Freak Out Moment

March 23, 2012 - Despite a very productive day (only 119 surveys left and two more interviews schedule for next week!) I reached a breaking point today. Maybe this is something that happens to everyone doing this type of research. I hope. I'd like to think I'm not alone. So what happened? I had a terrible thought pass through my mind. I almost hate to say it out loud, but here goes. I thought, why am I doing this again?

What led to this moment of self-doubt, or maybe better to call it project-doubt? Well, first I got some not-so-positive feedback on my initial analysis outline (where I basically said here is what I hope to be able to say). Then, I was happily entering the 38 surveys I collected today only to find out that several clients completed only half the survey. So frustrating because I'm really trying to maintain a decent level of data quality.

While I realize these frustrations are normal, especially in programmatic research, it got me thinking, is this research even going to be useful? All these questions start popping into my head. For example, we decided to focus on client behaviors, but maybe a health knowledge test would have revealed more useful results. Can you really show a difference in behaviors between new and old clients with a sample of only 5%, which aren't even all complete? And obviously I should have done multiple choice for questions like where do you live and what is your business because the women wrote so many different things it will be impossible to reconcile them. And why didn't I make the range of membership bigger? Everyday women laugh at me when I say "más de 2 años?" Of course, they say, años, más de 10!" On top of the survey shortcomings I start thinking about my interviews too. With only three left to do I'm still wanting to add questions, but then I won't have that data for all clients.

Cue minor freak out. But...deep breaths...and I start thinking back to the preliminary analysis I did. Sure, it probably needs some tweaking, and it won't be perfect. But, based on the surveys collected so far, I've found that longer-term clients were more likely to have had a PAP in the last year. That's interesting and certainly valuable to Pro Mujer as PAPs are a key metric. Also, longer-term clients were more likely to report good health than bad (although overall this variable is dismal). Also, I've found that while the concept of exercise is foreign to most clients, many of them walk for several hours everyday. Hours!

So, after a "calm moment" as we used to say in college, plus a little internal pep talk, I've decided, my research is valuable. And hopefully Pro Mujer will use this information, plus direct suggestions I pass on from our clients, to improve their health services and health education.

Ok, all good now. Back to work....

Glorious Arequipa

March 21, 2012 - Well last weekend we once again escaped the cold and dreariness of Puno and finally visited Arequipa. Everyone told me I was going to love Arequipa, but I had no idea how much until I arrived! It was quite a weekend and I've already re-capped it via email for some of you so here are some highlights (in somewhat chronological order):

1. Arriving in the evening and being able to walk around after dark without freezing. Plus marveling at all the people out and about and all the options for restaurants and bars.
2. Eating Mexican food for the first time in more than two months. Delicious make-your-own tacos and a Corona. Yum.
3. Walking around Saturday morning, basking in the beautiful scenery and sun.
4. Eating a late breakfast outside. Quiche and fresh fruit juice. Yum.
5. Relaxing by the pool (yes, pool!) at our awesome hostel, the Wild Rover.
6. Getting wild and crazy for St. Patty's Day, which started around 4 with beers (Guinness!), face paint, and green t-shirts.
7. Helping with the bar's attempt at breaking a record for Baby Guinness shots. Yum.
8. Being served drinks by a real Irishman on St. Patty's Day and asking him if I look Irish, to which he responded no, but I can definitely tell you are European. Um, no...
9. Eating falafel. Yum.
10. Realizing it was only 7 p.m. after eating falafel and feeling ready for bed.
11. Dancing on the bar.
12. Losing my camera but then finding it.
13. Meeting lots of new friends, mostly Americans.
14. Calling it a night at 10 p.m.
15. Waking up early to explore the city more.
16. Getting a tour from our co-worker Gaby and her friends which included delicious food and visiting several "miradors" or look out points all around the city that we would never have seen on our own.
17. An exotic lunch including fried cuy (guinea pig), stuffed peppers, a potato dish similar to scallop potatoes, pork, duck, and later fried dough desserts.
18. Eventually heading back to Puno, feeling much relieved that Bloodsport, the movie we were forced to endure on the way there, was replaced with two decent movies on the way home.

Immediately after getting home I updated our itinerary for when Mike comes to visit, two days in Arequipa are a must!

T-Minus One Month

March 15, 2012 – One month of work left at Pro Mujer and I'm half way there...almost. I have completed 5 interviews out of 10 (yay!) but only about 160 surveys out of 357. Needless to say the next four weeks will be very busy! Wait, make that three, because one whole week I'm traveling with Kristy in Cuzco. AHH!

I've mentioned before the frustrations of getting people to take a survey. It takes me back to my days as a telephone surveyor during high school (worst job ever). This isn't quite as bad since you are doing the survey to help the people you're asking to take it, but still, imagine you go to the bank to make a payment on your loan or to the clinic for a health checkup and someone asks you to fill out a survey. Not that interested, right? Now imagine they speak English with a terrible accent. Yup, now you get the picture.

Despite this challenge, I've been chugging along with the surveys. Sometimes I walk into a room and, after a short and incredibly important introduction by the credit assessor (someone they know and trust), the woman all agree to participate. Other times, I have to practically twist arms just to get one or two surveys.

The interviews are a whole other logistical nightmare. I schedule the interview usually about one week in advance so I have to call to remind the women. Sometimes they answer, sometimes I leave a message, sometimes it’s a wrong number. Then I go to the appointed meeting place and wait. So far, I have been stood up three times, twice by the same person. Today I started recruiting a few more women to take the places of the ones that probably won’t ever happen.

However, when I actually do get to sit down with women, it is usually incredibly enjoyable and rewarding. I get a peek into their routines, their hopes and dreams, what they are proud of, and how Pro Mujer has changed their lives. Some are hesitant to answer my questions, giving me mostly one-word answers, but others open up, smile, and say surprising and insightful things.  

Feliz Día Internacional de la Mujer

March 9, 2012 - Yesterday was International Women's Day, a great day to reflect on how far women have come while also recognizing the challenges we still face around the world. I started the day reading some reports and articles put out by various health and development organizations and posting my attempt at being inspirational on Facebook. To my surprise, the day continued with much more celebration than expected.

First, I was greeted by all the staff at Centro Bellavista with a big hug and "feliz día." Wow, I thought, they really celebrate this day here. This was a surprise since most of my friends and family in the U.S. probably do not know it is International Women's Day, unless they work in health or development. But, as my colleague Marita pointed out, Peruvians like to celebrate EVERYTHING, so I shouldn't be surprised that this day is included.

Later in the day we learned there would be a meeting at 6 p.m. I expected snacks and maybe a few inspirational words, but was delighted when our male co-workers began giving short but heartfelt speeches about the importance of all the women in their lives - including us (their co-workers), mothers, grandmothers, sisters, daughters, and so on. I also loved the theme many mentioned, "No hace falta ser anti-hombre para ser pro-mujer." Or roughly being pro-woman doesn't mean you are anti-man. So true. Another co-worker commented that women are the essence of life, also a true and beautiful sentiment. So, feeling sufficiently celebrated, I was further delighted when the men asked us to close our eyes and presented each of us with a rose. Then, to top off the day, we all received Pro Mujer water bottles. Anyone who knows me well knows I am a sucker for free logo-ed items, so needless to say I was very happy. (Cue cheesy photo.)


Closing out the day, when a co-worker and I stopped in a store on the way home, even the woman running the store wished us a "feliz día." I thought about how important this day is in a country where women have gained rights, for example the right to work, in the more recent past than in the U.S, and where sadly many are still seen as second-class citizens in their homes. What a wonderful day to celebrate women and re-commit ourselves to improving the future for all the women in our lives and around the world. I went to bed feeling very grateful for the opportunity to be here working with so many amazing women AND men in Pro Mujer and doing some good, however small, for the women of Peru.

Sillustani

March 6, 2012 - This weekend we once again escaped from Puno, this time taking in the fresh air and beautiful views in Sillustani. Not an escape from the cold, as the weather turned quite chilly the moment we left Puno, but a nice break nonetheless.

After a short and enjoyable ride boasting comfy seats and views of the flooded but pretty countryside, we arrived in the small town of Sillustani, which is one of those towns that seems to only exist for the purpose of tourism. We slowly made our way up a muddy path until we began spotting stone towers on the hillside. Our guide carefully, and in much detail, told us about the history behind this "mystical" place. The towers are chullpas or funeral towers built by pre-Inca civilizations to bury dead nobility. Many of them lay incomplete or in ruins because the Spanish destroyed them for their strange, magnetic powers. I was a bit skeptical of these magical powers until our guide ran a compass in front of the rocks and it did indeed go haywire. Also, most of the towers have been pilfered for their valuable artifacts, some of which, thankfully, made it to a museum in Puno.

There were three main towers named after animals, the lizard, snake, and puma towers. Two remains of towers next to each other were sun and moon temples where offerings (and likely human and animal sacrifices were made). Apparently people were buried in the fetal position, preparing them for rebirth in their next life.

Given my short attention span for historical facts, those are the only details I recall. Mostly I spent my time taking in the crisp, pollution-free air and enjoying the delightful harmony of the blue sky, shimmering lake, green grass, and happy yellow flowers all around us. Plus, the occasional herd of cute llamas and alpacas (still can't tell the difference).

 
On the way home we stopped at a traditional home, the ever-so-stereotypical "cultural" experience that no good tourist trip in a developing country can leave out. Despite being cliche, it was enjoyable to see inside one of the stone courtyards we had passed on the way there. Inside were several small rooms, which seemed very bare and cold to me, except one which was decorated with a bright pink bedspread. Also quite comical, and maybe just for the tourists, was the tiny guinea pig (or cuy) house. Like all the houses we had passed, even the guinea pigs had two ceramic bulls on top for good luck.

Fun with Words

March 2, 2012 - For the last two weeks I have spent much time both at our centros focales and perusing the client database, both of which have given me opportunity to note the creativity of our clients in naming their groups or asociaciones comunales. So, I thought I'd share some of the more interesting.

Of course, there are numerous religiously themed names:
Dios Es Amor (God is Love)
Corazón de Jesus (Heart of Jesus)
Señor de los Milagros (Man of Miracles)
Cristo Rey (Christ King)
Virgen de Alta Gracia (Virgin of High Grace)
Virgen de Candelaria (Virgin of the Candelaria, Patron Saint of Puno)
and many other Virgins....


Others reflect where the women come from and the beautiful nature surrounding Puno:
Agua Bella (Beautiful Water)
Brisas del Lago (Lake Breezes)
Flor Bonita (Beautiful Flower)
Flor Puñena (Puno Flower)
Sol Andino (Andean Sun)
Las Divas Amazonas (The Amazonian Divas)
Jardin del Altiplano (Garden of the Altiplano)

Probably my favorite are the ones with hopeful messages for the future or what kind of women they want to be:
Despertando Hacia El Future (Awakening the Future)
Despierta Mujer (Awakened Woman)
El Future Es Nuestra (The Future is Ours)
Fe, Esperanza y Responsibilidad (Faith, Hope & Responsibility)
Fuerza y Desarrollo (Strength & Development)
Juntas Podemos (Together We Can)
La Luz de la Esperanza (The Light of Hope)
Las Alegres y Sonrientes (The Happy and Smiling)
Las Mariposas Sobresalientes (The Outstanding Butterflies)
Las Mujeres Unidas (The United Women)
Las Triunfaduras del Nuevo Milenio (The Winners of the New Millennium)
Nueva Vida (New Life)
Renacer (To Be Reborn)
Semilla Buena (Good Seed)
Trabajando Para Futuro (Working for the Future)
Amor y Paz (Love and Peace)
Cien Años de Alegria (100 Years of Joy)

And there was at least one that didn't make sense to me:
Botitas de Papa Noel (Santa's Boots) (?)

Poco a Poco

Apologies, I've been slacking on my blog as work picks up. Still awaiting IRB approval (what a nightmare) but I have been scheduling interviews and collecting surveys (that part isn't included in IRB, after many changes). Each day continues to have its ups and downs, such as yesterday. I had my first interview, just a practice one, and it went really well. I understood everything the woman said, and she seemed to understand me. She had an adorable 6-year-old daughter. We had a lovely conversation and I got some really good information.

Then, still riding the morning's high, I went in the afternoon to one of the centers to try to do more surveys and recruit more participants. In one group every woman except one declined to participate, so I had to stand there awkwardly while the one women (very slowly) filled in her survey and the rest seemed annoyed by my presence.

It is definitely hard being an outside researcher. And I completely understand why they feel the way they do. They've probably seen tons of outsiders come in, do research, and nothing changes. I myself have seen that in other projects I've worked on. I really hope that my research will make a difference in this case, and that Pro Mujer will make improvements that have a direct impact on its clients. The women I interviewed asked me about this very topic, and I told her about my plans to share the information with Pro Mujer so they can make improvements. She seemed pleased with my intentions.

It's also interesting how drastically different my encounters are with people around town. Take children for instance. One day at the center I was approached by a young boy, maybe 7 or 8, who walked right up to me unabashedly and said "Hi Gringa." He then proceeded to pepper me with questions about the U.S. He seemed delighted by my presence. Later that day, I was walking home and passed a small girl, maybe 3 or 4, and she pointed a stick she was holding at me and said "bang bang." I tried not to take it personally, but I have to admit it was a bit jarring to see this sweet face and then have her pretend to shoot you. Similarly, with the clients, some are happy to help and thank me for being there. Others ask pointed questions like "Why doesn't the U.S. do anything to help us?" That one really threw me, especially since Pro Mujer is a U.S.-based organization with many U.S. funders. But I try not to get too defensive in this situation, since I know the many atrocities the U.S. government has committed in this region in the past.

But, poco a poco, I'm getting my work done and growing more confident in what I'm doing. Here's to hoping the roller coaster continues on an upward climb...