Poptun, Guatemala

All I can say is WHOA what a week!

Thank you to everyone who has been posting comments. I miss you all and am very grateful to have such a wonderful family and friends.

Today is the first day we have had the entire day to ourselves, to relax and enjoy the jungle around us. The summer heat (38+) has been almost unbearable at times, but waking up to blue skies every morning is phenomenal.

To back track... and begin writing to all of you about this amazing and hard week.

Tuesday March 24th was a day we traveled 45 minutes out of Poptun to visit the rural community of Tanjoc. Tanjoc is a very small village in the jungle that consists of only 40 families. Most individuals spoke little Spanish, so we had translators to communicate with the locals in Quecchi (native Mayan language). Our goal for that day was to split up into two groups and focus on community development. This involved assessing as many homes as possible, with a focus on the social determinants of health, or lack there of. We would be asking things like: how many people resided in each home (sometimes up to 10 individuals in a small home); where they would cook; what edible vegetation was available to them; where they would get water to drink, cook, or wash clothes with; what type of work they were involved in; what assets they had as a source of income (i.e., pigs, chickens, cows, turkeys, beans, corn...); what type of education the children or parents had; whether or not the children had been vaccinated; what type of roofs or flooring their house had; whether or not they had electricity...

It was eye opening to witness and really see how these wonderful people lived every day of their life. Their homes were made out of wood panels nailed to a frame. Most of them had dirt and stone floors and either a tin roof or thatched roof. Just last year electricity became available to them...the most common use was for light in the evening...I saw a cell phone charging in one of the "better off" homes. I only saw one family out of the 10 we visited that had a chimney that didn't work very well at getting the smoke out of their homes. The other families would cook in their houses over an open fire. The ceiling above the "kitchen" was charcoal black from all the smoke...I could barely stay in the homes it was so hard to breathe due to the thick black smoke...what a huge health hazard and such a large reason we are completing such assessments in hopes of improving the living conditions of such rural communities. All of the homes were no larger than 300 square feet, and I only saw a couple beds in one home that housed over 8 people. The water availability is scarce during the summer as creek/river beds dry up. Most of the homes had water sources more than 400 meters away, and the safety of using the water for hydration is questionable. There was one type of well near the middle of the main road that locals would use; however, to keep the pump from stiffening it was oiled up and the oil was getting in the water (hard to explain). The entire day was difficult to 'take in', especially the skin and bone dogs and puppies some of the homes had. Even so, I felt so grateful to have had the opportunity to experience the community and be invited into various homes. The vegetation (bananas, oranges, mangoes, corn, beans, cabbage...) and animals surrounding the town lifted my spirits a little as I knew they had food available to them and food to sell for money. That day really made me realize how much I take for granted at home and how silly it is when we complain about 'not having hardwood flooring or stainless steel appliances'. Having a flushing toilet and shower in the house is a huge luxury for us...these people have to walk 40+ feet into the bushes to use a hole to do their business...imagine that in the middle of the night.

On a lighter note....

The hostel we are staying in has showers outside. We always seem to get home way past dark...the time the bugs come out. 10 girls needing showers after a hot, dirty, heavy, sweaty day is a hilarious audio and visual show. We've been screaming due to cockroaches, scorpions, tarantulas, huge frogs etc. creeping up on us during our showers or toilet time. The security guard at night had a great laugh watching us scurry away from a frog in some one's shower.

At night...it is so beautiful. The sky is clear and there are these glow bugs all over the fields that I love to try and find, then watch their bums light up.

Continuing the looong Tuesday of March 24th...

Once we got back into Poptun from Tanjoc we ran errands to grab groceries for dinner and pick up supplies for our First Aid educational presentation. We spent the evening at Amy's working hard at creating visual posters on CPR, emergency child birth, heat stroke, wound care, the respiratory system, and shock. After 11pm we hit the sac and rested up for Wednesday.

Wednesday, March 25th

Getting up early to go cook breakfast at Amy's in hopes of hitting the road by 8am to Santa Marta which was a 2 and a half hour drive up and down these dirt roads full of mud, river beds, and pot holes. Our travelling van got stuck in some mud...which slowed us down a bit and required some man power to get 'un' stuck.

Once we arrived in Santa Marta, we set up clinic (women's health, general, and pediatrics) and some presented their posters to the local mid wives and doctors. I wanted women's health and got to complete some pre-natal assessments and PAP smears, in the hottest room too!! The locals did not speak Spanish, so we would try to speak Spanish to the translator that would then ask the patient our questions or concerns...my Spanish is improving but it can be very frustrating not having the language to try and build on the nurse-patient relationship. All of the patients are wonderful and very patient and very very grateful for our assessments and information, which makes this experience well worth the work. I learnt so much that day about how to complete a thorough pre-natal assessment (positioning of the baby, finding the baby's heart rate, educating the mom on importance of vitamins and nutrition etc.). It was difficult at times completing the women's health history as some questions can be very personal and bring a person to tears...for example, the women who are wishing to get pregnant and keep miscarrying.

Thursday March 26th,

We returned to Tanjoc and set up another clinic to assess, educate, and prescribe medications to the local community. I wanted to work with the pediatrics and assessed too many children to count. One of my little boys (one and a half years) was very lethargic and fell asleep upon examination. This was very rare as most of the time the little ones start crying if you go near them with a stethoscope or odiscope. Upon assessment the little boy had an upper respiratory infection as well as an ear infection. His abdomen was also very large and we were querying possible worms, amoebas, or giardiah. We collaborated and decided to treat his upper resp. infection with antibiotics first...we'll be re-assessing him again next week to see whether his health has improved and whether he has some type of parasite. I've got to brush up on differentiating signs and symptoms of worms, amoebas, or giardiah.

Friday March 27th,

We set up a clinic at a local school for developmentally challenged children. We saw a lot of downs children, children with cerebral palsy and children with neurological defects. Friday seemed more organized as we had 5 stations which we would rotate through. I started on Ears, nose, throat and eyes...I am finally getting the hang of finding children's ear drums and noting the difference between an infected one and a healthy one. The other stations were height and weight, neurological (including reflexes), heart lungs and skin, and eye charts. All of the kids were so cute and sweet and loved giving hugs.

We finished the clinic at 12:30pm and had the rest of the afternoon to roam Poptun and complete errands (banking, Internet, booking hotels/hostels for Belize and Tikal). We had two guys that Amy knows to take us under their wings and show us around the town.

I cannot wait to speak to all of you and tell you even more about my experiences....is it ever difficult to condense my days into a few paragraphs.

Lots of love and keep commenting...I look forward to reading them every day.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox