It's all worth it..

8/3/11. August 3^rd- today is my bestestt friend from MA Ashley’s birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY ASH!!!

           So when I used to get out of the shower, I would put lotion on. Now, in place of lotion is anti-itch cream followed by a nice greasy oily layer of Ben’s 30% wilderness formula bugs spray. I now sit with pants tucked into socks and shirt tucked into pants. After waking up each day this week with more and more bites (currently at over 50), I am not taking any more risks. Today I went to work with spandex under my pants, tank top tucked into my spandex and two more shirts. Pretty much a body suit under my clothes. But let me back up a moment and explain how bathing works around here, since this was definitely a concern of mine and my friends before I left.

          First of all, I’m pretty sure I’ve legit “showered” once in the past month and a half. Since I’ve been here, I showered in the hotels during Field Based Training and once in a hostel after our swear-in ceremony. So, that leaves me to sharing the wonders of bucket bathing. Simply put, I pretty much bathe with a bucket and a pale. In my backyard. So, since I can’t use my pila and my only water source is right above the pila, I have to stand there adding small buckets of brownish faucet water into a trash can, that I use for my bucket. Next, I drag this trash can into my house so I can heat the water. Luckily, I found this wicked awesome ‘calentador’ at the ferreteria that’s a metal rod I put in the bucket to heat it up (slightly dangerous putting an electric metal rod in water?). About 25-30 minutes later the water is ready (usually with a little pile of dirt sediment at the bottom). I then drag the bucket into my bathroom in the backyard, usually spilling half the water on the way. I then bring in a chair to put my clean clothes, towel and hair brush on so I don’t have to put it on the ground where those little creepy bugs I talked about in my last blog like to linger (bathroom floor). The actual bathing part only takes about 10 minutes now (drastically longer when I first arrived back in April), but this entire process usually takes a little over an hour. There are several other minor steps as well, but I’m pretty sure y’all get the point. Now, imagine doing all of this during the rainy season at night in the cold in your backyard where your ceiling is made of lamina and your door is a curtain. Now how pleasing does your shower sound?

        But, on a positive note, I can heat my water, I have water at all hours of the day and I’m not bathing in a river !

          So, as far as work goes this week, I mainly worked on charla materials for next week. After working my butt off planning 9 charlas the nurse says to me, “oh yeah, fijese que..i don’t know why you’re working so hard on your charlas, we’re going to need you to take every child’s height [at least 1000 for the week] soo um, you’re not going to have time to do these charlas of yours” But, I’m pretty set on doing them anyway so we’ll see. I mean, what better time to take advantage of when having a waiting room of over 200 people each day?

Today, I taught some English to girls that came by the Puesto (health center) to ask for help with their homework. They then wanted me to weigh and measure each of them. Later, some girls came by to clean, cut, and paint our nails. They had commented on how clean my nails were in the past so I took advantage of this and asked if they wanted to do the nail care thing today. We started off washing our hands and nails while talking about the importance of maintaining short, clean nails. Two 7 year olds came by later, a boy and a girl, and both wanted their nails cut and cleaned too. It was adorable. I remember being that age and having my hand in my mom’s while she cut my nails. I wonder if their parents do this too. Having their small little hands in my hands reminded me what this whole experience is about. Even if I can put a smile on two little 7 year olds faces because I talk spanglish and k’iche and give them attention they may not have gotten otherwise in their 8 children family, while they learn a little something about preventative health – it’s all worth It, the 52 bug bites, the lack of fast showers, waking up at 6am every day, eating beans out of a can with a pocket knife, every bit of it is worth it.

            I wish I had a picture of the two 7-year olds but since it was my first time meeting them, I didn’t want to take a picture. Here are some photos from the day. Wish I could add more, but my computer is being super slow today.

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One girl helping another other. Hands helping hands :-)

Learning preventative health hands on :-)