To Yardimly, Azerbaijan

Suleyman deftly manuevers the truck across a stream on the way to Yardimly. Photo: Peggy Arrington

The road to Yardimly had started out fairly smooth, but soon degenerated into a minefield of potholes and back-jarring ruts. Suleyman continued confidently on to Yardimly, which we reached an hour after our departure from Masalli.

In this town, we met with a local Mercy Corps doctor. In this region of 32 villages, there are four teams of two professionals who deal with the healthcare needs in eight villages each. Each village has an additional two individuals, usually a man and a woman, that are responsible for their own village’s health education.

Every three months, Mercy Corps staff evaluates the progress in all of the villages in the Child Survival Project. Now, halfway through the five-year project, a major mid-term evaluation is conducted. I could not believe what a tremendous effort it entailed! All 81 villages needed to be visited and extensive interviews conducted. After gathering information, staff had to transfer it to computers and do rigorous analysis.

It was time to go out to some of the villages. As Suleyman coaxed the truck up the seemingly vertical incline, I held my breath as the mud became deeper and the road threatened to trap us in its tenacious jaws. The hour-long drive seemed interminable as we traversed rickety bridges and forged rushing streams. Along the way, when I was not clutching on for dear life, I did enjoy seeing the spectacular vistas and bucolic scenes of village life.

We were soon at an altitude of nearly 5,000 feet and, to my immense relief, entered a village and came to a stop. An older woman with a lovely streak of henna in her hair peeking out from the obligatory scarf was awaiting our arrival.

She was the village healthcare educator for Mercy Corps. A mouthful of shiny gold revealed itself as she warmly welcomed our delegation. Apparently the Talish think gold teeth attractive and have them put in even when their teeth are quite healthy.

Dr. Khuraman immediately went to work, randomly choosing a mother of young children for a spontaneous interview. We then proceeded to her house, a modest and immaculately clean cottage with dirt yard. A few chairs were hastily provided for us. The woman seemed pleased to see us but did appear to be rather shy.

Her three young children were obviously curious to see such unusual visitors and stared at us from the protective curtain of their mother’s long skirt. She was asked a series of questions in order to ascertain her knowledge of the health issues taught by Mercy Corps personnel over the past few months.

As this interview was taking place, the men in our group stepped aside in order to allow the women some privacy. I understand that since the inception of the program three years ago, great progress has been made in encouraging the women to open up and to even just make eye contact with our staff and the men in particular.

As is customary, we were offered tea that we gratefully sipped from sparkling clean gold-rimmed glasses. Coffee is usually not available in this region. I learned that the Talish diet is really very healthy – lots of fresh herbs, fruits and vegetables, few starches or fats, plenty of yogurt and no alcohol. This must contribute to their renowned longevity.

Soon we were on our way again to the next village, another harrowing thirty minutes’ drive away.

I was pleased to be able to converse for a while with a group of eight women in the next village, thanks to Jake’s sufficient mastery of Azeri. When asked to express their opinions of Mercy Corps’ program, they responded with great enthusiasm.

One woman in particular caught my eye since she had her head scarf only partly covering her hair. This seemed an indication of a more progressive spirit. Indeed, she verbalized her newfound confidence in caring for her family’s health needs: she had learned to start breastfeeding her babies immediately following their birth and continue doing so until they were at least one and a half years old. She’s also learned how to recognize and treat often-fatal diseases such as diarrhea and pneumonia.

We took in one more village and were done for the day. The intrepid Suleyman resumed his position behind the wheel and we began the arduous trip back to Masalli, where we would stay the night before another day in the villages.