Churupampa Walk

We had been walking steadily downhill through coffee fields for about two hours, stopping once or twice to “poach” a tropical fruit and satisfy our slight hunger. This November day had started off as all mornings in the coffee-growing region of Chirinos, Peru seem to: cool and slightly cloudy. But during those hours of plodding along, the sun came out and I shed my fleece and SmartWool in favor of a T-shirt.

Walking through the fog to Churupampa

Our destination was Churupampa, a caserio or hamlet, populated by approximately 35 families who are members of CAC La Prosperidad de Chirinos, one of the cooperatives with which we are partnering in our newest project site in northern Peru. I was heading to this caserio with Martha Pineda, the program coordinator for Grounds for Health in Peru, Marin Brownell, our project assistant, and Cristely Mejia Cordova, the co-op coordinator. We were making our way to Churupampa to present Grounds for Health’s inaugural cervical cancer prevention program in Peru. We were also there to recruit members of the community to become community health promoters.

Marin and Martha are the core of our in-country team in Peru.

As in all Grounds for Health programs, the community health promoters play a crucial role in connecting women in rural communities with the local doctors and nurses who will provide services. All too often, health care providers are trained in an innovative practice intended to improve the quality of services offered to the population, only to see their new skills go by the wayside. This is because without appropriate education and outreach, the people who stand to benefit from the services often do not or cannot access them. Community health promoters bridge that gap.

From the beginning of any initiative, Grounds for Health is committed to partnering with coffee cooperatives. These co-ops have the infrastructure and human capital to support a network of community health promoters that help women access much needed, life-saving cervical cancer prevention services.

Many community members learned of cervical cancer for the first time.

We arrived in Churupampa in late morning, and after searching the town for about an hour, we found the community leader. The meeting was scheduled for the afternoon, so he took us to his lovely home nestled between fields of coffee, bananas and mango trees for a generous—and impromptu—lunch of dried meat, fried plantains and rice.

When we finally arrived at the community meeting house, we were greeted by a crowd of approximately 40 men and women who barely had a notion of what cervical cancer is and who had no idea that it could be so easily prevented. After introducing our program and asking for their support, we quickly had two eager volunteers to become community health promoters: Flor and Gilmer.

At the Community Health Promoter Training in December

Fast forward to early December 2012. Flor and Gilmer joined 12 others from six coffee communities in the area to attend the Grounds for Health Community Health Promoter Training. This dynamic group of women and men learned not only about the nature of cervical cancer and that it can be easily prevented, but also how to talk to their community members about it. They practiced how to broach the subject and persuade their friends and neighbors—mothers, sisters, wives, daughters—that taking advantage of the new screening and treatment opportunities at their local health center could save their lives.

At this very moment, these community health promoters are out there practicing what they learned, and we look forward to seeing their progress when we return in early February.

It’s the first of many steps towards sustainable cervical cancer prevention programs and healthier communities.