On the Border

Sometimes I forget that I am in South America. I have a real life here: I go to school, I go to the gym, I do homework, I hang out with friends, etc. I am not always thinking about the fact that I am doing these things IN CHILE. I'm just going about my daily routine. And then, there is a moment. A moment that makes me say to myself, "I've a feeling we're not in Kansas (or New Jersey, for that matter) anymore." Sometimes that moment is when I see a boy leading a donkey on a rope through the center of town trying to sell its milk. Sometimes that moment is when I hear Reggaeton in the super market. And last week, that moment was when my group crossed the border from Chile into Peru.

The border

 Last week we had a three-day excursion to Tacna, Peru to learn about the Peruvian public health care system. (Unlike Chile, Tacna does not have universal health care.) I've heard Tacna described as the "Las Vegas" of South America. I don't know how true this comparison is because I have never actually been to Las Vegas, but there you have it. Tacna is also known as the place to buy incredibly cheap knock-offs of major brand products. To be honest, I couldn't get back to Arica fast enough. Unlike Arica, which I consider an idyllic place to live, you couldn't have paid me to stay in Tacna. Granted, I was only there for three days so maybe I judge too harshly, but there was a ton of traffic, a ton of noise, and felt like I was literally breathing in dust or other pieces of tiny matter every time I inhaled. Plus, everyone and their mother in Chile had warned us that Tacna can be dangerous for tourists in terms of muggings and pickpocketing, so I felt like I had to be on my guard the whole time.

Aside from the city itself, I really enjoyed the content of the Tacna program. One day we went to a "health fair" in the poorest neighborhood of Tacna, which was basically just a mobile clinic set up in a dusty lot offering free medical services. For many of the attendees, the health fair would mark their first encounter with a medical professional. I spent most of my time in the exam room with one of the doctors-- a well-dressed 30-something-year-old woman who was probably about seven months pregnant. We saw about five patients during the course of an hour, and she spoke to each one for a few minutes, performed a cursory examination, and then wrote out a prescription.

That afternoon we went to a Community Center where a nurse was giving a talk on HIV/AIDS prevention to a group of young mothers. Afterward, each of the mothers took a rapid HIV test. One thing that is way different in South America than in the U.S. is the concept of privacy within health care. It's just not a priority here. I was shocked when I realized that they were going to perform the test in a room full of people, and even more shocked when I realized that they were going to deliver the results in a room full of people. What if... God forbid... someone had the virus?  What then? HIV is more common in South America than in the U.S., but I couldn't imagine that it is any less horrifying to find out you have it. Certainly not the kind of news you want to hear in front of all of your friends/neighbors and 25 strangers from Gringolandia. 

I was freaking out, but the weird thing was that the women who were about to be tested didn't seem to mind the very public nature of the whole thing. Nor did they mind letting us, a bunch of undergraduate students, do the tests. I actually asked the director of our program Rossana about the ethics of this, because I wasn't sure whether the women realized that we are not medical students, and it seemed to be like there should have been some kind of informed consent form or something. She assured me that it was okay, and that they would actually rather have us do the test just on account of the novelty factor. I know this wouldn't fly in the U.S., but I suppose Rossana knows best when it comes to Chile/Peru.

Me performing a rapid HIV test

All negative