This past Thursday, we accompanied Vicente and Dominga to San Martín, one of the rural villages surrounding San Lucas Tolimán. The activity for the day? Making shampoo! "What does this have to do with health?" you ask (we asked ourselves the same question). The obvious perks to this activity were that the shampoo we made was anti-dandruff, and it was free to the women who came to participate. Shampoo here is sold in small packets (similar to what you see sometimes in hotel bathrooms). Because money is tight, families will often buy a packet (25 cents) on the day they need to wash their hair, as opposed to having a bottle around the house, as we are accustomed to. The main reason for this activity, however, is to provide a fun and valuable incentive for women to take a break from their morning activities of washing, cooking, and farm labor, in order to listen to a preventive health talk (see previous blog, "suero oral"). Here are some photos from the day:---
Ladies from San Martín, pulling leaves off of branches of "escobillo," (I'm not sure there is an English language equivalent), a plant with medicinal properties that, once the plant is boiled in water and added to the shampoo mixture, help keep hair from coming out when you brush or comb your hair.
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Escobillo leaves, ready to be boiled.---
"Sabila," (aloe vera) is added to the shampoo because it helps treat and prevent "caspa" (dandruff).
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Sabila is a cactus-like plant, which needs to be peeled of its outer skin, revealing the gelatinous inner layer.
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Kate and I, watching Dominga and Magaly (one of the health promoters from San Martín) peel the sabila.
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Cutting out the gelatin.
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Sabila, all peeled and ready to go in the blender.
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Blended sabila.
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Dominga adds the "shampoo base," from Lafimarq, a pharmaceutical and laboratory supply company in Guatemala city.
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Next, Dominga adds two caps-full of rose fragrance, as well as a green dye, also from the same supply company.
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The final ingredient is table salt, which helps to thicken the consistency of the shampoo mixture (shampoo base, sabila, escobillo, and water).
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Vicente looks on as Rita (left), another health promoter from San Martín, and a lady from the neighborhood mix the shampoo with their hands.
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Ladies crowd around the tub to watch the shampoo take shape.
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Once the shampoo is made, Vicente begins his talk on how to prevent diarrhea, with the help of promoter Magaly.
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Once the talk is over, the ladies thank Vicente, and wait patiently to fill their plastic bottles with shampoo before heading home.
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Rita makes sure everybody gets an equal share of the shampoo.
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