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Goshen College

Service visit: Amber, Jordyn and Tanner in Ayacucho

March 25, 2017

Sunday – Tuesday, March 19-21.

Doug visited these three students in Ayacucho, a small city of about 200,000 in the central Andes.    Goshen students have worked here for several years, although all three students this semester are working at new locations.

Amber and Tanner both work at a health clinic that belongs to a savings and loan cooperative.  Members pay a membership fee each year, and among the membership benefits are low-cost care at the co-op’s health clinic, which offers a wide variety of basic services, including medical and psychological consultations, dental care, ultrasounds, and more.  Tanner, a nursing major, works with nurses at the clinic, helping take blood pressures, give injections, cleaning wounds, etc.   Amber, a psychology major,  spends her afternoons in the office of the clinic’s psychologist.  She observes during his consultations with patients, and the psychologist patiently explains his work and the cases with Amber.  During the mornings the clinic sees few patients, so Amber and Tanner assist the other staff with filing work, making cotton wads for the dentist office, and anything else that needs to be done.

Both Amber and Tanner live with families that have hosted several GC students in the past, and they enjoy having several siblings.  Tanner has two young sisters that excel at teasing him, something that keeps him from ever feeling alone when he is at home.

Jordyn, a biology major, works at the Ayacucho zoo, which belongs to the main university in Ayacucho.  Several biology students from the university also work at the zoo as volunteers during their summer vacation, from January through March.  Jordyn says the work is highly varied, including preparing food for animals, feeding them, cleaning cages, vaccinating animals, and helping with some grounds work.  The morning Doug visited they needed to vaccinate 10 small monkeys, and it was quite the feat to capture each one as they rapidly darted around their room.  After work Jordyn takes a bus home to her host family, where she enjoys the company of her host parents and two host siblings.

Jordyn, Amber and Tanner live and work in Ayacucho.
Lunch at Amber’s home was “pachamanca,” chicken, lima beans, potatoes and sweet potatoes.
Oscar, Catherin, Allison, Amber, Jessi, and (future brother-in-law) Luis.
Tanner’s sisters, Wendy and Wanda, tease him relentlessly. This view is from the family’s 4th floor patio.
Tanner loves Ayacucho’s trademark hollow bread, chapla, because it talks to him.
Herbert, Wendy, (future sister-in-law) Jessi, Luis, Tanner, Dionisio, Herbert, Elizabeth, and Wanda.
The gorgeous night-time view from Tanner’s home.
The stately Plaza de Armas, or central park, of Ayacucho.
Tanner’s mother in the door of the health center where Tanner and Amber work.
Because the mornings are slow, Amber and Tanner help the staff make cotton wads for the dentist’s office.
Amber observes the work of the center’s psychologist in this office.
She sits at the back of the room while the psychologist and patient sit at the desk.
Tanner spends most of his time in this room, where sometimes he cleans wounds …
… but more often he takes blood pressures and other vital signs.
Amber and Tanner with some of their co-workers.
One of Jordyn’s zoo friends, a nocturnal monkey, gets in her hair.
This howler monkey, rescued from a bad home, gets taken out each day to relieve stress. Jordyn’s supervisor is Elena.
Jordyn with her co-workers.
The monkeys moved around the cage very fast, making capture difficult.
Once the monkeys had been vaccinated, they were put in the bag to be held by Jordyn.
The volunteers spend some time each day gardening the grounds.
This relative of the Andean condor tried to stare me down. I lost.
The spectaled bear is an endangered species in Peru.
This is a “small” Andean condor.
Jordyn in front of her home.
Samuel, Jessenia, Deni, Julia, and Jordyn. Today was “Lunes de lentas,” or “Monday lentiles.”
Jordyn with her Peru family.