Daily Routines in Compone, Peru

School of Public Health and Engineers without Borders Collaboration

Compone, Peru Assessment Trip

January 6-16, 2013

In case you are reading this blog for the first time, here's a little background. A UMCP Engineers without Borders (UMCP-EWB) team has been meeting weekly in preparation for a trip to a rural community in Peru to assess previously implemented projects and to develop an improved water disinfection system. I was honored to be part of the first SPH team to join EWB on a trip, along with SPH graduate students, Graciela Jaschek and Greg Raspanti. In a previous post (below this one), you can find my introduction and description of team members.

Daily Routines in Compone

In preparation for our first meeting with the UMCP-EWB team in the School of Public Health Dean’s office conference room, I read a report I found on the website about the implementation of a chlorination system by UMCP. The report is impressive and I made notes in the margins with my questions and thoughts. I learned over the next 2 weeks that the Compone, Peru project has been complicated, has suffered from failed implementation, and lacks continuity of travelling team members. That is, no one who has gone on previous trips will be going with this team. Dr. Dave Lovell, the UMCP-EWB chapter advisor was straightforward in his choice of words, “You may find the community frustrated, even hostile.”

What we found was quite different than we feared. The community seemed to have little historical memory of UMCP-EWB’s failures, but rather, the presence of George Mason University doing parallel projects. This surprise became an inside joke among the team, a developing rivalry unknown to George Mason, in which we, UMCP want to be known by the community as the winning team—collaborative, successful in fixing the water-related issues in the community, and of course, as better competitors on the soccer field.

As I understand it, one of the previous implementation teams from UMCP put in this cement tank to improve water quality. To a family scientist, this looked like a complex and arduous task and I was wowed by the effort. Unfortunately, that 2009 team found compatibility issues with chlorination tablets available, and the system was not successful. A follow up team constructed a chlorine tablet press, but this also was not reliably producing potable water. A team from George Mason University took the top off the tank and installed the plastic tank inside, presumably to fix the problem. But water quality remains a problem.

In the photo above, Maria and Kevin are enjoying hot cocoa. That morning, they woke early with the promise of learning to milk a cow at Vincente's house. The milk in the cocoa is from a cow named Linda and it was delicious!  We paid 75 soles for 6 days of meals at Vincente’s house (approximately $6 a day). Margarita, his daughter, would prepare the meals – cheese sandwiches for breakfast and lunch and a meat dish with rice and potatoes for dinner. Entertainment from five year old, Jordy, was included in the price.

Compone is divided into 5 districts with a total of approximately 1200 people. Interestingly, Compone is divided as such because of its water issues. Five irrigation and water treatment systems are needed to serve the homes within.  Most of our work centered around the Allya San Isidro district where both Annibal (district president) and Vincente’s homes are located. The districts are centered on either side of a busy road where trucks roar by at high speed. On our first morning, we witnessed the death of one of Vincente’s dogs. I regret looking back. In College Park, when a squirrel gets hit by a car, we call the municipality to take it out of our sight. In Compone, Vincente waited with his shovel for a traffic-free moment, then disposed of his pet in a ditch across the street.  His other dog looked distressed, and we are all quite sure that our identification of dog emotion is accurate.

On either side of the road are fortuitously wide shoulders and constant activity. Grandmotherly women walk slowly with tanned leathery skin, tall hats, and brightly colored cloth filled with harvested grain on their backs. 

Middle aged men with gap toothed smiles sing “Buenas dias” and shake our hands as we walk exactly one mile to breakfast at Vincente’s. Young girls lead cows and sheep along the road toward one of many trails to or from “el campo” where the animals graze all day long. 

After each of the intermittent heavy rains, pigs wallow with glee in side-of-the-road mud (again, I’m confident about the personified animal emotion).  Every day, the same dogs ferociously bark and threaten to bite as we pass their homes, but over time, it became too routine to be scary. 

After breakfast, we divided into three teams to do our work. Ed, Maria, Addison and Zack went to test water quality at different residences or to the spring box at  “the top of the mountain” where the past attempts and future implementation of a functioning chlorination system for Allya San Isidro will likely take place. Kelly, Kevin, and Nelson sought out important community contacts – water quality experts, municipal leadership, and those with historical knowledge of the project. Greg, Graciela and I sought both community leaders and household members to participate in our public health interviews.

Next post will be a summary of our Public Health interviews.