Campo Remedies

Biking home the other day from a class on Nutrition I am giving in the community of Agua de Luis, I barreled down the rocky dirt hill and ran right into a ditch. Aside from ripping one of my non-ripped shirts, my shoulder really hurt and I had blood pooling in my hand from a cut on the elbow. Coño! So I walked over to the nearest house, which happened to be of Olivia, the one-legged women. She immediately went to look for water, with me calling after “And soap too!” We cleaned it well and she went to get something to dry it off. She came back with a towel and a cream that she wanted to put on my open wound that smelled like deodorant  “What is that, Olivia?” “Deodorant,” she responded. “No, you cannot put deodorant on my open bleeding wound with your dirty finger!” But, I saw that she really wanted to apply it, so I said, “Put it here,” and pointed to my armpit. Cleaned up and smelling fresh, I left, thinking “how is it again that she lost her leg? Oh yea, an infection.

This wasn't the first time this has happened. Once a dog bit me and I had blood gushing out of 3 teeth holes in my leg. In the 5 seconds following the bite, I managed to feel stunned and kick the dog off, and the owner of the dog managed to find Vick's Vapor Rub and apply it to my open wound with her dirty fingers. This summer a 15 year old girl cut her foot on a motorcycle. The cut, which was pretty bad, got so infected she ended up in the hospital for 3 weeks and in rehab for 1.5 months. I realized there were many people who did not have an understanding of basic first aid.

So I taught a First Aid Class, and just as a good teacher should, I learned as well: rural remedies, passed down by the generations. I was told that you should put vaginal douching wash on a burn, wrap up a person with a fever with lots of blankets, never take a shower immediately after exercising (if your body goes from hot to cold really fast, or vic a versa, you can die), eat a red bell pepper to get rid of anemia, sit in a chair and stomp your feet on the ground to lower your blood sugar, put a piece of balled-up string on a newborn’s forehead to prevent diarrhea, hair gel to prevent swelling, and the list goes on.

Not all of them are incorrect though: the teas – they have all kinds, lots of them using oregano, which really help the digestion. One of my friends reported that she had chronic UTIs, and no medicine was getting rid of them. A Doña made her jagua juice and they went away. (Jagua is the only fruit I have encountered that I do not like; it tastes like oily rotting apples to me.) For constipation: eat papaya. For the runs: guava.

While I couldn't out-rightly negate the remedies learned from their mother, that is disrespectful, I worked hard to promote important first aid actions. I'm happy if mom is adorning her baby suffering from diarrhea with balled-up string as well as giving him oral re-hydration. Some of my best lessons have been outside of the classroom. When I am bleeding and refusing Vick's Vapor Rub and demanding soap and water, this is the best kind of education!