Today I got to work a little bit late but just in time for the district-wide earthquake drill. It was pretty neat to see that people actually practice for this! Yay public safety!
My friends and coworkers in the road.
Juan Pedro informed me that I should accompany him to a health fair in Villa El Salvador to show (mostly) men working at the Ripley distribution center how to put on condoms and give them info about family planning and Inppares' services. Although I wanted to ensure the printing of my banner for tomorrow's gay pride event would go smoothly, I asked permission from Victor to attend the health fair and he said yes. I'll go to Inppares early tomorrow morning to ensure everything went fine. :)
I may have mentioned before, but tomorrow is the Lima gay pride march. It's not really a parade... it's 1/2 fun, 1/2 a desperate plea for a halt to the anti-gay violence in Peru. Inppares always marches and tomorrow we are going to dress up like military soldiers, "Diversity Squad". :) After the march, I have organized an event where people are going to write messages about how the homophobia and hate crimes in Peru have affect them and their friends, family, etc.
Before we left, Juan Pedro and I went out to lunch at a nearby restaurant. These are our appetizers: tasty and rich fish soup for him and stuffed avocado for me.
My dish: Olluquito and beef. Yes, I've decided I don't mind eating beef so much in Peru because it's an important part of the culture. But I try to get chicken or fish whenever practical. This dish tasted a little like Japanese food, maybe because of the sticky rice!
Juan Pedro and I set out on our long journey to Villa Salvador, which involved a taxi, a collectivo (basically a taxi carpool with strangers), and a mototaxi that I thought we were going to die in. This is me in the collectivo because Juan Pedro had to sit in the front (the only open seat). I'm holding up a bag of condoms.
Our stand at the health fair. I got to wear a sweet Inppares vest with tons of pockets.
Juan Pedro teaching men about prostate health. I couldn't get all the men in this picture but there were about 15 standing around the table. I didn't want to scare them off by taking a picture of all of them.
Some of the men were only 19 or 20 years old, and others were in the 30s and 40s. It was great that they were so attentive, interested, and curious about contraception and what Inppares has to offer them in terms of health services.
Me teaching men about how to put on a condom! I got to do this a lot. Even though at times my Spanish was a little halted, I knew what to say pretty well. Juan Pedro helped me out a lot, brought some humor to lighten the mood if the guys were nervous, and always let me put the condom on the bright pink dildo! We gave some condoms and info packets to all of the people who came to our table.
Juan Pedro being awesome.
Only about 5 or 6 women came to the table throughout the day because the distribution center is mainly populated by male workers. But these women had some great questions and were very patient and friendly.
Juan Pedro being silly. I inflated a condom to show the people how strong and flexible they are. It was a really useful demonstration whenever guys asked how often a condom breaks, and I poked it and stretched it a lot. But then after a few hours, the lube on the condom had dried and I poked it with my fingernail and it exploded, hahahaha. Instead of acting surprised or disappointed, I explained to the guys present that you should not use your fingernails to handle a condom!
The demonstration condoms.... we went through a lot! For each person who came by, we showed them the difference between an expired condom and a new one, used the expired one for examples of what not to do, and used the new one for the correct demonstration on the dildo.
After another mototaxi, taxi, and bus ride in which Juan Pedro fell asleep, we arrived back in Jesus Maria at Inppares. I wanted to buy an iced coffee for Juan Pedro but my favorite store had mostly finished up for the night. So instead, I bought orange and papaya juice for us, pudding-cake, carrot-coconut cake, and a pizza sandwich. :) Andre Luis came by and we shared our food with him because he'd had a long day too. We said goodbye to him and Juan Pedro walked me home before taking his bus back to Comas.
All in all, today was a tiring but successful day for public health and personal development!
The demonstration condoms.... we went through a lot! For each person who came by, we showed them the difference between an expired condom and a new one, used the expired one for examples of what not to do, and used the new one for the correct demonstration on the dildo.
Oh, prostate health is a good thing for men to learn about. So is how to use a condom, though I imagine that's a lot less embarrassing for many men to confront. Love the bright pink dildo!
ReplyDelete