Temash

My apologies for not updating you all in a few weeks. Life has been a bit hectic, but good! Last weekend, I went with Nurse Patricia to Temash. This is a village on the Guatemalan border. A driver took us to Delores, where we spent the night in a school. Four children's school tables put together, made a sufficient bed for the night. My clean pants and windbreaker rolled together was my pillow and I had a beach towel that I used for a blanket.

In Delores, we treated two people for malaria. We travelled to the first home by candlelight (yes, we both forgot our head lamps). On our way back, there was a man lying in front of the school which we were staying at. His friend was with him. I quickly obtained vitals and he was reaching 103 temp. Next, we did a blood smear which was later turned into the Ministry of Health. We gave him Chloroquine and some liquids. The next day, his friend came by and said he was doing much better.

We were all up me, Patricia and Marcos, the local health care worker) at the crack of dawn on Saturday morning. We shared a few granola bars, and then greeted our sherpas. There were 8 total. These men came from Temash to Delores, to lead the way to the village we would be working in. The two horses carried our supply bag and personal bag. The hike was hard and mountainous, but amazing. I was in total awe of God's awesome creation. We hiked for nearly 2 hours, at times thru the jungle and then others thru the valley. As we went over some of the mountains, we could hear the horse and cows greeting us! The last 30 minutes of the hike was the hardest...all uphill and no shade!

We arrived in Temash around 10:45am and started seeing patients shortly after. I think we saw 57 total for the day. My role was to triage the patients and translate. Most of the patients spoke only Katchi, a Mayan language, so I would communicate with a local who spoke spanish and he would translate into Katchi to the patient and then back to Spanish for me. I have no doubt that some things got lost in translation, but there was lots of clarifying! I was pleasantly surprised with the illnessness patients were coming in with. Mostly, back and shoulder pain due to the strenuous work these men and women do daily. There were no scabies or lice cases!!! We have to find out what they are doing and implement it in the Toledo district!

At 7:30pm the Alcaldo(village chief) came and told us we had to finish up because the community was preparing a service for us. I have to admit, I was pretty psyched when he closed us down, because I was exhausted at this point. Thankfully too, there were only a handfull of patients that hadn't yet been seen. We did manage to see them individually before we left.

The service was so beautiful. Even though the entire service was done in Katchi, I was really touched. There were five boys/men playing the vibes. This was a handmade wooden set and the sound was amazing. The service ended at about 1045pm. Everyone was served a hot rice drink in coconut bowls!

Saturday night, I actually upgraded from tables to a hammock to sleep in!
We were up at 5am when we heard the village members walking by our area. They were announcing church was starting! YIKES!!

Hiking back wasn't too bad. A member of the village took us on dirtbike part of the way (the last part that was all up hill). This was fab, because I was so dog tired. When we got to the stream, one of the sherpa's told me to jump up on the horse because the horse was going to take me across the stream. I did as I was told and then froze. So did the horse. So I am on this horse and the guy is telling me to pull on the horse's mane. I couldn't. I was afraid if I did the horse would fly off. So, finally the sherpa tredged thru the water and grabbed the horse. Nurse Patricia said it would have been a great Kodak moment!

We arrived back to PG around 330pm Sunday afternoon. Exhausted, but energized from the weekend, I had showered, had some dinner with a few friends and CRASHED!

Dinner with the Fox's

Today was a blast. I picked up A.M., a five year old who is being raised by an 83 year old woman. When I arrived at A.M.’s house, she was just finishing washing her laundry and sweeping the floor. How many of you reading this entry have your five year old washing their own laundry (by hand) and cleaning the house? I was greeted with a loud cry “Heder”, followed by two tiny arms not quite reaching around my waist, but holding on with such a grip. Yesterday, I brought A.M. a new bottle of shampoo with conditioner. The last bottle was emptied in just one shower. I just assumed she would know how to use it or would get some guidance on how to use it. So, yesterday, when I dropped off the new bottle, I explained to A.M. how beautiful the shampoo will make her hair look. I explained the per usage amount and she then outlined the palm of her hand to show me how much she was going to use. When I finished explaining how to use the shampoo to her, she held the bottle in her arms like it was her baby and said, “I am going to take good care of this”.

After the long hug, A.M. looked up at me and said “I took a shower and took good care of the shampoo”. I could see her hair was shining a bit and was so proud. She showed me how much was left in the bottle!

We took off to the market to buy “ripe banana’s” for A.M.’s mom. Then we tried on some clothes at one of the buses, that brings clothes to townshe to sell. It’s quite a scene looking at the school bus with clothes hanging out of every window. Neither myself or A.M. bought anything, but we had fun trying things on! Me and A.M. were pretty hot and dehydrated after our shopping spree, so we stopped at a shop to grab some juice. A.M. loves comparing who has more, so with each sip, she would size up our drinks.

We headed back to the house, had some good Kraft Mac and Cheese and then both crashed on the sofa’s in my living room. I awoke around 130pm and had to wake A.M. because I needed to be on the other side of town by 2 to help a family prepare a bedroom for a patient who was to be released from the hospital.

Had 8 people over for dinner tonight. Tessy, our new long term volunteer came in from Canada. She will be staying at the house as well.

It was a pretty simple spread. Well, if I were preparing in the states it would be simple. Here, you buy whatever you can get. Luckily today, there was spaghetti sauce. Yesterday, the store was out of spaghetti, but thankfully there was a restock today. No angel hair though. Called my aunt to get a meatball recipe. I tried my mom, but I think she was still in transit from Florida.

My pots and pans are something to be desired. Ivory, another long term volunteer, brought some forks so we didn’t have to take shifts. Ivy brought some delicious garlic bread and Jeff, Ivory and the kids brought dessert. Don’t know the name, but it was good. Graham cracker, banana, jellies. The watermelon was also a nice touch. Patricia brought flowers from the convent. I think they are lilies. Very fragrant and a beautiful arrangement. All in all, dinner was pretty darn good! A little improvising here and there and it all works out!
My eyes are like glue tonight. They have been since this afternoon. I took my contacts out mid day, but still, my eyes are giving me trouble. It was pretty hot today and the dust picked up a bit this afternoon. I will use a cool compress tonight. Let’s see if that helps.

Bought speakers for my laptop today. However, the internal speakers are louder than this set. What did I expect for $15 belize?

Gotta get some sleep. Goodnight~