Week 6: Always something to celebrate

Last weekend, Rahul and I rested and recovered from our first fieldwork adventure. On Saturday, we went out salsa dancing with Milton (I taught both Milton and Rahul some of the steps I have been learning in my salsa class). On Sunday, I revised my quantitative survey on the knowledge, attitudes, and practices with respect to risk signs and complications during pregnancy, birth, and the postpartum period. I also spent four hours in the Telcel Customer Service office trying to get my internet device (banda ancha) fixed. Despite being told to return to the Telcel office on Monday and Tuesday, they were unfortunately unable to fix it.

Home sweet home (our apartment is on the left right before the stairs)

On Monday, I met with Dr. Ochoa and Rosario about my research project. Dr. Ochoa suggested that I carry out my study in two indigenous communities in Los Altos, where ECOSUR conducted a trachoma study a few months ago. Next week, I will hopefully go to these communities to ask permission to do my research study. First, I need to discuss with Dr. Ochoa which communities I should choose: he suggested that I pick a variable to distinguish the two communities. I am considering working in one community that has a Centro de Salud (Health Center) close by, and one community that is far away from a Centro de Salud clinic. This variable may be correlated to the level of knowledge in the community with respect to risk signs and complications.

Map of the state of Chiapas and all of the different indigenous languages

On Tuesday, I finished revising my quantitative survey and arranged an interview with a woman who works with the Oportunidades poverty alleviation program at the Secretaría de Salud (Secretary of Health) in the capital of Chiapas, Tuxtla Gutiérrrez. I created an interview guide with the help of Enrique Eroza, which consisted of questions such as “what information do you think women need to have in order to have a healthy pregnancy”, “why do you think maternal mortality is higher in Chiapas than in other states in Mexico”, and “do you think the Oportunidades program has improved maternal health in Chiapas”. I was also hoping that the woman could help me find more specific information beneficiaries of Oportunidades receive about risk signs during pregnancy. Later in the day on Tuesday, I was told by Esmerelda’s husband that I should not travel to Tuxtla on Wednesday (as I had planned) because there was going to be a roadblock.

I love all the grafiti here...

On Wednesday, I met with Esmerelda and Elena (the translator at ECOSUR) to review my survey (again). Because many of the people in the communities where I will conduct my study only speak tseltal (different from tsotsil), Elena will need to translate my survey. After reviewing my survey (at around 1:00 p.m.), Esmerelda suggested that in factI should travel to Tuxtla Gutiérrez to meet with the woman at the Secretaría de Salud because she had heard that the road to Tuxtla was not, in fact, blocked. I quickly hopped in a cab and then got in a minibus towards Tuxtla. The ride was about an hour from San Cristóbal into the mountains, and I felt the climate change as we descended in altitude. After arriving in Tuxtla, I took a cab to the Secretaría de Salud building and found the Oportunidades office. I asked for the woman and someone directed me towards her desk. She was very helpful and gave me a health promotion book entitled “Cuaderno de la salud para madres de familia” (Health Notebook for Mothers) that had chapters explaining different health topics (including Pregnancy, Birth, and Postpartum). Unfortunately, the woman did not have any of the health promotion books I had found when we went to the Centro de Salud in Ramos Cubilete last week (with more specific information about risk signs during pregnancy/birth/postpartum), but she said that the Jurisdicción Sanitaria (Health Jurisdiction) in San Cristóbal might have this information.

Outside the Secretaría de Salud in Tuxtla (notice the palm trees)

I conducted my interview with another woman from the Oportunidades program, which lasted about half an hour. Unfortunately, there was a lot of noise in the background (phones ringing, people interrupting us, etc.) and the woman spoke very softly and quickly, so I had some trouble understanding all of her answers in Spanish. I recorded the interview so hopefully I will be able to get some help with the transcription process. After I finished the interview, I left the Secretaría de Salud and went to go find a café. No luck. Tuxtla reminds me a little bit of Los Angeles: it is incredibly spread out and you can’t really walk anywhere (no offense to people from Los Angeles). Being in Tuxtla makes me very glad that I am living in San Cristóbal, where there are cafés with wi-fi and you can walk almost anywhere. I finally hopped in a cab to the bus station where I could find a minibus back to San Cristóbal. I arrived back in San Cristóbal just in time for salsa class at Zirko :-)

This is what it looks like when you drive around Chiapas

(yeah I stole this from Google images)

On Thursday, I went to ECOSUR and worked on transcribing the interview I had conducted the day before. I also started to think about my sampling methodology, and looked for other similar KAP (knowledge, attitudes, and practices) studies in Chiapas. Next week when Dr. Ochoa returns from Mexico City, I will hopefully be able to get more advice from him about my study sample and begin to move forward with my fieldwork. I am starting to get anxious about starting my fieldwork because I know that I still have a lot of work ahead of me!

Friday morning I met Milton and he accompanied me to the Jurisdicción Sanitaria in San Cristóbal. We passed a lot of people in the street marching with signs. One man handed me a flyer that explained the “Marcha por la dignidad y respeto al trabajo”. Apparently, there has been no response from government authorities to allow hundreds of people to obtain a decent workplace in Zona Norte, a public market facility that was completed more than a year ago. The people marching were opposed to the privatization of public markets and wanted the state government to respect their right to work. Milton and I passed hundreds of people walking in the street and walked into the Jurisdicción Sanitaria, and I asked where I could find health education materials with information for pregnant women about risks signs and complications during pregnancy, birth, and the postpartum period. I was directed towards a woman named Beatriz Vera, who coordinates the reproductive health department. We arranged a meeting on Tuesday, so hopefully I will be able to get some helpful information for my survey.

Milton and I took a convi back to ECOSUR and passed his high school on the way. He mentioned that when he is done with his year of Servicio Social (Social Service) at ECOSUR, he wants to try to find work as a nutritionist at the Jurisdicción Sanitaria. Sounds like it is just as hard, if not harder, for recent graduates to find work in Mexico. Later in the day at ECOSUR, we celebrated the birthday of one of the ECOSUR secretaries (Carmelita) with a cake and popcorn. I love how despite the constant rain, there is always something to celebrate here in Mexico :-)

Carmelita cutting her cake :-)