Drinking Cultures: A Surprising Tale of Unhealthy Choices (Part III)

A final comment on alcohol: Alcoholism among Paraguayans is a widespread health & social problem (that was not covered in our training as Rural Health and Sanitation volunteers). 

Spanning across ages and genders, alcohol consumption is widespread and culturally normal among Paraguayans. The most obvious demographic with a high level of alcoholism is men between the ages of 15-30, obvious because there is little cultural pressure to hide their drinking (which is to say that this demographic is culturally allowed to do as they please, openly, without serious repercussions). The majority of my young Paraguayan male friends drink daily, with weekly binge episodes. Alcohol is less-accessible to women because they are literally less-able to leave the house to go out and purchase it. My host-mom Laura (28) for example, always has her cousin Evard (21) go out and buy her a beer if she wants to drink while her husband isn’t home. At the same time, there is an older woman in my site, maybe 60 years old, who is a known alcoholic and always reeks of booze. So, there are various gendered components to drinking.

Perhaps I am too quick to suggest that alcoholism is unaddressed by our Pre-Service Training (PST). I will revise that to say that it was not directly addressed as a training topic. However, one of our main teaching tools is a program for youth called “How to Plan Out My Life,” (Como Planear Mi Vida), designed to address issues related to self-esteem, reproductive health/family planning, and short- & long-term life goals. In this sense I will be working to prevent alcoholism among the jóvenes in my high school, by helping the students to feel hope, to believe that they are valuable individuals, to believe that they can control their futures, and to help them feel motivated to improve their own lives, rather than to deal with their problems by self-medicating with alcohol or engaging in other self-destructive behaviors.

It is probably unreasonable to think that PCVs can realistically attempt to treat current alcoholic behaviors in their communities (especially given the lack of treatment facilities in the campo), but as health workers, we can at least teach young people the risks, symptoms, and prevention of alcoholism to help them avoid getting to the point of needing treatment later in life. I think future RHS-PST should include an alcoholism-prevention component.