No mas violencia!

As predicted, my actual free time is starting to decrease a lot due to homework. Yesterday was my teaching project day (we were assigned dates on Sunday). Like I mentioned awhile ago, I had been planning on talking about violence against women. Initially, I was going to focus on sexual assault since that is where my knowledge mostly lies, but after being here for awhile I realized intimate partner violence (which can be a combo of physical/sexual/emotional abuse) is one of the biggest problems. This is not an easy topic to discuss in this “machismo” culture- where men are dominant and have power/control over women. While violence/abuse is not condoned, it is also rarely publicly discouraged. Then you add in the power and values of the Catholic Church in Latin America (where divorce or permanent separation are usually opposed) and you get a very delicate situation. I really did not know all this when I signed up to talk about this in May. I had to give the presentation in Spanish, which was hard but manageable. The main points I wanted to get across were that abuse is not OK and that there are resources the women can use to escape a violent situation (free legal, medical, & psychological services in addition to Casa Maria). I gave my talk and prayed with them, but no one had any questions... it was very quiet (another thing I expected). I had absolutely no idea if anyone was understanding what I was saying or not. When it was time to say goodbye, we hugged and kissed everyone. Two different women whispered thank you in my ear and said they needed to get help from the church- one was planning on heading over to the parish next week. If even one person is thinking about getting help, then I am thrilled I chose this topic and gave it a shot.

45% of women surveyed in Peru have suffered some form of intimate partner violence.

 20% of girls age 10-15 are sexually abused by family members or neighbors.

Clinical has been going just fine, but since we do a lot of the same stuff I've already talked about (hospice, home visits, clinic, midwife, etc.), you probably don't want the play by play of every single day (unless maybe you are my mom or nama). I had an interesting afternoon at the Pro Life clinic today- our first patient was a woman pregnant with her 2nd child, she had her 4 year old with her. Never in my life have I seen such an energetic kid, and that is really saying a lot. The exam room is very small, and contained 4 adults + him. He slowed down a little to see his hermanita on the ultrasound, but otherwise was a bull in a china shop! I ended up taking him into the hall... literally I was running at my full speed to catch him as he ran back and forth. His mom was actually taking him to the psychologist because she said he had no self control, aka ADHD. We also did some counseling on natural family planning and saw a newborn baby.

This evening was yet another fiesta in a village. Officially it was for the church group that is currently here, but today is also LISA's 21st birthday! Lots of dancing & confetti. And more cake- everyone is so concerned about me losing weight while I'm here, but I really have more cake and ice cream here than I do back home so it's really not going to be a problem!

In other news, I have decided to adopt a family. This means I will give a yearly donation that will cover a good portion of their food, school supplies, or other needs. I also hope to be able to write to them. I haven't met them yet, but will post pictures when I do.

This is the family Marquette sponsors- Christian, Erika, Jessica (named after a student), & Kiara

This is baby Maria- she is 3 months old today! She & her mom live at Casa de Maria

I have high hopes for the next few days being very productive as far as our aggregate project, so I'm not sure when I'll post an update again. Also, all my pictures are on facebook so if you want to see more look me up! Buenas noches!