Clean Water and Sanitation -Rainforest of Peru

It is time once again to update you on our progress in Tayakome. How quickly time is passing as it’s been nearly 2 ½ years since we first began to empower the Matsigenka people of this village, through the flow of clean water, dignified sanitation and health education. It has been an amazing experience for us all.

Our advances have been monumental for the people who once believed that they were all but forgotten, and their dedication remains unwavering.

Over the last three months we were able to accomplish the following:

1. A supervision visit to Tayakome to teach advanced technical training to the village water/ sanitation committee and the villagers. These ongoing training workshops are essential for the people to achieve long term health advances and sustainability. 
2. A health supervision visit to teach basic health and hygiene education to the village health promoter, the children, mothers and community members. House-to-house visits were also made with the health promoter to secure that the tap stands and greywater drains were functioning, and to have our staff visit with the people personally.
3. Health documentation: parasite and anemia testing was conducted for the children and the whole family in December of 2011.
4. Microbiology water testing was conducted with the village water/sanitation committee to secure that the water supply was safe.
5. Dr. Glenn Shepard Jr., Medical Anthropologist and Matsigenka expert, made a visit to Tayakome to document the social impact our programming is having on this remote native culture, and to ensure our programming stays culturally appropriate.

The GREAT News!!!

The water in Tayakome continues to flow clean, the bathrooms are in great working order, and hygiene practices among the villagers are much improved. The water/sanitation committee is maintaining the infrastructure beautifully. In the past 2 ½ years, there has been an encouraging decrease in parasite loads among children 15 years and under. Our full health study is available upon request. 

The people of Tayakome continue to FLOURISH and your GlobalGiving donations continue to be instrumental in improving the health and well being of this native culture.

What’s NEXT:  Our next supervision visit will be in April 2012 when the Peruvian project supervisor, Caleb Matos Chavez , continues his work training the village water/sanitation committee in systems maintenance and water safety and quality.

The health educator will conduct a supervision visit to work with the village health promoter, the school teachers, and the mothers and children on health and hygiene practices. She will also distribute anti-parasite medicine in partnership with the health tech from the village medical post.

We are also committed to building three additional tap stands in the village, and we are currently scheduling the construction. 

The generosity of our GlobalGiving Family is truly inspiring and instrumental in helping House of the Children realize our goals of healthy, educated, culturally aware children and adults that flourish in their natural environment. Together we are doing what has never been done for remote native cultures in the history of the southeastern Peruvian Amazon. We have made history and the health of the people is changed for the better.  

Many thanks for your ongoing support of our work!  Please share our work with your family, friends and colleagues!

Nancy Santullo

Executive Director

House of the Children

Links:

• Anthropologist Glenn Shepard PhD, conducting our social study.
• Health team in Tayakome w/HOTC founder Nancy Santullo
• Technical training - village water & sanitation committee