When looking for a place to begin about
this small town that we visited called “Ccamahuara”, I instinctively look to
Google to get a background about the village. As I’m writing this, there are
only a few hundred results on Google that briefly mention the town. Ccamahuara
is a tiny village located about three hours away from the town of Urubamba
where we were based. Because of the remote location of the town, the
inhabitants spoke primarily Quechua (known as Runa Simi to the people who speak
the language).
This was one of the first days that we
interacted primarily with the Quechua people of the Andes in Clinic, and so, we
relied very heavily on our translators. Roughly 95% of the population of the
town spoke Runa Simi with only five percent having an understanding of both
Spanish and Runa Simi. Because of this, we were left at a standstill for the
beginning of the visit. Then, a very kind woman named Susana arrived. She had
come with her mother and child, who came with similar symptoms, and desired
treatment. Were it not for Susana, I feel that we would still be in those
mountains. With an understanding of both Spanish and Runa Simi, she helped us
see patient after patient after patient. She selflessly stayed there the entire
duration of our visit solely to help us.
I learned so much about her.
Originally, from Cusco, she came back to the town and had been living with her
parents to take care of them. She taught me about languages of the Andes, the
customs of the people around the area, and her life, hopes, and dreams. It was
an absolutely wonderful experience and probably one of the best experiences I
had in Perú. Despite being very busy the entire day, we laughed so much! Before
she left, I asked her to say goodbye. She found me before the group left; we
hugged, took a photo together, and I thanked her for all of her work. She was,
after translating all day, practically a physician, I told her. Before she
left, she showed me the little white house where she was living and told me to
come back and visit. I hope that one day I’ll be able to return to Ccamahuara
to see her.
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