I again had the 6:30 - 9:30am shift at the clinic. After that, Andrés and I went into Guaimaca to buy some supplies for the supper I was going to make tonight. Mallory, a long-term volunteer who was going to stay until September, is heading home on Saturday due to the health of her father. Rachel wanted to have a nice supper for her with all of the volunteers, so I agreed to make guacamole and huevos rancheros (as something different from the food we've been eating around here).
We were only in town for about an hour or so, since I had to be back at the clinic from 12:30 - 5:00pm. Andrés relieved me at 5:00 so that I could start supper. We (Owen, Leigh, Rachel, Andrés, Mallory & I) ate at the school. This is just to give you an idea of the need for volunteers in the month of August. It seems that June & July are pretty full of volunteers. At one point in July, there were over 20 girls in the volunteer dorm - and that doesn't even count the males over in THEIR dorm. But many high school & college age students head back in August to get ready for school.
We had a great time together, and unfortunately since I had lost track of time, I had forgotten to call home by 8pm like I had promised. Andrés had mentioned that Bob was keeping up the kids a little later anyway lately, so that they should still be up...but when I ran back to the dorm to grab my phone, Bob let me know that they had went to sleep early due to their behavior. I chatted with him for a while, before turning in for the evening.
Monday, August 16, 2010
August 12th - A Little Rest...
David (the "vacationer") took my 6:30 - 9:30am shift this morning at the clinic to give me a little relief going into next week's schedule. I am very thankful for that since my brain now only seems to be working when I'm at the clinic. When I head to the volunteer dorm, I seem to forget A LOT - although Bob would probably tell you all that "That's normal"!
Even though I didn't have to go in at 6:30am, I still did in order to be sure Andrés was there to relieve the volunteer who was watching Erika and also to give him his malaria pill (4 days late). He came a little late, but did manage to get there...so I went back to the volunteer dorm to lay down.
I didn't realize how sleep deprived I actually was until I woke at 10:30am still groggy and my body still extremely tired. Although I had a pretty good night's sleep, this was much needed due to the demanding hours of the clinic. At 10:30am I mustered what little energy I could to get up and prepare my mind & body to work at the clinic again from 12:30 - 7:00pm. Although that was a slow 2 hours of moving around, when I walked into the clinic, my adrenaline kicked in once again and all was fine.
The electricity went out again (which is actually a pretty common occurence), but that meant no fans in the clinic to move the air around. We were brought a DVD player last week, but two days have now went by where it hasn't been working...so we are left with coloring books, reading books (most are in English), a few chess games that have pieces missing (which I just showed them how to use them as checkers games), and a few stuffed animals. Six hours will go by pretty quickly if you keep the kids busy!
Even though I didn't have to go in at 6:30am, I still did in order to be sure Andrés was there to relieve the volunteer who was watching Erika and also to give him his malaria pill (4 days late). He came a little late, but did manage to get there...so I went back to the volunteer dorm to lay down.
I didn't realize how sleep deprived I actually was until I woke at 10:30am still groggy and my body still extremely tired. Although I had a pretty good night's sleep, this was much needed due to the demanding hours of the clinic. At 10:30am I mustered what little energy I could to get up and prepare my mind & body to work at the clinic again from 12:30 - 7:00pm. Although that was a slow 2 hours of moving around, when I walked into the clinic, my adrenaline kicked in once again and all was fine.
The electricity went out again (which is actually a pretty common occurence), but that meant no fans in the clinic to move the air around. We were brought a DVD player last week, but two days have now went by where it hasn't been working...so we are left with coloring books, reading books (most are in English), a few chess games that have pieces missing (which I just showed them how to use them as checkers games), and a few stuffed animals. Six hours will go by pretty quickly if you keep the kids busy!
August 11th - The Soccer Game
Today's hours for the clinic are 6:30 - 9:30am (for chicken pox) and then I was also scheduled to be with Erika (the girl with bronchitis) from 11:30am until 7:00pm. While I woke for the early shift, Andrés was preparing himself for the pig slaughter (you'll most likely read about it in his blog, so I'll spare the details).
Due to the amount of children who come to the clinic daily to get checked, Karelia was still around at 11:30 when I arrived to watch Erika, so she told me to come back around 2:30pm to take over. It was nice to have 3 extra hours off, especially since I heard that the girls soccer team here at Emmanuel was going to have a team from town come in and have a game. They were going to sell food as a fundraiser as well (like concessions), so I was very excited to get the chance to see the game. Although I didn't get to watch all of it, I stayed until just after half-time when it was tied 1-1. I bought lunch for Andrés and myself & we watched together - which gave us a little time to spend together.
Due to my later shift at the clinic, I missed church this evening and the art show where the children sell the art/jewelry they've made and get to keep a percentage of the profits. I'm hoping to check out more jewelry before heading back to the States.
Back at the clinic, I had to help Erika with her nebulizer treatment. This was not new to me since both Noah & Kaylyn have had nebulizer treatments when they were infants. When 7pm came and I was relieved, I walked back to the girls volunteer dorm in the dark. It's amazing that it's so dark here that early...when in Wisconsin it's still pretty light at that time.
Due to the amount of children who come to the clinic daily to get checked, Karelia was still around at 11:30 when I arrived to watch Erika, so she told me to come back around 2:30pm to take over. It was nice to have 3 extra hours off, especially since I heard that the girls soccer team here at Emmanuel was going to have a team from town come in and have a game. They were going to sell food as a fundraiser as well (like concessions), so I was very excited to get the chance to see the game. Although I didn't get to watch all of it, I stayed until just after half-time when it was tied 1-1. I bought lunch for Andrés and myself & we watched together - which gave us a little time to spend together.
Due to my later shift at the clinic, I missed church this evening and the art show where the children sell the art/jewelry they've made and get to keep a percentage of the profits. I'm hoping to check out more jewelry before heading back to the States.
Back at the clinic, I had to help Erika with her nebulizer treatment. This was not new to me since both Noah & Kaylyn have had nebulizer treatments when they were infants. When 7pm came and I was relieved, I walked back to the girls volunteer dorm in the dark. It's amazing that it's so dark here that early...when in Wisconsin it's still pretty light at that time.
Sunday, August 15, 2010
August 10th - Double Time at the Clinic
Well, the events of last night (2 toddlers being rushed in to get looked at) resulted in one of the toddlers needing to go to the hospital today. She was diagnosed with bronchitis, but since she doesn't have chicken pox, she needed to stay in a separate room at the clinic which means double-time on the volunteers...one would have to cover the children with chicken pox and another would have to be with this toddler (well, actually 5-year-old - she just lives in the "Toddler House"). I am so thankful that David (the man on vacation) took our 6:30am - 12:30pm shift.
Leigh and I finished sizing the toddlers this morning. I had this job last year, along with a group that was here from the Northeast. We take their measurements and equate them to sizes so that if sponsors would like to give them clothing for Christmas, they know approximately what size to get. After we finished sizing the toddlers, Katja put a halt to sizing (since all 400+ children are supposed to get sized)...primarily due to the demands of the clinic. There are currently 8 children with the chicken pox.
Leigh and I finished sizing the toddlers this morning. I had this job last year, along with a group that was here from the Northeast. We take their measurements and equate them to sizes so that if sponsors would like to give them clothing for Christmas, they know approximately what size to get. After we finished sizing the toddlers, Katja put a halt to sizing (since all 400+ children are supposed to get sized)...primarily due to the demands of the clinic. There are currently 8 children with the chicken pox.
Thursday, August 12, 2010
August 9th - A Minute to Call Home
This morning I was at the clinic from 6:30-9:30am. After that, Leigh & I ran to town. Due to the demands of the clinic, I have not yet had a chance to get to town (for phone cards, groceries, etc) since our arrival on the 1st of August. My plan was to stop at the internet café to type up my blog, but Leigh suggested that I use her laptop back at the dorm when I'm not in the clinic rather than using time in town to catch up. That sounded good to me!
We first stopped at the TIGO store. TIGO is probably the main cell phone carrier down here. My Verizon phone doesn't work down here and even if it would, TIGO offers much better rates than Verizon ever could to call home. I bought 3 of the $100 Lempira cards, planning to give one card to Andrés and the other two should allow me to call home multiple times to chat with my 3 precious children left behind: Alina (7 yrs), Noah (5 yrs), and Kaylyn (2 yrs); and of course my AWESOME husband Bob who allows me to come down here for such a length of time while he watches the kids who are still too young to come down & help. I am also thankful that I have sisters, parents, aunts, cousins, and other family close-by, to help with the kids while I'm down here!
Lempiras is the currency of Honduras and 1 U.S. dollar will yield about 18-19 Lemps in exchange (so I purchased $15 worth of minutes to the States which should be MORE than enough to get us through this week & next). Leigh also offered to buy our extra unused minutes before we head back if we had any, but I'll probably take them with me to San Pedro Sula so I can maintain contact with Blanca & Luis (from the bed & breakfast we stay at before heading home) and also to make some last minute phone calls home the night before our arrival back to the States.
We headed to the supermarket next. Generally I've eaten with the little girls the last 2 years, but have found it difficult this trip because of the clinic needs. The hours I'm in the clinic usually run right through the eating times of the girls, so I think I've only been over there to eat twice now. It's best to have some food "on hand". This supermarket is nothing like our Super-Walmarts back in the States. It's even smaller than a small local supermarket back in the States, but since it's bigger than the other stores in Guaimaca...it is THE supermarket. I bought some spaghetti noodles and some sauce (which comes in packets rather than a glass jar or can), some Honduran cheese (which is similar to the cheese that our old babysitter Patti brings us from El Salvador), 4 boxes (yes, BOXES) of milk, and some orange juice. We stopped at Glenda's small stand on the way back to Emmanuel for tomatoes, eggs & onions. There is an avocado tree next to our volunteer dorm, so I'll try to make some guacamole at some point for everyone.
Katja held a volunteer meeting at 4:30. Rachel and Malorie (two long-term volunteers) made donuts for the meeting and brought sodas. The focus of the meeting turned to the clinic demands. Katja mentioned that there was a couple just arriving as we met who were going to be at Emmanuel during the week "on vacation", but that the husband, David, was a paramedic. If it were a vacation, I really didn't want to ask him to do it (who wants to work on vacation, right?)...but noticing Leigh & my exhaustion, she called and asked David to help out at the clinic from 6:30am - 12:30pm the next day - just as he was bringing his suitcases in to where they were about to stay. He agreed to be there.
After the meeting, I hurried home to call my kids & was excited to hear from each one. Kaylyn said "hello" but the next thing out of her mouth was "When are you coming home?" Did she come up with that one, or was that Bob helping her to talk in the phone...I'm not sure. I let her know that I'd absolutely love it if she was there at the airport when I flew home in 2 weeks. I got to talk to Noah and Alina as well before talking to Bob & saying "good-nights" to all. Although the bus rides back to San Pedro Sula will be torture on me ('cuz they're all I'll think about, which will make me miss them more), the blessing of Emmanuel is that each year I come, I am SO NEEDED and they fill my hours - giving me little time to dwell on having left the rest of my family back home.
I spent the night at the clinic (6:30pm - 6:30am) and it was a long night. Two toddlers were rushed in to the clinic about 9:30 with Karelia. They had high fevers and she needed to check them out. With all of the lights going on in that room & all of the commotion, most of the children who were there with chicken pox woke up and it took them quite a while to get settled back to sleep. I was more appreciative of David agreeing to be in at 6:30am so that I could get some rest the next day!
We first stopped at the TIGO store. TIGO is probably the main cell phone carrier down here. My Verizon phone doesn't work down here and even if it would, TIGO offers much better rates than Verizon ever could to call home. I bought 3 of the $100 Lempira cards, planning to give one card to Andrés and the other two should allow me to call home multiple times to chat with my 3 precious children left behind: Alina (7 yrs), Noah (5 yrs), and Kaylyn (2 yrs); and of course my AWESOME husband Bob who allows me to come down here for such a length of time while he watches the kids who are still too young to come down & help. I am also thankful that I have sisters, parents, aunts, cousins, and other family close-by, to help with the kids while I'm down here!
Lempiras is the currency of Honduras and 1 U.S. dollar will yield about 18-19 Lemps in exchange (so I purchased $15 worth of minutes to the States which should be MORE than enough to get us through this week & next). Leigh also offered to buy our extra unused minutes before we head back if we had any, but I'll probably take them with me to San Pedro Sula so I can maintain contact with Blanca & Luis (from the bed & breakfast we stay at before heading home) and also to make some last minute phone calls home the night before our arrival back to the States.
We headed to the supermarket next. Generally I've eaten with the little girls the last 2 years, but have found it difficult this trip because of the clinic needs. The hours I'm in the clinic usually run right through the eating times of the girls, so I think I've only been over there to eat twice now. It's best to have some food "on hand". This supermarket is nothing like our Super-Walmarts back in the States. It's even smaller than a small local supermarket back in the States, but since it's bigger than the other stores in Guaimaca...it is THE supermarket. I bought some spaghetti noodles and some sauce (which comes in packets rather than a glass jar or can), some Honduran cheese (which is similar to the cheese that our old babysitter Patti brings us from El Salvador), 4 boxes (yes, BOXES) of milk, and some orange juice. We stopped at Glenda's small stand on the way back to Emmanuel for tomatoes, eggs & onions. There is an avocado tree next to our volunteer dorm, so I'll try to make some guacamole at some point for everyone.
Katja held a volunteer meeting at 4:30. Rachel and Malorie (two long-term volunteers) made donuts for the meeting and brought sodas. The focus of the meeting turned to the clinic demands. Katja mentioned that there was a couple just arriving as we met who were going to be at Emmanuel during the week "on vacation", but that the husband, David, was a paramedic. If it were a vacation, I really didn't want to ask him to do it (who wants to work on vacation, right?)...but noticing Leigh & my exhaustion, she called and asked David to help out at the clinic from 6:30am - 12:30pm the next day - just as he was bringing his suitcases in to where they were about to stay. He agreed to be there.
After the meeting, I hurried home to call my kids & was excited to hear from each one. Kaylyn said "hello" but the next thing out of her mouth was "When are you coming home?" Did she come up with that one, or was that Bob helping her to talk in the phone...I'm not sure. I let her know that I'd absolutely love it if she was there at the airport when I flew home in 2 weeks. I got to talk to Noah and Alina as well before talking to Bob & saying "good-nights" to all. Although the bus rides back to San Pedro Sula will be torture on me ('cuz they're all I'll think about, which will make me miss them more), the blessing of Emmanuel is that each year I come, I am SO NEEDED and they fill my hours - giving me little time to dwell on having left the rest of my family back home.
I spent the night at the clinic (6:30pm - 6:30am) and it was a long night. Two toddlers were rushed in to the clinic about 9:30 with Karelia. They had high fevers and she needed to check them out. With all of the lights going on in that room & all of the commotion, most of the children who were there with chicken pox woke up and it took them quite a while to get settled back to sleep. I was more appreciative of David agreeing to be in at 6:30am so that I could get some rest the next day!
August 8th - Andrés
This morning I was at the clinic from 6:30am - 12:30pm, meaning I missed church. I am going to try to be able to get to church next Sunday as it is our last Sunday here & I have not yet been able to sit through a service, due to the demands of the clinic and all of the children here with chicken pox. We'll see what we can work out now that Leigh is here.
I found out that Andrés made it to church and immediately made a point of seeing him when my shift was done for the morning. He's been sick all this last week and has only been out of the boys volunteer dorm working for about a day or two. I'm thankful that he's 15 years old and, for the most part, can fend for himself but it was time to check in on him. He said that he's feeling 80% (that's how we measure our health, since it's easy for me to understand...being a mathematician), so that made me feel better. I told him to stop down at the clinic during my late afternoon hours to check in once again because I had a cell phone for him that one of the volunteers who had come earlier in the summer had left behind for future volunteers. That way we could communicate daily if I wasn't able to see him (as was the case last week).
I was back at the clinic from 3:00 - 7:00pm and it was eventful. Between 3 other volunteers (who stopped by for various reasons) and myself, we spent 2 hours trying to get a tangled comb out of the hair of a girl who tried to "roll the comb up her hair until it got stuck". I think that this is something every girl tries (I know I have and the other 3 volunteers admitted to it too), but once you get to the point where it's completely stuck and it either kills your scalp to get it out or it needs to get cut out - that's really the last time you try it. We got as much as we could out, but the last bit had to be cut. She cried and cried (the girls really don't like having their hair cut here), but unfortunately the comb was knotted so tight in her hair that there were no other options. She was still sobbing after the comb was out, so I ran back to our dorm to get all of the clips I had brought along and a few glittered bobby-pins that were left by another volunteer and showed her how to put up her hair so that no one would notice that small patch that was cut only an inch from her scalp. That seemed to help and she's had her hair done beautifully ever since!
Andrés stopped by and I had him bathe the boys before he left. Each of the children at the clinic needs to shower in the morning after they wake and then again before bed. It was nice to have a second person there helping like that because it's difficult to monitor the showers and the children who are still playing in the clinic. When Andrés left, just the girls had to shower, and since they are older - it went much smoother.
I found out that Andrés made it to church and immediately made a point of seeing him when my shift was done for the morning. He's been sick all this last week and has only been out of the boys volunteer dorm working for about a day or two. I'm thankful that he's 15 years old and, for the most part, can fend for himself but it was time to check in on him. He said that he's feeling 80% (that's how we measure our health, since it's easy for me to understand...being a mathematician), so that made me feel better. I told him to stop down at the clinic during my late afternoon hours to check in once again because I had a cell phone for him that one of the volunteers who had come earlier in the summer had left behind for future volunteers. That way we could communicate daily if I wasn't able to see him (as was the case last week).
I was back at the clinic from 3:00 - 7:00pm and it was eventful. Between 3 other volunteers (who stopped by for various reasons) and myself, we spent 2 hours trying to get a tangled comb out of the hair of a girl who tried to "roll the comb up her hair until it got stuck". I think that this is something every girl tries (I know I have and the other 3 volunteers admitted to it too), but once you get to the point where it's completely stuck and it either kills your scalp to get it out or it needs to get cut out - that's really the last time you try it. We got as much as we could out, but the last bit had to be cut. She cried and cried (the girls really don't like having their hair cut here), but unfortunately the comb was knotted so tight in her hair that there were no other options. She was still sobbing after the comb was out, so I ran back to our dorm to get all of the clips I had brought along and a few glittered bobby-pins that were left by another volunteer and showed her how to put up her hair so that no one would notice that small patch that was cut only an inch from her scalp. That seemed to help and she's had her hair done beautifully ever since!
Andrés stopped by and I had him bathe the boys before he left. Each of the children at the clinic needs to shower in the morning after they wake and then again before bed. It was nice to have a second person there helping like that because it's difficult to monitor the showers and the children who are still playing in the clinic. When Andrés left, just the girls had to shower, and since they are older - it went much smoother.
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
August 7th - Leigh Arrives!
When I got home this morning, I napped for about an hour & 1/2 since I had gotten so little sleep at the clinic. When I woke, I arranged the Community Food Cupboards. These cupboards are food that is available for any of us to use, generally left over from volunteers that have went home. Since there were 20+ girls in here prior to my arrival, the cupboards were very full, and there were many containers that could be combined. For example, there was about 10-15 bottles of pancake syrup...each one had anywhere from 1/4 or more syrup in it. Rather than letting that many bottles take up space, I combined like-brands into one or two containers and threw out a bunch of the extra bottles. I wiped down the cupboards. This is something that needs to be done on a regular basis. In these countries, ants are agressive and if any food is left out...the ants (and other critters) show up immediately. It is very important to have a clean kitchen for that reason alone.
I went back to the clinic from 12:30 - 3:30pm and brought the movie The Princess Bride (which was on our entertainment center in the volunteer dorm. The kids had never seen it before and they sat through the whole movie watching intently. The girls helped me tidy the room up a bit for the volunteer team that arrived yesterday. Today they would stop by the clinic to visit.
I've been in constant communication with this team of 14 that arrived yesterday about helping out in the clinic, but it seems that the chicken pox is scaring them off. The team has older teenagers on up to senior citizens, and while the teens are worried about if they've ever had chicken pox (or might get it)...the older adults are worried about the possibility of shingles. There were 2 members of the team (Esau & Connie) that agreed to come from 3:30 - 6:30pm to watch the children. I am hoping that they will share their experiences with their groups in order to encourage a few more to volunteer to help staff the clinic this coming week that they are here.
On a positive note for the clinic, Leigh arrived yesterday. She is a long term volunteer who needed to go home because she was bitten by a mosquito & contracted Denge (not sure if I spelled that correctly). Generally this infection is only common between the tropics, so when she went home her blood sample had to be sent to the CDC for confirmation. Most cases of Denge is easily cured if caught early enough. Hers has lasted for 5 weeks down here before she had went home to get medical attention (since her blood tests down here came back negative, leading her doctors back home to believe it was something else). She will be helping to relieve me at the clinic...which means we'll soon be teaming to relieve each other from the long hours there.
I went back to the clinic from 12:30 - 3:30pm and brought the movie The Princess Bride (which was on our entertainment center in the volunteer dorm. The kids had never seen it before and they sat through the whole movie watching intently. The girls helped me tidy the room up a bit for the volunteer team that arrived yesterday. Today they would stop by the clinic to visit.
I've been in constant communication with this team of 14 that arrived yesterday about helping out in the clinic, but it seems that the chicken pox is scaring them off. The team has older teenagers on up to senior citizens, and while the teens are worried about if they've ever had chicken pox (or might get it)...the older adults are worried about the possibility of shingles. There were 2 members of the team (Esau & Connie) that agreed to come from 3:30 - 6:30pm to watch the children. I am hoping that they will share their experiences with their groups in order to encourage a few more to volunteer to help staff the clinic this coming week that they are here.
On a positive note for the clinic, Leigh arrived yesterday. She is a long term volunteer who needed to go home because she was bitten by a mosquito & contracted Denge (not sure if I spelled that correctly). Generally this infection is only common between the tropics, so when she went home her blood sample had to be sent to the CDC for confirmation. Most cases of Denge is easily cured if caught early enough. Hers has lasted for 5 weeks down here before she had went home to get medical attention (since her blood tests down here came back negative, leading her doctors back home to believe it was something else). She will be helping to relieve me at the clinic...which means we'll soon be teaming to relieve each other from the long hours there.
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