Answering the call

Deepa Bharath

Ever since he was a little boy, Vincente Shariana wanted to help

Shuar communities in the Ecuadorian Amazon.

A Shuar Indian himself, Shariana was born in the village of

Kupiamis, which is two days by bus from Tukupi. Shariana was one of

the people selected by the Shuar Federation to pursue higher studies

at the University of Cuenca.

“The federation wanted someone to go because medical help was not

available to the communities,” Shariana said in Spanish. “There is

such a great need here.”

And so this nurse’s day begins at 8 a.m. and stretches beyond 5

p.m. on most days. He treats patients in his clinic and does house

calls. Sometimes, he goes to the schools to care for the children.

Once every two months, Shariana walks for four days on a winding

jungle path and wades through several miles of knee-deep mud to get

to all of the six Shuar settlements that make Tukupi.

During these visits, he makes sure the children get their

vaccines. He also teaches the people about cleanliness and personal

hygiene.

Shariana has been a nurse in Tukupi for the last four years, but

has worked in surrounding communities for about 12 years.

The Plasticos team’s arrival in the jungle was “historic,”

Shariana said.

“The people are very happy the doctors are here,” he said. “This

is the first time a medical team like this has come to the jungle.

The people thought these doctors could take care of all their

problems.”

Shariana said he tried explaining that it was a specialized team.

“But they wouldn’t hear it,” he said. “They knew doctors were

coming and they wanted to be looked at.”

The Shuars have their own traditional medicine practiced by their

doctors or shamans for thousands of years, Shariana said.

The shaman diagnoses by intuition. He drinks a tea prepared from

the ayabasca plant and goes into a mystical state in which he would

divine the diagnosis. Then he determines if he can cure the illness

or not. Shamans usually learn their craft from a master by serving as

an apprentice.

It was only about 50 years ago, when the missionaries came into

the jungle, that the Shuars even started looking at modern medicine,

Shariana said.

“Now they prefer medicines from the pharmacy,” he said. “They use

pharmacy medicine first and then supplement with natural medicines.”

The people want the team to come back to the jungle, Shariana

said.

“They want the doctors to return now that they know and understand

what it is exactly that you do,” he said. “Never in their lives have

they seen a clinic like what [the Plasticos team] did.