This morning I rested quite a bit (after having worked 20 of the last 24 hours). About 1:00pm, I went with Raquel (Rachel - long term volunteer) to her jewelry making class. The school had gotten a grant from the Danish to begin this class and then sell the jewelry to buy more beads...keeping them self sustaining. I know that my sister Julie makes jewelry, but if any of you out there had started this as a hobby, but nothing ever came of it - please let me know! We can send any extra, unwanted or leftover beads their way to help them in their efforts. The jewelry is beautiful: necklaces, bracelets & earrings. They will be having an art show next week for the volunteer team that's coming in where they display and sell their jewery. The children get to keep a percent of the sale (which is more motivation for them to work hard at creating great works of art), and the rest goes to buy more beads. I will most likely be in the clinic and not be able to attend, but am still hoping that I can purchase some jewelry before I head back.
When I arrived to do the night shift in the clinic, there were 11 children there (that were supposed to stay the night). In the 3 years I have now been down here, I have never seen this many in the clinic. Generally there's only been between 1 & 4. I felt completely overwhelmed. there were only 4 beds and a couple of cushions to lay out on the floor. Finally we agreed that 3 boys would go home. Their chicken pox were completely dry and they hadn't had fevers for more than 24 hours. This left me with 8 children...still a handful - but I felt that the impossible task of staying the night (and staying sane) had now become possible.
It was a long night of cleaning the clinic (sweeping & mopping), washing dishes, lathering on the calamine lotion, taking temperatures, getting the cushions out & bedding on them and putting the children to bed. I was so wound up with adrenaline (mother's instinct to ensure that all is okay to settle down for the night?), that I had to read most of the night until I was finally tired enough to fall asleep in the rocker around 2:00 or 3:00am.
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
August 5th - More Clinic Hours
Because of the chicken pox going around here, I'm not sure how often I'll be able to update this blog. Generally in any given 24-hour period, I'm at the clinic at least 8 of those hours...but sometimes up to 20 of those hours due to the small number of volunteers here right now. Of course, wouldn't you know that just a week before I came, there were more than 20 girls here in the volunteer house - too bad the chicken pox wasn't that bad then. But I have heard from pastors, family & friends over and over throughout my life that God will not give us MORE than we can handle. (He sure does know how to "max us out" though!) :-)
A volunteer here at the girls dorm has graciously suggested that I use her laptop to update this blog, since my hours at the clinic prevent me from going to town to update at the internet cafe. However, the internet here at Emmanuel is very delicate and some days it works...some days it doesn't. So, I'll try to update as much as I can when I have a free 2-3 hours during the day - if the internet is up & running.
This morning I was at the clinic from 6:30am - 2:30pm. Guzman (who is a 20-year-old boy that had been in the clinic with fever but not chicken pox) finally got to go home, however with his absence they brought another boy in WITH chicken pox, so the total number of children remains at 7 in the clinic. When the new boy came in, they mentioned that there were 2 more boys likely to come into the clinic at some point (because they were pretty sure that they had chicken pox as well).
The girl who was supposed to do tonight's shift (6:30pm - 6:30am) backed out. She is fairly young and knows very little Spanish, so I can hardly say that I blame her. Owen (one of the long-term volunteers) has already done 3 nights in a row and had had a couple of rough nights with the kids. Since he also teaches in the school during the day, I didn't want him doing a 4th night in a row, so I insisted on taking this shift to relieve him. I rested a bit during the 4 hours I would have off of the clinic, and then headed back to stay the night.
A volunteer here at the girls dorm has graciously suggested that I use her laptop to update this blog, since my hours at the clinic prevent me from going to town to update at the internet cafe. However, the internet here at Emmanuel is very delicate and some days it works...some days it doesn't. So, I'll try to update as much as I can when I have a free 2-3 hours during the day - if the internet is up & running.
This morning I was at the clinic from 6:30am - 2:30pm. Guzman (who is a 20-year-old boy that had been in the clinic with fever but not chicken pox) finally got to go home, however with his absence they brought another boy in WITH chicken pox, so the total number of children remains at 7 in the clinic. When the new boy came in, they mentioned that there were 2 more boys likely to come into the clinic at some point (because they were pretty sure that they had chicken pox as well).
The girl who was supposed to do tonight's shift (6:30pm - 6:30am) backed out. She is fairly young and knows very little Spanish, so I can hardly say that I blame her. Owen (one of the long-term volunteers) has already done 3 nights in a row and had had a couple of rough nights with the kids. Since he also teaches in the school during the day, I didn't want him doing a 4th night in a row, so I insisted on taking this shift to relieve him. I rested a bit during the 4 hours I would have off of the clinic, and then headed back to stay the night.
Monday, August 9, 2010
August 4th - More Chicken Pox
I was at the clinic again from 6:30am - 2:30pm. This will most likely be the BIG job I have here, since children seem to keep coming & not many leave. Two of the boys with the pox had a pretty rough night for the volunteer that stayed with them.
Before I left, 2 girls from the medium girls house came in and 1 girl from the toddler house. Now the total in the clinic is 7.
I went to the church for the service @ 5:15 and saw David - who recognized me. YAY! I really hadn't seen him too much the 1st two years I was here because of just being in different places of the orphanage. Tammy asked me to help with the staff's children while the church service was going on. I don't have much experience working with little children, but it was nice to take them out.
Before I left, 2 girls from the medium girls house came in and 1 girl from the toddler house. Now the total in the clinic is 7.
I went to the church for the service @ 5:15 and saw David - who recognized me. YAY! I really hadn't seen him too much the 1st two years I was here because of just being in different places of the orphanage. Tammy asked me to help with the staff's children while the church service was going on. I don't have much experience working with little children, but it was nice to take them out.
August 3rd - The Clinic
My clinic hours today went from 6:30am - 2:30pm. I had to scramble to fill in the schedule for the week because there are only 3 of us that are "safe" to be here. Two of the 6 volunteers haven't had chicken pox OR the vaccine and a 3rd volunteer speaks NO Spanish (so we figure in an emergency situation...that'd be a necessity).
Andrés came in at noon and said he was sick (sick to the stomach & had a fever). Little did I know at this point (since I'm writing quite a bit after the fact) that he'd be sick for an ENTIRE week, and due to my being at the clinic so much...I wouldn't be able to see him & check up on him.
Around 4pm I went with 2 of the long term volunteers to make bread with 3 girls from the medium house before settling in for the night.
Andrés came in at noon and said he was sick (sick to the stomach & had a fever). Little did I know at this point (since I'm writing quite a bit after the fact) that he'd be sick for an ENTIRE week, and due to my being at the clinic so much...I wouldn't be able to see him & check up on him.
Around 4pm I went with 2 of the long term volunteers to make bread with 3 girls from the medium house before settling in for the night.
August 2nd - Trip to Emmanuel
We had to get up pretty early to catch the 4am Costeños but to Tegucigalpa. Andrés slept the entire way since we had to get some dramamine in him (he's been getting sick on these bus rides). When we got to Tegus around 9:30am, we headed to a Pizza Hut to get some food in his stomach before the ride out to the orphanage. We walked to the Aurora bus station to take the 10:30am bus to Guaimaca (and Andrés slept again while the dramamine did its trick).
Since there were no taxis at the bus stop, we grabbed our luggage and walked to Emmanuel. I'm thinking it's about a 2-mile walk, so it's a good thing that I started running back home (although for you Facebook friends, I still don't enjoy running). It's also a good thing that we only had ONE carry-on and ONE suitcase this year.
When we arrived, we stopped in at the office to meet with Katja and then took our stuff to our volunteer dorms. This year Andrés & I are in separate dorms (as opposed to staying at the farm together last year when Jenny was along). I had supper with the little girls.
There was a volunteer meeting at 4:30pm when I met the other volunteers. Katja put me in charge of the clinic schedule for the week (so I'm really missing Linda right about now, since I'm not really a nurse). Chicken pox is running rampant through the orphanage.
Since there were no taxis at the bus stop, we grabbed our luggage and walked to Emmanuel. I'm thinking it's about a 2-mile walk, so it's a good thing that I started running back home (although for you Facebook friends, I still don't enjoy running). It's also a good thing that we only had ONE carry-on and ONE suitcase this year.
When we arrived, we stopped in at the office to meet with Katja and then took our stuff to our volunteer dorms. This year Andrés & I are in separate dorms (as opposed to staying at the farm together last year when Jenny was along). I had supper with the little girls.
There was a volunteer meeting at 4:30pm when I met the other volunteers. Katja put me in charge of the clinic schedule for the week (so I'm really missing Linda right about now, since I'm not really a nurse). Chicken pox is running rampant through the orphanage.
Sunday, August 1, 2010
August 1st - We´re here!
This morning I woke up at 3am to finish getting ready. I woke up Andrés about 4am in hopes to leave at 4:30, however we didn´t get on the road until 5am. With Bob sleeping in the passenger seat and Andrés sleeping in back, it was a long ride (especially through miles of fog). We arrived at O´Hare at 8am and realized fairly quickly that Andrés forgot both his gum (for the plane ride) and his camera - so no pictures this year folks.
Our day consisted of 3 flights: Chicago to Cincinnati, Cincinnati to Miami, and finally Miami to San Pedro Sula. We never really had to sit for too long (unlike last year where our layovers were fairly lengthy). During these flights, Andrés realized that he forgot quite a bit more than just his gum & camera, but he´ll probably update you on that. The most interesting flight was in Cincinnati where we got on to the runway & what I THOUGHT was our take-off was really super fast acceleration to get off the runway, because another plane was coming in for a landing!
Luis picked us up from the airport and drove us to an ATM and then to a Baleadas drive-thru to get some supper since the neighbor´s small restaurant up the street is not open on Sunday (and Andrés decided not to eat in Miami because he wanted the tacos that this guy makes). We got settled in and here I am typing this blog.
Tomorrow we´ll head on the earliest bus possible (leaves @ 4am) to Tegucigalpa...which is a 4 hour ride. From Tegus, we´ll catch another 2 hour bus to Guaimaca. I expect we´ll be in Guaimaca at Orphanage Emmanuel by sometime between noon & 3pm. Again, I´m not sure how often I will be able to update this blog, since my first priority is helping out at the orphanage, but today is just to let everyone know that we´ve arrived okay & are en route to the orphanage. And with that, I´ll need to say "good night" so that I can actually wake up tomorrow. ☺
Our day consisted of 3 flights: Chicago to Cincinnati, Cincinnati to Miami, and finally Miami to San Pedro Sula. We never really had to sit for too long (unlike last year where our layovers were fairly lengthy). During these flights, Andrés realized that he forgot quite a bit more than just his gum & camera, but he´ll probably update you on that. The most interesting flight was in Cincinnati where we got on to the runway & what I THOUGHT was our take-off was really super fast acceleration to get off the runway, because another plane was coming in for a landing!
Luis picked us up from the airport and drove us to an ATM and then to a Baleadas drive-thru to get some supper since the neighbor´s small restaurant up the street is not open on Sunday (and Andrés decided not to eat in Miami because he wanted the tacos that this guy makes). We got settled in and here I am typing this blog.
Tomorrow we´ll head on the earliest bus possible (leaves @ 4am) to Tegucigalpa...which is a 4 hour ride. From Tegus, we´ll catch another 2 hour bus to Guaimaca. I expect we´ll be in Guaimaca at Orphanage Emmanuel by sometime between noon & 3pm. Again, I´m not sure how often I will be able to update this blog, since my first priority is helping out at the orphanage, but today is just to let everyone know that we´ve arrived okay & are en route to the orphanage. And with that, I´ll need to say "good night" so that I can actually wake up tomorrow. ☺
Saturday, July 31, 2010
July 31st - What a Rocky Start
It's been a busy summer for me, which is good since I'm absolutely NOT a teacher who enjoys having 3 months of "free time". Here's a brief synopsis of what I've done this summer:
- 4 weeks of summer school - Teaching beginning Spanish (and a new Going Global class, which required LOTS of prep work) at Ferber Elementary up on the north side of Appleton. Both Alina and Noah were in summer school this year, coming with me each day.
- More family camping trips than ever before - Generally we only go 1-3 times per year, but this year we had each of our children pick a state park and made reservations which is in addition to our annual trip with my sisters.
- Lifest - We were down on the grounds every day for something. This is such an awesome festival to refresh & renew your soul. It definitely helps me gear up for my trip down to Honduras!
- Three weeks of taking Andrés to Driver's Ed. (I think he's excited to get his temps when he gets back from Honduras)
Finally we're just about ready to go. I had many students from Ferber Elementary school donate supplies (toothpaste, toothbrushes, shampoos, conditioners, hair clips, small toys, etc) and they were shipped on Thursday. I sent along our 2 VCRs with the shipment of donations, because last year when I took the 50+ Disney movies (VHS in Spanish) that Andrés owned, there were 2 dorms that had non-working VCRs. Hopefully now the little & medium boys can watch some of those movies, and since they're IN Spanish, they'll understand & have fun!
Andrés had lost his passport since coming back from Honduras last year, so we had to go through the process of reporting it lost and applying for a new one. What a horrid experience that I hope to never go through again. With the time crunch and the U.S. Passport Office's request for paperwork that I didn't have (and was impossible to get...because it never existed), they took forever in issuing him a passport (he got it this past Thursday, 4 days before departure). I don't know WHY this wasn't an issue for his last two passports. But all is done & ready to go now - so our focus in on what's ahead.
Today we need to pack. The suitcases are in our living room and open. Laundry is caught up, so we just have to put our clothes together. Andrés says he's looking forward more & more to going, but is still a little nervous because this year we will stay in separate dorms (meaning he'll have to do his own laundry, which he's never done before). I'm hoping to pack in the morning, so that anything we need (like mosquito spray with 100% DEET), we can run & buy before the day is over.
Hopefully we will be able to keep you updated daily via this blog, however I'm not sure what will happen. If we cannot update daily, we will keep a journal like last year & make sure to update this blog when we can - so that our family & friends know how things are going and that we're okay.
To think that tomorrow at this time, we'll be 1/2-way to Chicago to take off! We'll see most of you in 3-4 weeks. ☺
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