Xukuru Human Rights

6/1/12 Today we visited a health seminar at one of the local schools. Class for the students was cancelled today so the classroom and surrounding buildings could be used for the event. Local nurses spoke about women’s health and proper dental hygiene. We learned that these nurses travel all over the Xukuru land in order to provide checkups and vaccinations, and that over 90% of the Xukuru people are up-to-date on all their healthcare needs, which is incredible. I couldn’t imagine health practitioners in the United States travelling TO people – let alone to so many people – rather than receiving callers… at least without charging an unspeakable fee for the services rendered. In this blog we mention all the time about how the Xukuru are centered around the community and their daily lives are focused on the group rather than the individual, but I don’t think this point can be stressed enough. It’s literally in every activity that takes place here. The nurses spoke about feminine health, cervical cancer, and the importance of getting annual checkups. A big thing that stuck out to me today was the amount of men and children here for this seminar. Trying to picture men in the U.S. attending a gynecological seminar with their female relations is pretty hard to do. I was also a bit taken aback, but glad to see, the amount of children that were present and were “exposed” to such frank talk about “grown up” female issues. I’m a big believer in not hiding the sexual aspects of our humanity from children because I think to do so causes more confusion and harm than it does good. On another note, I was actually a bit saddened by the dental hygiene presentation that was given, because it was SO simple. I can remember receiving almost the exact same class in kindergarten, and the people here are receiving it as adults. The same goes for the information presented during the women’s health presentation; information was presented to adults that even I, as a young adult, have known about for many years. It made me think about the differences in education we receive back home compared to the education that the people here receive. What we perceive as common knowledge (brushing three times a day and flossing protects your teeth, sugar causes cavities, visit your doctor once a year, etc.) is in fact NOT common knowledge to all. How can this be possible in this day and age, and how are we as Americans okay with it? Aren’t we supposed to be the country that apparently makes it a personal mission to go out and “save the world?” This thought has been continuously running through my head during my stay here as I look at the living conditions, the infrastructure, the roads, the poverty, etc. that is present throughout the entire territory. It really hit me hard the sheer amount of things that we have back home and take for granted. -Shayla