By Kaitlin Rawluk
Hi folks, here is the catch up from last week with pictures!
Monday (6/28): Like I said, it was a day in the clinic, doing interviews and helping deliver a baby! It was nice to get to follow the mom from before in the end stages of labor through birth and then visit it her throughout the day. There was a moment I checked on her and she took my hand and I was sitting on the bed with her and her beautiful newborn (see photo-with permission). Moments like that make me want to be a doc. Otherwise, the interviews went along and it was fine.
Tuesday: Interviews in Nueva Armenia. Think about 2 hours into the middle of nowhere in the mountains and upsprings this town which has nurses and a doctor (talk about dedication-and I know the doc is cool since I ran into her at a dance club on Saturday night in Copan! random!). Fortunately, it was a "pregnancy club" day aka lots of people in one place (though I don't mind hiking around to people's homes for in house interviews which I did for two). But you get a participants from a wider range. So I knocked out several that day and had time to have fun with a few kids. Young boys in rural Honduras can be just like boys in the States: fascinated with big bugs! Here are a few pictures of these jokers with grasshoppers I have never seen before, one just cool for its colors and the other for colors and size (it has a pink underbelly). It took forever to get home on the bumpy road in the dark but eventually me and my bed reunited.
Wednesday: Not exciting, just refining and entering in the database. Thank God for Access but still, kinda tedious.
Thursday: A day of a lot of praying! So I met up with a team member to go to Rio Negro via motor bike (think like BMX bikes, good traction but not the thick wheels of a Harley). I likely outweigh my driver, Hugo, by 15 pounds so there was a lot of white knuckle riding as I held steadfast to his backpack (in front). I am not sure if I am supposed to always wrap myself around him (a little awkward) but we make it. Going there was not so bad. He took his time and the wind felt very nice.
As for interviews it was a great day since it was a pregnancy club day and I could sit in cool room and just have them come in one after another like a doctor's visit. Plus I got to see one of the "charlas" and see what the health promotor was teaching. The women are too nice though I do explain that it is not mandatory.
My lunch was rather delayed since so many interviews (and honestly, I didn't want these women to wait for me as many have walked 2-3 hours just to get to their PRENATAL appointment (American preggers are wimps in my book right now or at least can do more than they think they can). But it was yummy (take the lentils they feed the pregnant women but made it a more hearty soup with chayotes (potatoe like veggie), a little chicken and tortillas).
Really, they should do that more often in the other health centers because although USAID gave that as nutritional support, its only 14% RDU folic acid, 25% vit A (one we don't want to overdo in pregnancy I think) and not nearly the calories per serving it took to for the women to get there. But I digress. I reached my 100th interview! (what the group asked for though I will do more). So far so good. HOWEVER, it was looking like it would rain so Hugo and I soon got back on the bike home and that is when I think I said the Lords prayer and Psalm 23. In efforts to not get rained on, Hugo was going a lot faster than previously and at one point told me not to move since my slight shifting on the bike was making it harder for him to drive.
Going downhill at times was hard because I slide forward into him and if he weighed more it might not have mattered but i feared I was pushing him forward. In any case, I was really glad when we made to my stopping point, just in time to catch a bus back from Santa Rita to Copan. With a sore bum and feeling like was still on the bike, I returned home vowing not to do that again and grateful to not be in a coma or on a donor list.
Friday: No power reportedly all day! So much for data entry. There is no power in the office either and I debate trucking it over to the clinic for just entering data with hopes that i can steal power off their generator (which I feel 
bad especially if they need it for emergencies later and who knows how long these outtages last). In any case, I decide to treat the day like a Saturday and go to the market for veggies. For the first time, I end up talking to 3 backpackers from Southern California working their way down to Nicaragua. And with no power (or so I thought since it returned in the afternoon), I end up hanging out with these folks and going to the Ruins! (finally). I plan to go when Josh comes but this was good to get a run through (and its only 15 bucks). So being all tour guidey myself, we do the ruins and I help us make snack and later dinner plans.
So for the first time since I have been here, I finally got out on the town (when you are alone and female its intimidating!) Part of our time was chillin at a bar with no power (it went out again) and raining but between some nice drinks, a fantastic steak/beef dinner, and dancing, I had a fantastic time. Not much for work but it was part of the cultural experience. We had really gone to the local dance club which means practically all high schoolers/really young people (awkward!). But there was literally a high school group from the North coast who were taking a trip to Copan and went all out together with their teacher (wish I went to that high school!). They got a nice dance circle going making it fun to dance without having actually dance with someone. After that, I ended going to the other dance club, sadly all tourists, though I didn't go in since i was pretty tired, though still managed to meet more Americans there for the summer doing language schools. Although I had hoped in this trip to meet more locals, at the least I might have people I can hang out with before I leave. All in all, a great fun day which I needed!
Saturday: Mostly errands (prepping for going to see my sponsored child and food shopping) + data entry. Yet I went out to dinner and two-for-one beers again and still stayed up too late since I had to get up at 4 am to catch a bus to the beach Sunday. So a little repeat of the night before with my new friends but again, I had good clean fun and needed to let loose some (thank god for getting the "plus" seats on the bus which meant it was like first class seats with folding down bed-like parts for only $6 more for 6 hours bus time. sweet bus sleeping). But more will come in my next post on my adventures in Tela (beach) and my sponsored child (and our shopping spree-Christmas was in July!).
Thanks for reading!
