This week was quite a full one. There is a medical brigade from Cure, International in the neighboring town of San Marcos, and I spent several days this week (Monday, Tuesday, and Friday) translating for them. I walked in the first day terrified, afraid that my Spanish would be stretched way past all of its limits. I was pretty excited to find out that not only did I not crack under pressure, but my Spanish has improved by leaps and bounds. It felt great to be a bridge between the Cure volunteers and Hondurans. I realized how much I have adapted to Honduran culture as well. Hondurans tend to use a lot of language to say something when they really just need a few words, and it takes quite a while to get to the root of a message (anyone who has been to any sort of organized event with even a few Hondurans will agree with me) I found that at first the American volunteers were being a little brisk with the patients, and not speaking with them enough, and then I realized that they were just being American, and I have started to adapt a more Honduran way of speaking. Or maybe I've always been lik
e that, and just realized it here... Anyways, it was a great experience, and I met some fantastic volunteers who were willing to come and give their own time and money to help the people here. The brigade came with physical therapists, dentists and orthodontists, pediatricians, family practice doctors, and other services. Really a class act. My favorite part of the entire experience was actually a comment from a dentist (who by the way, is a great guy, and helped me with a little orthodontial issue I had), who said to me after translating for what felt like the 1,000th patient of the day, “wow, you really care about the people here, don't you?” I hadn't really thought about it until then, to me they're now my neighbors and friends, my co-workers and surrogate family. I realized when he said that to me that I do care, I care because this is my community. I don't feel like I am separated (to a point) into “me” and “them” from the people here. It has become, at least in my eyes, Us. That's a great feeling to have.
I also continued to work on the Pregnant Mom's Circle for the Health Center. July 16th is our first class, and it is rapidly approaching. I finished creating all of the handouts and have planned all of the activities for our first session, and have started working on the second. The first session handouts include tips on having a good pregnancy (nutrition, rest, exercise, etc.) and common problems during pregnancy (indigestion, nausea, lower back pain, swelling, etc.) if anyone would like to take a look at them, I can send them your way via email. One of the things I love about working at the health center is talking with the midwives from the aldeas, and Wednesday we had an all-day meeting with them. We discussed the upcoming diarrhea season, which actually includes June, July, and August. With the increased amount of rain, mosquitoes and flies, its prime time for disease. Midwives are a great way to get health information to the outlying communities, so the monthly meetings are not only used to get information (i.e. New pregnant women, number of children in the community, how many look malnourished, how many have diarrhea, etc.), but also to send information back. I also had the opportunity to tell them about the Pregnant Mom's Club, and received a really positive response, with lots of questions and comments about the number of pregnant women in their community. Below is a photo of some of the midwives leaving after the meeting. I have some other good ones, but of course I am having problems loading them...
Work with the High School here has also continued. I had a meeting with the parents of the 1st grade (about the age of 8th graders – just different names for grades) regarding Encargado de mi Vida (In Charge of My Life) which we will be teaching to the kids for the next 14 weeks. The meeting went really well, but I was disappointed with the turnout – about 35 parents from a class of 180 kids.
I have somehow also gotten roped into working to support the new Red Cross for Youth group, so we had our first meeting tonight. I think it could actually turn into something really great, so I'll keep you filled in. This weekend we have a medical brigade coming to Quimistan to give mammograms, pap smears, rapid HIV testing, and counseling services. I'll be working with the Red Cross on educating women on breast self examination and STIs. I'm pretty excited about this, as we have 6 paps on file for the last year for our entire municipality (approx. 38,000 people.). And this will be an opportunity to check a lot of women. Cervical Cancer and Breast Cancer are big problems here, because there is little education (see a theme?) and little early detection.
Enough with the boring work stuff, here's some quotes from the previous weeks to make you chuckle:
Me going to the circus in town with a Honduran:
Me: So will there be animals at this circus?”
Honduran: “No, there's a law against animals at the circus.”
Me: “Oh, like an animal cruelty law?”
Honduran: “No, its because they get loose and eat people.”
Me: “Oh...”
After an especially bitter battle with a mosquito:
Abuelita (surrogate grandma): “The mosquitoes are happy you're here.”
Me: “Why?”
Abuelita: “They like the sweet white gringa meat. They're going to take it to the market and sell it.”
Me: “Well thats great, I hope they get a good price...”
Thats it for this week, I have a pretty good story about the circus, but I think its going to wait until next week. I will give you this teaser: it involves a midget (little person?), fire, an oil drum, and my complete shock and disbelief. More next week.
