YARAPA 2010

YARAPA 2010

During the first 2010 Amazon Promise expedition, we have visited these villages on the Yarapa and Ucayali rivers:

Puerto Miquel, Nuevo Loreto, Jaldar, Jerusalem, Libertad, Vista Alegre, Castilla, Puerto Sol, and 28 de Junio

With the exception of the the last two places, these villages are among the first to collaborate with us on the HIV-prevention program that started there nearly five years ago. We have thus numerous acquaintances, friends and promoters who help carry out the program.
Donas Gloria and Leonila, midwives and our long-time HIV-prevention promoters

What we strive to achieve in every village: sensitize the population to HIV/AIDS, provide a supply of free condoms and educational materials, and establish HIV-prevention counselors who work as the community advisers, providing confidential support on HIV-prevention.

The objective for this expedition was twofold:

1. To pilot interactive HIV-prevention workshops as revision for the population that has been largely sensitized to HIV-related topics since 2006.

2. To offer training in HIV-prevention and care to interested local volunteers.

1. Some of the interactive parts of the public workshop generate answers to questions about the connection between gender-motivated irresponsible behaviour, abuse and violence, and the danger of HIV-infection with special focus on women who are in heightened danger of HIV-infection because the male-dominant societal codes of the area often reward infidelity and multiple partnership. Moreover, we place emphasis on teaching the mechanisms of a safe relationship negotiating. For this reason, we have re-established our acted-out theatrical sketches in which a male and a female volunteer demonstrate how to reach a mutual agreement to use a condom. We have consequently handed out over
3 000 free condoms in the area.

Here are some photographs from the public workshops in which we utilize a series of interactive games on board in order to elicit answers from the public about HIV and its prevention:
Bronia, one of our helpers in the river Yarapa village of Jaldar

Public workshop in the Ucayali river village of Vista Alegre

We have also handed out free educational materials, such as folders with basic HIV facts and prevention strategies for the area, posters, t-shirts and a DVD produced by Amazon Promise with Lazos de Vida containing a lecture on STIs and HIV, testimonies of Peruvians living with HIV, and a correct use of a condom demonstration. In nearly every village there are DVD players now, powered by generators, and so our DVD serves for the continuation of the HIV-prevention efforts conducted by our local HIV promoters in our absence.
2. We have designed a 5-hour workshop for HIV-PREVENTION PROMOTERS, containing the basics of HIV-prevention in the area. Two such workshops were held in the villages of Puerto Miquel and Libertad respectively. 12 local volunteers took part at the training. If they pass their final examination test the next time we are in the area, they will be certified to continue our work in the villages in our absence.
Here are some photographs from our workshop in the community of Libertad. Pedro Angel Peña Manihuari, the local promoter who has worked with Amazon Promise for 8 years, helped conduct parts of the training:

The HIV-promoter trainings were also accompanied by discussions about the best manners in which to establish women support groups for women whose partners do not respect their sexual and reproductive rights, and whose family situation may be considered abusive. We have been successful to address some already established women groups who collaborate on the artisan-product making, the leaders of which are also our HIV-promoters. Together, we discussed the interaction between the women artesania groups with women elders, male promoters, and with local authorities. We have thus again advanced towards our goal to establish safe spaces in each village where abused women may find support and legal intervention if necessary. We are emphasizing the link between disrespect, alcohol and spousal abuse and the risks of HIV-infection since--according to our and other research--there is strong evidence that corroborates such a connection in the geographic areas where we operate.

As always, it is our ultimate goal to uphold wholesome families with protected women and happy children:

CLINICS
besides the Promoter Training that takes place on the "free days", HIV-prevention happens alongside the Amazon Promise clinics. A team of students from Michigan University and two other doctors from Michigan formed the core of this expeditions' medical team. Thank you for your incredibly hard work! Here are some photographs from Puerto Sol and Vista Alegre: