Rita
Hamad has spent four weeks in
Pucallpa, a city in the Peruvian Amazon, working
on the follow-up data collection of a study in conjunction
with PRISMA, an NGO that provides services to the
rural and urban poor throughout the country. As a
third-year in the UCSF-UCB Joint Medical Program
(MD/MS), this project is a component of her masters
thesis.
She writes:
“My research involves doing an evaluation
of PRISMA’s microcredit and health education
services, to determine the impact on the health and
income of clients and their families. I’ve
researched this program since January and thus, am
training the surveyors who will be interviewing the
2000 clients, identifying evaluation standards, and
designing the follow-up survey that will be conducted
later this year.
During
this trip I visited the outlying parts of the city
in order to sit in on the microcredit and health
education sessions that we are evaluating. I have
been honored to be able to enter the homes of some
of the clients, and humbled by the conditions in
which they live. These visits make it clear that
there are much broader infrastructural and political
changes that need to take place so that even the
most basic needs – such as roads, water, and
electricity – are met. This time in the field
has been crucial to my synthesis and understanding
of the issues at hand.
Pucallpa’s
climate was tropical enough to maintain the 90-degree
temperature and 90-percent humidity even during
the South American winter. All the fruits that
I have fell in love with are still in season, so
I’m getting my fill of cocona,
camucamu, cherimoya, and many others. I’ve
also had the opportunity to visit the nearby lake
at Yarinacocha, where I enjoyed some amazing seafood
in the form of arroz con mariscos, a close
relative of paella that contained more shellfish
than rice. Another of my favorite dishes is tacacho,
a fist-sized ball of mushed plantain and lard that
is deep-fried and eaten as a side dish with almost
everything."
To talk to me more about my travels and research,
you may reach me at hamad (at) berkeley (dot) edu.
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