What a way to start the week!

This weekend I had a chance to finally go scuba diving and it was amazing!!  We went on both Saturday afternoon and Sunday afternoon and saw a baracuda one day and an eel another day.  The reef were really cool, however, note to self, some sunscreen may be a good option for a while.  Even though I got a little burnt, it's all tanned now and doesn't really hurt anymore so that's pretty exciting...before I know it I could be considered an Islander!  Sunday I ended up going to church twice- once for the Catholic mass and then once with the other volunteers to a non-denomenational service.  That was a different experience.  I'm pretty sure it was the first time that I have been to any service other than Catholic, and it was definately a different experience.  While it wasn't all that bad, it lacked the same substance that I get from a Catholic mass.  

Yesterday was quite an experience at the clinic.  Peggy is in the states for 2 weeks, meaning I am the nurse at the clinic and I am in charge...oh man!  Yesterday being the beginning of a new week, with new volunteers and PA's coming in, meant total caos.  There is a PA program that does 6 week rotations through Clinica Esperanza.  One group just left on Saturday, bringing another group of 2 in.  This meant that I would need to get them orientated to the clinic and the computer system so that they could start seeing patients.  But, add on to that, we had 6 other PA's, a lay volunteer, and a nurse come in to volunteer for the next week or two, so I had to orient them as well.  So, now we have 8 PA's, 2 doctors, a nurse, and another volunteer all needed something to do as well as orientation, but we only have 4 exam rooms to see patients in.  What are we supposed to do?!!?  Needless to say, yesterday was a very stressful day as we got everyone situated and orientated; leaving me dreading what today was going to bring.  Luckily, today ran very smoothly and people were able to fit in to what needed to be done and it left noone standing around.  Yay!  Success!  

That was the first start to the week.  Then today I find out that my hip likes to rotate forward because of a tight muscle that is starting to get chronically tight and therefore shortening....perfect, just what I need to be told as I am starting my year abroad.  Part of it is from sitting for long periods of time so I guess that means less sitting and more standing up straight with my weight equally distributed and continuing to exercise.....ugh!   So after the morning at the clinic, we got pizza for lunch...that I was excited about.  But then I went home to turn on my computer so that I could answer emails, check facebook, and all that good stuff---only to find out that my hard drive has given out on me...again!!  So now, only a week into my year, I don't have a reliable computer....for now at least.  I frantically called my brother to see what to do and he tells me to take it to my local Best Buy.  Yeah, we don't have a Best Buy here.  He goes, well then I can send you something or you can send me something.  Yup, don't have mail service here either (that being said, if you want to send anything, we have people coming in and out from the states every 6 weeks, let me know and I will get you an address.)  But, hopefully once I get the right disks from him, I will be able to reformat and all will be well.  Until then.....limited technology :(  But, maybe it will be good for me; we tend to rely on technology too much these days---but I'm already doing without phone and mail service!!  Oh well...I'll keep you posted with how I am doing, hopefully I will be able to make it!

Me Gustaria Presentarle una Enfermera Laura

That's right folks, I have officially been a nurse for 1 whole week!  While  I have learned quite the same things that I would have learned in the states, I have learned soo much!  I have become a pharmacist, an intake/triage nurse, a surgeon assistant, a sterilizer, a source of knowledge, an EKG giver, and an IV starter.  I think that's about all, but I could be wrong.  My brain has just been flooded with knowledge this week and starting Monday I will be the one in charge of all the volunteers and everything that's happening in the clinic (of course there will be Dr. Raymond who is in charge of everything medical and Allison who is in charge of everything non-medical).  However, something that hasn't greatly  improved while being here yet is my spanish and I think that is partly due to the fact that I have been stuffing my brain with soo much other information that  it had reached its max capacity for the week- never thought that could happen!   I'm hoping that within the next couple of weeks I will have more time to look over and review spanish as well as practice it.  A big help in this is that Jessie, the volunteer that is living downstairs wants to learn more, and there are a few people at the clinic that want to learn english- so I'm sure we will be able to do a trade off.

Aside from all my nursing work that I have been doing this week, it hasn't really left room for a whole lot else.  I end my days feeling quite exhausted and that was discovered when Jessie and I sat down to watch Inception Thursday night at 8:30 and could barely stay awake- we didn't even finish the movie we were so tired.  Better luck next time!  There are many volunteers here aside from myself and they are all right around the same age so that is very nice as well.  Tuesday night we had a potluck over at the apartments where John (another clinic volunteer) is staying and we met some of his friends.  There are about 8 or so of them that are from South Carolina teaching at a school here in Roatan.  There is also a school in Oregon that supplies the clinic with 2 PA students every 6 weeks; over the past week I was able to get to know 2 of them.  They are however leaving this afternoon and 2 more are coming in- so next week I will be in charge of getting them acclimated to the clinic.

Last night I got to experience my first tropical storm- Tropical Storm Matthew.  It was supposed to produce high winds, lots of rain, and maybe even a hurricane.  However, we only ended up getting some high winds and a little bit of rain....better luck next time I guess :(  Speak of the water and ocean, that is something that I have not really gotten to fully experience yet- we are going to have to change that.  I went out swimming one afternoon and then watched a gorgeous! sunset afterwards but that was the extent of it.  There are coral reefs surrounding the island just waiting for me to come out and explore them, and I myself can hardly wait to go see them either!  And it's really cheap to get diving certified here too, so I might check that out in the weeks to come.

On Thursday, Peggy and I drove up into the Colonia because she needed to drop something off for her housekeeper who lives up in there.  I could not believe my eyes when I saw what conditions they were living under.  I will try to paint a picture for you.  Imagine:  You have a gorgeous mountain side covered with trees and bushes.  It would be perfect for hiking through.  Now, someone has chosen to clear a path just a little wider than what a vehicle would need to pass through.  There are now one main dirt road with small trenches through them, because of how the rain washes it away, running up this mountain side.  At various points along this road there are "side streets" that look the same.  These aren't nice level roads either; they are so steep that as we were driving them, we had to stop at the bottom wait for it to clear and gun it going up.  These people of the Colonia have to walk up these streets daily!  Can you even imagine?  I don't know much about grades but it must be like almost a 50% grade going up.  Then off to the sides of these streets people have started to build their houses.  Houses are built on the hill sides; there is literally half their house that is built on stilts and the other half that comes out of the hill.  These aren't nicely built houses either.  I mean they may be fairly sturdy, but they are merely pieced together with small boards, wood pallets, or whatever other supplies these people can find to build their houses.  There are also not really doors or windows on anything.  We drove by 5 little kids that were carrying this box of wood (and they had carried it quite a distance up the hills); they would either be using it for firewood or building supplies.  Everyday, people go out of the colonia to work; in order to get to work?  They hike down the hills, walk or bum a ride to work, if they are lucky they can afford a taxi.  Taxis are only anywhere from $1-2, but for them that could be just under what their daily pay is.  Then at the end of the day, they all have to hike back up to their homes.  If it happened to rain that day (or night), it is all muddy and I'm sure even more challenging to get around in there.  These are also the same people that we see in the clinic.  Typically, they are nowhere near as clean as we would be and they may not have enough to afford the care they are coming to recieve.  Money, however, is not seen as a factor that prevents them from getting care at the clinic.  If they need meds, they given what they need, assuming the clinic has it.  The clinic can only have the meds, if they are donated or received through the WHO.  Therefore, there are times that we unfortunately don't have the medications that we need for these people.  They only get running water once every 8 days.  So on Thursday when we were there it was water day.  They take huge barrels and fill them full of water in hopes that it will be enough to last until the next time.  The water that comes isn't safe to drink either.  However, these people have no way of filtering it.  Therefore, they have to boil all of this water before it is usable too.  Garbage?  That used to get picked up every 3-4 days, but Peggy just informed me that they will be changing that to once every 3 weeks I believe.  Unbelievable!  Keep in mind, there are 3,000 people living in this Colonia, and it really isn't that big.  Now granted, the islanders don't want this people living there in the first place, but still!  The conditions that they live under are horrible!!

Well, I think that's about all I have for now.  I have gotten a few pictures, but I need to get some more, so hopefully I will have some to share with you all soon.

<3

Bienvenidos!

After spending just as much time flying as I did with layovers, I finally made it to Roatan, Honduras. Man what a journey that was!  From Sioux Falls I flew to Chicago where I landed at 8:30; downfall?  My connecting flight wasn't until 3 am, it was in the international terminal, they didn't start giving out boarding passes until midnight, meaning I couldn't get to the gate and sleep until then and my choices of food were very minimal (esp since everything was starting to close), and I was pretty much the only American in that terminal....excellent!  While on this first flight, I had the privalege of sitting next to a man that works for Pepsi and whom had been watching the a football game and drinking beers while waiting for the filght.  Therefore he was just a chatter box, but it made my flight much better, because otherwise I would have been thinking about how I was on a plane to Honduras for the next year.  In talking to this gentleman  I learned a few things...drinking a Coke while sitting next to a Pepsi rep? poor choice haha!  But he got over it after I told him I usually drink Mountain Dew, to which he filled me in on a fun fact: South Dakota sells more Mountain Dew than Coke or Pepsi.  Who knew?!  Then he also told me about this one time when he was flying to Boston: they were on the runway waiting for their turn to takeoff and the flight attendant welcomed them to the flight saying it was going to Boston.  One man on the plane goes "Boston?  I'm supposed to be going to Chicago!"  So they actually turned the plane around to let the guy off, making people miss their connecting flights- all because this guy didn't pay attention to what flight he got on and because the airport attendants didn't stop him from getting on.  Wasn't that what the hightened security was supposed to help prevent?!

From there, I boarded the plane, with mainly all hispanics so I learned just how much work I need to do with my Spanish skills.  Once aboard this plane, I was taken to Guatemala City where I did not have to change planes, but others did. What could this mean, you ask?  Well, it meant that I had to sit in the plane for an hour while I waited for them to clean the plane and for the new passengers to board.  Next stop was San Salvador where there was a short layover before boarding the plane for Roatan.  This plane with only 12 rows for passengers and it actually had propellors instead of the standard wing on other planes.  There was only 14 people on this flight, and to my enjoyment, most were American!

So, what next you ask?  I arrived in Roatan at 10:30 and was met at the airport by an expat volunteer from the clinic.  As we were driving, the volunteer was telling me all about the island and the people that live here and important things to know.  After looking at pictures of the island, I knew it was going to be small but get this: it's 34 miles long and about 1.5-2 miles wide depending on what part of the island you are on. (this information might show up on a quiz later so commit it to memory....oh Basche and Adv. Eng III...lol!)  He took me by the clinic thinking that he would just introduce me to Ms. Peggy, the nurse that runs the clinic, and show me around the clinic before taking me to where I will be staying for the next year.  Wrong!  At the clinic I was indeed introduced to Ms. Peggy, but I was also put right to work, kind of.  Today I learned to be a pharmacist which involved counting and filling prescriptions- soon to be part of my many job descriptions.  I was introduced to many of the people that are at the clinic and was shown around.  Clinic hours run from about 7/730 to 1230/1300 depending on how many patients there are.  When we finished with patients, we went to lunch, then returned to work on organizing/cleaning up the birthing center rooms.  It is amazing how much stuff has been donated, but it will definately take some time to get it all organized and put together so that the expansion will be ready to open; which is set for January if all goes well.  In addition, I found my twin while at the clinic today.  You may be asking what exactly I mean so let me explain.  One of the other volunteers here is named John.  Upon chatting, we soon realized that we both come from large families; in fact, we each are one of 10 kids.  Crazy right?!  It gets better.  We are both the 3rd oldest!  He's 21, I'm 22.  But wait, that's not all.  The age range of kids in his family is 26 to 3, my family is 26 to 4.5.  Boy:girl ratios?  There are 6 boys and 4 girls in his family, 5 and 5 in my family.  Any finally, we are both Catholic.  This was by far the craziest thing that happened all day...it was soo great! 

After finishing up at the clinic, I finally made it to what I will call home for the next year.  It is a 2 story house of which Ms. Peggy and I will be upstairs and another volunteering has the basement apt rented out.  And yes, it is indeed beach front with our own little reef not to far off the dock.  It will be rough, but I will try to manage; if it gets to bad, I might have to find a new home lol!  This evening was spent relaxing as I was quite exhausted from all my traveling.  We have a balcony/porch so I was forced to go sit out on it and watch the sunset, dangit!  Although my living arrangements are quite nice, the poverty of the island is astonomical.  As I see and experience it more, I will tell you more about it.  As for now, I need to get on to some other things so that I will be ready for my first day working as a registered nurse tomorrow! 

Blessings and best wishes to your days and week ahead!

Goodbye US, Next Stop: Honduras!

The time has arrived after much anticipation.  Last week, I spent 5 days in New Jersey at orientation gearing myself up for the upcoming year.  There were many presentations along with a few side trips.  We were able to talk with volunteer alums to hear their experiences and glean their packing/traveling advice.  Aside from myself, there were 15 other volunteers all preparing to go to various locations-- South Africa, Kenya, Sudan, Peru, Ecuador, Haiti, and Honduras (but on the mainland, so not where I will be).  Although we will not be together, it was good to be able to meet other volunteers that will be going through similar experiences and to know that when we are bored, chances are they might be too so we will have someone to chat with!  We ended the week with a sending forth mass with some of our generous donors and 7th and 8th grade class that has given some of their time to help a volunteer in Kenya from their classroom.

One day was spent in Manhattan at the CMMB headquarters where we were able to meet with the Board of Directors.  That was a nice little meeting that we had with them.  It gave us an opportunity to see who we have been working with via phone and email, who works to help raise funds to allow us this opportunity (as it cost $15,000 a year for one volunteer!), and the space that they work in.  While there, we were all interviewed for a telecare 12 show series that CMMB is a part of; this telecare programming will help to promote CMMB as well as volunteerism in general.  If I find a way for everyone to be able to see this programming, I will be sure to let you know (or you could go to New Jersey cause it will be on a local channel there). 

That day we also got a tour of the UN building.  That was really neat, interesting, and a good refresher of the Millenium Development Goals for the UN (we learned all about these in school, so that made it all the greater).  These goals are similar to the Healthy People 2010 campain that the US has, except they are international.  There are 8 different goals listed which include health of women and children, education/literacy, poverty, among others.  While there, I also learned about this site that UNICEF has to feed poor people without spending money.  All you have to do is go to www.freerice.com and there is a game that you play.  For every question that you get right, World Food Programme donates 10 grains of rice.  Check it out in your free time!

Before I headed home from training, I was able to spend the day in NYC being a tourist.  Lucky me, I got to see a segment of Law and Order SVU being filmed.  Be jealous!

Once I got home there was one thing after another that I had to do in order to be ready to go.  I was living with a friend this summer, so I had to finish moving my stuff home.  My bags were mostly packed, but do to weight restrictions and last minute items that always seem to appear, I packed and repacked my bags several times!  Who ever thought that it would be a good idea to put a 50 lb weight restriction on checked luggage?!  Bad idea, I tell ya.  But after packing and repacking for what seemed like hours, I think I finally got everything in one bag or another.  Hopefully when we get to the airport, their scale will agree with mine!

So as I head out on my journey, which will include 8.5 hours of plane time and 8.5 hours of layovers, I leave you with this passage from Isaiah )Isaiah 61:1-3) that was read at our sending forth mass:

The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;

 To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;

 To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified.