammer, flattened bottle caps, a piece of pipe.
The nurses weigh the little ones in a sling and measure them. They give polio and other vaccinations, vitamin A and medicine for parasites, lice, and infection.
They talk to mothers who do not realize that new universal health coverage applies to all children up to the age of 21 and to new mothers for 6 months – better universal health coverage than in the US.
For a nurse, the poverty, the dirt, the disorganization weigh heavy on the spirit. She wonders if the bright children that blossom here in the dirt will raise their own children here. Sister Damon began a college in this valley to insure that some of them will have other options.
A little girl embraces her dear faceless teddy.
In the years to come she must find her own countenance. The nurse prays it will reflect a wisdom, confidence, and pride in achievement that health and education will afford her.
