2/19 Friday: Filter Charla
In a nutshell: I am soooo over dealing with these filters. I made announcements and personally told people about this presentation and only 1 new person showed up. The requirements to get a filter are easy: pay $550 pesos and go to a class. Then you get your water filter and stop getting parasites. $550 isn’t so much that people can’t do it. Every single person in my community could do it if they set aside a little money here and there. Today was the 4th time I gave the same class and out of the 30 original filters we still have 6. People are so freaking lazy! I refuse to just give these away. I think that people think that I will just give them away if they wait long enough. The thing that really annoys me is that I had at least 5 people come up to me and tell me they really wanted a filter and they would be at the class but not one of them was there. There are two houses where the people want filters but they’re just weekend homes and I wanted to give the filters to someone who lived in the house all the time. Sometimes I get so frustrated by the mentality here. A lot of people want stuff but they won’t do anything to get it except complain. Well until they decide to do something about it, those filters are staying in the Women’s Club. People have to put something in for them or they won’t take care of them. I’d rather give them to someone in a different community who will take care of it than give them to someone who doesn’t appreciate it here.
2/16 y 2/18: Tuesday and Thursday: Escojo
In a nutshell: Tuesday was my 1st Escojo class. It went soooooo well!! My 1st Escojo class I ever had was incredibly boring but this one, with all the promoters there (kids who got at least an 80% on the final exam and didn’t have a lot of absences) went fantastic! I hope this round goes better! I have a feeling it will since my old promoter group had a bad attitude and this time around there are only two from the previous group. Mostly Wandi and Argeni were the worst. Oh, and the time Ernie, Vanji and Yameliza walked out… that was pretty bad. Vaji and Yameliza are still in it but being the only old ones makes them less bad. They’re not the type of girls who are bad on their own but are obnoxious when paired with someone bad. Anyways, the class went great! Afterwards I invited all the promoters to my friend Mark’s Escojo graduation on the 6th of March. I said we should get the other group something as a happy graduation gift. All the kids agreed so we decided to have a raffle and also to make and sell Pine Sol again. I was a teeny bit concerned for the making of the floor cleaner but decided to just roll with it. I was nominated to get something “cool” for the raffle and when I went to Santiago on Wednesday for an Escojo meeting I stopped at a store which is more like a huge garage sale (very disorganized but cheap!) and found the perfect thing: a thermos! Doñas will like it because they will only have to make coffee 1x/day and it will stay warm and men will like it because, well why not?
On Thursday the Pine Sol making went soooooo smooth! It was amazing!! I kept having flashbacks of my other promoters sitting and watching while just 2 people worked and then all arguing about the amount of work to be done. We made about 60 bottles in about 90 minutes. That includes looking for the bottles, cleaning them, making the floor cleaner and bottling it. They didn’t help clean up much but I was planning on being there for about 3 hours anyways so I was happy! Now we’ll see how many they can sell. No matter what though we’ll have enough money for the gift. The raffle alone raised enough money as the gift costs about $500. I told them we could use the rest for a party or something.
2/15 Monday: The Mother’s Club gift exchange
In a nutshell: I wasn’t sure how Mercedes was going to treat me this week since we have since talked about our issues. She was civil and even kind of friendly which was a nice change. I bought the gift for my secret santa to exchange but I also wanted to get a gift for Minga. So, when I was in Santiago today coming back up from the concert, I stopped at a great store called Jumbo. I found a flower pot with little hearts all over it and got it for Minga. Then I went to the counter and had them wrap it (all the stores here will wrap presents for free) and Jumbo takes FOREVER but they do a great job. Minga liked the wrapping job so much she refused to open the gift! I found this hilarious so I took a picture of it. Finally her daughter came by a few days later and opened it for her. Next time I’ll save the money and get a rock wrapped for her!
2/13 Saturday: Adventura!!!!!!!!!!!!!
In a nutshell: My favorite band is Adventura. They’re great and sing my favorite type of music, bachata. I found out last December that they were going to come to the DR for a concert and definitely wanted to go. Through some miscommunications with friends buying tickets, I didn’t get one in time and unless I wanted to pay 700 pesos more ($20) for better seats, I wasn’t going. Well, I am too cheap to pay 1600 pesos for a ticket so I resolved to not go. Then, a miracle happened: one of my friends had an extra ticket and called me on Thursday to see if I wanted it!!!! So, I went to see Adventura in concert. We got there about an hour late and were really far away but who cares?! The crowd was amazing and we all agreed it was one of the best concerts we had ever seen. Yippee, my 1st concert in the DR!!!!
2/12 Friday: A short example of why school here no cive para nada
In a nutshell: This entire week I have been trying to go to the school to talk to the director. I’ve been trying to go during the least intrusive time of day so as to not disrupt classes too much but I need to get Escojo started again and have to compile a list of interested kids. I can’t do that if I don’t have permission from the Director, Humberto. Well, to be blunt- school here sucks. I know I have said this before but here is a great example of why it sucks. Every single day this week I was going to go around 5, near the end of school to talk to Humberto and then come back the next day to talk to the students. Every single day my plans were foiled because, after beginning school at 2 pm each day, school was let out no later than 4 every each day this week for reasons such as meetings with other teachers, the school is being remodeled and they’re putting in windows…. I finally just went on Friday in the morning to talk to him but he wasn’t there. So, I sat and had a 20 minute conversation with Violeta, his wife and a school teacher, about Christmas, New York (aka the States) and how everything is so organized (so says her husband who was there for 45 days over Dec and Jan), and other random things. While this was during her class I have decided that it really doesn’t matter if we have a long conversation in the middle of it. She’s more likely to be agreeable if I chit chat with her for a while before getting to the point. Finally we began the topic of Escojo. I made a list of kids who were old enough to participate who have school in the morning and said I would come back in the afternoon to talk to Humberto. I went back later, school once again got out early but I was able to make a list of kids and talk to Humberto. Even though I’m not having class in the school anymore he insisted I write a letter to him about it again before he would agree (agree to what?). So, I wrote the letter and I have a very small class. Only about 10 kids are interested in it as opposed to 40 I had this time last year. That was a little discouraging since I’m sure a few will drop out of it but at least it will be more manageable.
2/10 Wednesday: Controlling the situation
In a nutshell: It made me very happy today when Pimbi came over. This is the woman who stole my clothing from Minga’s house and gave it to her prego daughter (I still haven’t say anything to her about it). She came to my house to see when I was going to fix her filter and then told me she wanted me to “gift” her one of my shirts. My first reaction was laughing out loud thinking, well, at least she’s ASKING me now! But then I was annoyed not only because its rude even in this culture to ask people for stuff like that but because it was the 2nd time this week people have out right asked me for something. One woman I don’t even hang out with sent a little kid to my house 2x asking for nail polish. Anyways, after the initial shock of this woman’s audacity in asking me for a shirt, I asked her if she knew the story about someone stealing from me. She said she did and I then went on and on about how it made me feel so terrible and sad. I thought the community didn’t like me and after leaving all my family and friends in the States, people here treat me like that… so sad, yada yada yada. She agreed, said of course it wasn’t her (to which I of course agreed) and said her goodbye- without a shirt of mine. Adios mujer!
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Sunday, February 14, 2010
first week of feb
2/7 Monday: For the love of all things holey, can we PLEASE move past this!?!
In a nutshell: Today I confronted Mercedes about our issue as the poem and gifts didn’t have the affect I was hoping. To my surprise, she seemed bursting with things to say and pretty hurt. In a nutshell, she is offended that I don’t tell her when I’m going to eave for days at a time and when I’ll be back. That’s a fair complaint as she is my closest neighbor and one of the two people signed up to take care of me with PC. We talked and we sealed it with a hug. PC told us in training not to be direct here but I’m finding that’s horrible advice.
Then I went to Minga’s and had a great talk with her and her daughter, Margara in the kitchen while Margara’s kids played in Mingas house. For some random reason I opened up about everything, I haven’t opened up about everything to anyone here- not even Wandi. But I told them how I was in my house crying for days after Christmas and how awful I felt about the entire situation. They supported me and said that Mercedes gets mad over lots of little things but mostly when she thinks someone messes with her kids. She knew Wandi liked me and that I was really mad at him so then she was mad at me. When I was gone I think it turned into her thinking I must be mad at her and her entire family for whatever I thought Wandi did to me since I didn’t tell her I was leaving or when I was coming back.
I also told Maragara and Minga about how it was Geraldo who broke into my house before and that he did it again in December. Then when I went back to my house, I passed my Mercedes house and said hi to Geraldo sitting on the porch and he ignored me. I know he heard me because I walked up to him, kicked his foot and shined my light on him. He wouldn’t even look at me. Then I noticed Margara’s son sitting behind Geraldo. Nuts.
The Real Blog: In the 15 hours I since I returned home I had 2 people come up to me and tell me that “someone” is saying I’m mad at Mercedes. This amazes me since I have not been here to be mad at her, which I pointed out to each person who said that to me. Today I must have been feeling surprisingly bold. I went to the Women’s Meeting and unknowingly sat right next to Mercedes. She literally turned her body so her back was to me. It took me a good 30 minutes to notice it was her since I couldn’t see her face and why would I assume someone is purposely putting their back to me? Then, when the meeting was nearly over, I was the only one left to talk, she actually left! More like bee lined it out of there. She is the president and so she’s supposed to stay until the meeting is done and all the women are gone. After this, I decided that I would just talk to her. I’ve tried hiding from her which obviously was not successful. I tried a poem with a gift and that didn’t work. (I thought for sure that would work) So, without other options, I’m going against the advice of not being direct in this culture and I’m talking to her.
I walked up to her house and she was there washing clothing. I told her people have been telling me that they heard I’m mad at her and to my complete surprise she said, Of course Elizabeth. That sure opened up conversation. We talked for about 5-10 minutes and she was pretty upset, in fact she talked for at least 8 of those 10 minutes. I actually felt kind of bad. She told me that she knew Wandi supposedly did something horrible to me but that she didn’t think I needed to treat her family bad when they have never done anything to me. I told her I wasn’t mad at Wandi anymore and that even if I was, I would never displace that on anyone else. I told her that her family was very important to me and I never wanted to offend them but that I thought they were mad at me and it made me feel awkward going over to visit. She said they weren’t mad at me either. The main thing she was upset about was that she is my closest neighbor and as my project partner with Ernesto, she’s responsible to PC for my wellbeing and I never tell her when I’m leaving for a few days or when I get back. I personally think she’s embarrassed that when people ask if I’m home or when I’m coming home she has no idea. I guess I didn’t think it was a big deal, didn’t think they cared and I’m not used to having neighbors who care. She said one day she looked in my house in the afternoon to make sure I wasn’t dead in my bed. (See why I felt bad?!) I told her I was sorry and that I would tell her from now on. I gave her a hug and felt very satisfied when I left.
Then I went to Minga’s and she and her daughter, Margara, told me I had better talk to Mercedes after how Mercedes was treating me in the Club earlier. I told them I had already talked to her and ended up spilling everything to them. I haven’t ever completely shared how I’m feeling with anyone here, people are such gossips and I’m worried they’ll turn on me. Well, Minga and Margara always defend me and watch out for me so I opened up today, which is weird because I wasn’t even upset today. But it made me feel so much better! Like there are some people who really understand where I’m coming from now, they couldn’t have understood me before since I didn’t tell them the whole story. I need to learn to let Dominicans in. I have a hard time trusting them, which is awful. How can you really make any friends when you don’t trust them? And that’s my problem: I have no Dominican friends and it makes me feel awful. On the other hand, I trusted Mercedes without question and then in May she turned on me and it was devastating. So, I need to trust again but figure out whom to trust. I can think of two other ladies I think I can completely trust- but I’m such a bad judge of character it’s hard to know. I am very ingenuous, way too naive.
Minga told me that no one wants to get on the bad side of Mercedes and her family, that they will pick a fight with anyone for anything but especially for messing with one of their kids. Apparently Wandi told them all that I was accusing him of something he didn’t do and of course they believed him. Then they saw me ignore each phone call when he called me 50,000 times on Christmas. So I’m sure I wasn’t imagining them being mad at me in the days after Christmas. I had no idea they were mad at me for Wandi, I thought I offended them for not eating their food! Then when I was gone so much in the following weeks the problem just grew and grew in their imaginations. The problem that I was angry with them grew so much that while the gifts and the poem helped for the time being, I left again and so the problem continued to grow.
I’m just hoping that one of Margara’s kids didn’t run off to Mercedes house and tell her everything we said tonight at Mingas. When I got back to my house one of her kids was there and Geraldo wouldn’t look at me or respond to me. I told Minga and Margara tonight how Geraldo was the one who stole from me. It could be bad but if it is I supposed I’ll deal with it as it comes. Today was productive if nothing else, I feel supported by Minga and Margara.
1/31- 2/6: Medical Mission
In a nutshell: This week was amazing. I kind of fell into an opportunity to translate for a medical mission (medical mission = when a medical group comes to the DR for a week or so do to medical type things and needs people to translate). It was a hernia med mission which had me less than thrilled at first but, as always, things worked out and I loved it. I ended up with two really fantastic doctors, Clayton and Gladys, who incidentally love to teach. Because of this, Justin, Sarah and I (the 3 PCVs on duty) were able to be really hands-on instead of only translating. We were able to make incisions, give stitches, and take gross stuff out of people (cysts and lipomas). It was so fun!
The Real Blog: This week was the coolest week ever! Even better than when I went to Jimaní! Let me explain what a medical mission is. Lots of groups of medical-type people (nurses, doctors, med students… you get the idea) come to the DR to help out for a week or so but need translators. So, PCDR has a “med committee” with PCVs who are in charge of coordinating interested PCVs with groups. Spring and Fall are “med mission season” and so there are a lot of opportunities at the moment for PCVs to translate. Generally, PCVs are very interested and so it’s competitive to get a med mission. But since there are so many med missions, most PCVs are able to do at least one before they finish service. I had signed up to do a surgical mission in the cap for a week in Feb but as I’m not in the next group leaving, that group was given preference and that group filled all the spaces. I was annoyed because most people just wanted to do this one since the group of doctors have a rep of really “taking care” of their PCV translators, staying in a niiiiiice hotel, and taking the out to 5 star restaurants, whereas I’m easy to please and just wanted to see some cool surgeries.
It turns out there was a different med mission for the 31st until the 6th. Meredith asked me if I could do it, she was kind of scrambling for translators since it was such short notice. At first I thought, How lame… hernia surgeries for an entire week? Boo. But I figured, meh, why not? I still haven’t started any classes in my site and what’s another week. Sign me up.
When I got to the center on Sunday I was happy. Sure it was no 5 star hotel with gourmet food promised in the future but I had my own twin bed with mosquito net, a room with a ceiling fan, HOT WATER with pressure, and…. WIRELESS INTERNET!!! Whoot! It turns out there were only 3 of us there to translate, with one person getting there later on Monday. Sunday night, I was in the cafeteria, happily using the internet for several hours when this really tall guy who was in there with me walked by and on his way out said, “Jeesh you’ve been facebook-ing for hours.”- with a total tone to his voice! I was offended. I thought he was rude, I even told my mom about him. I ignored him, flipped back to my facebook tab to keep stalking people, and later went to bed.
The next day, Justin (the other PCV there with me) and I were assigned to the consulting side of the operation. We were going to be with 2 doctors evaluating people to see if they actually had hernias and setting them up with appointments. We would be doing this all week. I translated that me an no surgeries for us. To make it worse, one of the doctors we would be with was that tall, rude dude from the night before!! He walked by us and said how he really wanted a Coke and Justin and I looked at each other with horror, just waiting for him to send one of us to get it for him! When he walked away, Justin said, What an egomaniac! To which I said, he was going to Justin’s doctor for the week and Justin of course disagreed and said I was going to be stuck with him. His nametag said he was a pediatrician; I pitied the kids who had to have him as their doctor! About 5 minutes later, Justin headed off down the hall with the other, female doctor and said, see you later Betsy- have fun! My jaw dropped and my eyes narrowed: Justin had officially been placed on my “list”.
So, I went into the 1st consult with Clayton and after about 3 minutes realized that once again my 1st impression couldn’t have been further from the truth. This guy was so nice! Really hyper and funny to boot. So I ended up being his little sidekick the entire week with the worst part of it being the fact that he loooooooooves kids so he wanted to be the one to see all of them...yes alllll of them. The 1st one we saw I had to help hold down while he screamed and kicked! (And we all know how I just looooove screaming kids)
But, by the end of the 1st day it was evident that people thought this was a clinic that would be taking care of any type of lump or bump people had. Clayton and Gladys noticed that there were a ton of people that had something to be removed and so they began scheduling mini surgeries for the afternoons after all the consulting was done. It turns out; both Clayton and Gladys teach medical students that are doing their residency all the time so they love teaching people stuff! I’m not sure how it happened but, where most doctors say, Stand back and don’t touch anything blue, these guys were like, Scrub in! Fantastic! So, the 1st thing we did was take a lipoma (a fatty cyst) off of the tip of a penis… and I got to hold the penis! I can see that to many this wouldn’t seem like a treat, but it was. The rest of the week passed the same but with Justin, Sarah and I becoming more and more involved. Gladys and Clayton had us giving people stitches, making incisions (I made an incision on the 1st day!) using the skin glue (ok, not really cool but still strangely satisfying), popping huge, nasty cysts (Justin loved this part and consequently was strayed with a TON of pus one day) and I even gave a shot! (Although that was just for practice on Justin but it was still fun!) It was the best week and I was sooooo sad when it was over.
In a nutshell: Today I confronted Mercedes about our issue as the poem and gifts didn’t have the affect I was hoping. To my surprise, she seemed bursting with things to say and pretty hurt. In a nutshell, she is offended that I don’t tell her when I’m going to eave for days at a time and when I’ll be back. That’s a fair complaint as she is my closest neighbor and one of the two people signed up to take care of me with PC. We talked and we sealed it with a hug. PC told us in training not to be direct here but I’m finding that’s horrible advice.
Then I went to Minga’s and had a great talk with her and her daughter, Margara in the kitchen while Margara’s kids played in Mingas house. For some random reason I opened up about everything, I haven’t opened up about everything to anyone here- not even Wandi. But I told them how I was in my house crying for days after Christmas and how awful I felt about the entire situation. They supported me and said that Mercedes gets mad over lots of little things but mostly when she thinks someone messes with her kids. She knew Wandi liked me and that I was really mad at him so then she was mad at me. When I was gone I think it turned into her thinking I must be mad at her and her entire family for whatever I thought Wandi did to me since I didn’t tell her I was leaving or when I was coming back.
I also told Maragara and Minga about how it was Geraldo who broke into my house before and that he did it again in December. Then when I went back to my house, I passed my Mercedes house and said hi to Geraldo sitting on the porch and he ignored me. I know he heard me because I walked up to him, kicked his foot and shined my light on him. He wouldn’t even look at me. Then I noticed Margara’s son sitting behind Geraldo. Nuts.
The Real Blog: In the 15 hours I since I returned home I had 2 people come up to me and tell me that “someone” is saying I’m mad at Mercedes. This amazes me since I have not been here to be mad at her, which I pointed out to each person who said that to me. Today I must have been feeling surprisingly bold. I went to the Women’s Meeting and unknowingly sat right next to Mercedes. She literally turned her body so her back was to me. It took me a good 30 minutes to notice it was her since I couldn’t see her face and why would I assume someone is purposely putting their back to me? Then, when the meeting was nearly over, I was the only one left to talk, she actually left! More like bee lined it out of there. She is the president and so she’s supposed to stay until the meeting is done and all the women are gone. After this, I decided that I would just talk to her. I’ve tried hiding from her which obviously was not successful. I tried a poem with a gift and that didn’t work. (I thought for sure that would work) So, without other options, I’m going against the advice of not being direct in this culture and I’m talking to her.
I walked up to her house and she was there washing clothing. I told her people have been telling me that they heard I’m mad at her and to my complete surprise she said, Of course Elizabeth. That sure opened up conversation. We talked for about 5-10 minutes and she was pretty upset, in fact she talked for at least 8 of those 10 minutes. I actually felt kind of bad. She told me that she knew Wandi supposedly did something horrible to me but that she didn’t think I needed to treat her family bad when they have never done anything to me. I told her I wasn’t mad at Wandi anymore and that even if I was, I would never displace that on anyone else. I told her that her family was very important to me and I never wanted to offend them but that I thought they were mad at me and it made me feel awkward going over to visit. She said they weren’t mad at me either. The main thing she was upset about was that she is my closest neighbor and as my project partner with Ernesto, she’s responsible to PC for my wellbeing and I never tell her when I’m leaving for a few days or when I get back. I personally think she’s embarrassed that when people ask if I’m home or when I’m coming home she has no idea. I guess I didn’t think it was a big deal, didn’t think they cared and I’m not used to having neighbors who care. She said one day she looked in my house in the afternoon to make sure I wasn’t dead in my bed. (See why I felt bad?!) I told her I was sorry and that I would tell her from now on. I gave her a hug and felt very satisfied when I left.
Then I went to Minga’s and she and her daughter, Margara, told me I had better talk to Mercedes after how Mercedes was treating me in the Club earlier. I told them I had already talked to her and ended up spilling everything to them. I haven’t ever completely shared how I’m feeling with anyone here, people are such gossips and I’m worried they’ll turn on me. Well, Minga and Margara always defend me and watch out for me so I opened up today, which is weird because I wasn’t even upset today. But it made me feel so much better! Like there are some people who really understand where I’m coming from now, they couldn’t have understood me before since I didn’t tell them the whole story. I need to learn to let Dominicans in. I have a hard time trusting them, which is awful. How can you really make any friends when you don’t trust them? And that’s my problem: I have no Dominican friends and it makes me feel awful. On the other hand, I trusted Mercedes without question and then in May she turned on me and it was devastating. So, I need to trust again but figure out whom to trust. I can think of two other ladies I think I can completely trust- but I’m such a bad judge of character it’s hard to know. I am very ingenuous, way too naive.
Minga told me that no one wants to get on the bad side of Mercedes and her family, that they will pick a fight with anyone for anything but especially for messing with one of their kids. Apparently Wandi told them all that I was accusing him of something he didn’t do and of course they believed him. Then they saw me ignore each phone call when he called me 50,000 times on Christmas. So I’m sure I wasn’t imagining them being mad at me in the days after Christmas. I had no idea they were mad at me for Wandi, I thought I offended them for not eating their food! Then when I was gone so much in the following weeks the problem just grew and grew in their imaginations. The problem that I was angry with them grew so much that while the gifts and the poem helped for the time being, I left again and so the problem continued to grow.
I’m just hoping that one of Margara’s kids didn’t run off to Mercedes house and tell her everything we said tonight at Mingas. When I got back to my house one of her kids was there and Geraldo wouldn’t look at me or respond to me. I told Minga and Margara tonight how Geraldo was the one who stole from me. It could be bad but if it is I supposed I’ll deal with it as it comes. Today was productive if nothing else, I feel supported by Minga and Margara.
1/31- 2/6: Medical Mission
In a nutshell: This week was amazing. I kind of fell into an opportunity to translate for a medical mission (medical mission = when a medical group comes to the DR for a week or so do to medical type things and needs people to translate). It was a hernia med mission which had me less than thrilled at first but, as always, things worked out and I loved it. I ended up with two really fantastic doctors, Clayton and Gladys, who incidentally love to teach. Because of this, Justin, Sarah and I (the 3 PCVs on duty) were able to be really hands-on instead of only translating. We were able to make incisions, give stitches, and take gross stuff out of people (cysts and lipomas). It was so fun!
The Real Blog: This week was the coolest week ever! Even better than when I went to Jimaní! Let me explain what a medical mission is. Lots of groups of medical-type people (nurses, doctors, med students… you get the idea) come to the DR to help out for a week or so but need translators. So, PCDR has a “med committee” with PCVs who are in charge of coordinating interested PCVs with groups. Spring and Fall are “med mission season” and so there are a lot of opportunities at the moment for PCVs to translate. Generally, PCVs are very interested and so it’s competitive to get a med mission. But since there are so many med missions, most PCVs are able to do at least one before they finish service. I had signed up to do a surgical mission in the cap for a week in Feb but as I’m not in the next group leaving, that group was given preference and that group filled all the spaces. I was annoyed because most people just wanted to do this one since the group of doctors have a rep of really “taking care” of their PCV translators, staying in a niiiiiice hotel, and taking the out to 5 star restaurants, whereas I’m easy to please and just wanted to see some cool surgeries.
It turns out there was a different med mission for the 31st until the 6th. Meredith asked me if I could do it, she was kind of scrambling for translators since it was such short notice. At first I thought, How lame… hernia surgeries for an entire week? Boo. But I figured, meh, why not? I still haven’t started any classes in my site and what’s another week. Sign me up.
When I got to the center on Sunday I was happy. Sure it was no 5 star hotel with gourmet food promised in the future but I had my own twin bed with mosquito net, a room with a ceiling fan, HOT WATER with pressure, and…. WIRELESS INTERNET!!! Whoot! It turns out there were only 3 of us there to translate, with one person getting there later on Monday. Sunday night, I was in the cafeteria, happily using the internet for several hours when this really tall guy who was in there with me walked by and on his way out said, “Jeesh you’ve been facebook-ing for hours.”- with a total tone to his voice! I was offended. I thought he was rude, I even told my mom about him. I ignored him, flipped back to my facebook tab to keep stalking people, and later went to bed.
The next day, Justin (the other PCV there with me) and I were assigned to the consulting side of the operation. We were going to be with 2 doctors evaluating people to see if they actually had hernias and setting them up with appointments. We would be doing this all week. I translated that me an no surgeries for us. To make it worse, one of the doctors we would be with was that tall, rude dude from the night before!! He walked by us and said how he really wanted a Coke and Justin and I looked at each other with horror, just waiting for him to send one of us to get it for him! When he walked away, Justin said, What an egomaniac! To which I said, he was going to Justin’s doctor for the week and Justin of course disagreed and said I was going to be stuck with him. His nametag said he was a pediatrician; I pitied the kids who had to have him as their doctor! About 5 minutes later, Justin headed off down the hall with the other, female doctor and said, see you later Betsy- have fun! My jaw dropped and my eyes narrowed: Justin had officially been placed on my “list”.
So, I went into the 1st consult with Clayton and after about 3 minutes realized that once again my 1st impression couldn’t have been further from the truth. This guy was so nice! Really hyper and funny to boot. So I ended up being his little sidekick the entire week with the worst part of it being the fact that he loooooooooves kids so he wanted to be the one to see all of them...yes alllll of them. The 1st one we saw I had to help hold down while he screamed and kicked! (And we all know how I just looooove screaming kids)
But, by the end of the 1st day it was evident that people thought this was a clinic that would be taking care of any type of lump or bump people had. Clayton and Gladys noticed that there were a ton of people that had something to be removed and so they began scheduling mini surgeries for the afternoons after all the consulting was done. It turns out; both Clayton and Gladys teach medical students that are doing their residency all the time so they love teaching people stuff! I’m not sure how it happened but, where most doctors say, Stand back and don’t touch anything blue, these guys were like, Scrub in! Fantastic! So, the 1st thing we did was take a lipoma (a fatty cyst) off of the tip of a penis… and I got to hold the penis! I can see that to many this wouldn’t seem like a treat, but it was. The rest of the week passed the same but with Justin, Sarah and I becoming more and more involved. Gladys and Clayton had us giving people stitches, making incisions (I made an incision on the 1st day!) using the skin glue (ok, not really cool but still strangely satisfying), popping huge, nasty cysts (Justin loved this part and consequently was strayed with a TON of pus one day) and I even gave a shot! (Although that was just for practice on Justin but it was still fun!) It was the best week and I was sooooo sad when it was over.
jimani
Jimaní: January 20th- January 24th (as written for a magazine by PCVs, for PCVs)
When I first heard that PCVs had the opportunity to go to a boarder town to help out medically, I was really excited. I have some experience in health care, am a health PCV, AND people in my community call me Doctora which has to count for something. I, like most PCVs I’m sure, was hoping for the chance to help out in a hands-on, noticeable way.
Honestly, when Randi, Kenzie and I arrived to Jimaní Wednesday afternoon we had no clue what to expect. The extent of our knowledge was that there were two hospitals and an orphanage which were all being used as hospitals. Since the public hospital was located right in town and the others were together a hike outside of town, we went to the public hospital first. We walked in and were affronted with complete chaos. There was no one in charge, everyone seemed to be speaking different languages, probably ¾ of the injured had something amputated, people were in mats on the floor, and patients were moaning in pain… it was kind of what one should expect given the situation I suppose. There also seemed to be a lot of people just standing around, not sure what to do. Randi, Kenz and I went on a mission to find someone in charge so we didn’t become bystanders.
After some looking, we found someone who seemed important. We followed him to a patient lying on a mat. The man in charge had a handful of little bottles and a sharp. He handed all of it over to a random woman, turned to Randi (who we had already established as “the one who knows stuff”) and told her, “Teach her.” Then he walked away. We all looked at each other and Random Woman, who apparently decided not to loose any time, had begun trying to inject the poor, very awake man with some of the liquids in her hands. Randi, of course, mildly flipped out whereas Kenz and I decided to back off and began surveying the scene.
People were everywhere. There weren’t enough IV stands for people so their gravity flow IV bags were on the floor beside them. There weren’t any beds in the area we were, just mats on the ground. A lot of people hadn’t received lunch yet and it was nearly 5 pm. To be brief: this hospital was a hot mess and more patients were arriving by the truckload.
Overwhelmed with the situation and not knowing what could be done, we took the sharp from Random Woman and decided to visit what was dubbed as the “American Hospital”, the one on the other side of town. We got a bola in a truck and as we sat in the back we found out was the truck used to take away the bodies all week. (Did I mention I only had one pair of pants to last me the entire week?) While the American Hospital seemed crazy as well, it seemed more of an organized chaos (maybe it was because we were a little more adjusted).
Kenz and Randi absorbed their fill of the hospital and went back outside while I remained inside, contemplating the fragility of it all when someone asked me if I was doing anything. No. He asked me if I wanted to change a dressing. Yes. I gave him the warning that I wasn’t a nurse to which he laughed and said it didn’t matter, making me think of Random Woman giving an injection. I followed him over to the patient, a large woman on a mat on the floor with two long, visible rods in her- one in each leg. Lucky for the patient, and for my stomach, this doctor was an anesthesiologist and so he put her to sleep right away. I helped by elevating her leg while the doctor pulled gauze from a hole in her leg, the diameter being the size of a quarter, and judging by how much of the doctor’s finger disappeared while inserting the fresh gauze, it appeared to be at least 2-3” deep. He attended her other wounds and then she woke up. It was a thing of beauty. There was another doctor there, not from the US but not from the DR either. She was complaining that before the US doctors arrived there was more to do but now that they have “Americanized” the hospital, it was too organized and there wasn’t enough to do. What a complaint!
In the following days we found out that the second hospital, the “American Hosp.”, wasn’t actually being utalized as a hospital before the earthquake. It was being used to do some eye surgeries here and there but it was never set up to be a hospital. It amazed me to find that doctors from the US (and from other countries as well but mainly from the US) were able to come here and organize an entire hospital that functions relatively well, all things considered, in a matter of days- all while receiving more critical patients!
Randi, Kenzie and I ended up working night shifts, 7pm -7am but more like 6:30 pm- 9 am, the rest of our time there. That first night I worked in one of the two critical care trailers with some Dominican doctors. It was great that they were there to help but I hope I never need serious medical care in this country. I found several used needles in patient’s beds that were forgotten. A patient that couldn’t breathe was told it was in his head and was held down when he began to panic. Another woman was having problems with her IV, which was in her neck, and the doctor said it would have to wait until morning because she didn’t know how to change IVs. We couldn’t reposition patients with neck/back injuries unless an American doctor was present because the Dominican doctors didn’t know how to move a person with a spinal injury (imagine lying in the same position for 12 hours) It made me think of all the people receiving “care” in the public hospital and think of how lucky the patients here were that they ended up in the American Hospital.
A few times there were aftershocks and all the patients panicked. It was really sad. One man who wasn’t hurt in the earthquake was badly injured when he jumped from the second story because he had been trapped in rubble for 5 days in Haiti. Each time an aftershock happened the patients would scramble outside. One night they slept outside because the aftershock occured at 5:30 pm and another about an hour later at 6:30 so they moved all the beds outside and slept under the stars. I’m not sure how the doctors kept everyone straight. It was really amazing the work they did.
By the end of the week we were surprised to find that there were now a lot of empty beds. Despite the overall hesitation on the Dominican hospitals part (a lot of them said they wouldn’t accept Haitian injured), doctors were able to send patients to other, more equipped hospitals throughout the DR. The problem was that no new patients were coming in. Blame it on difficulty getting back and forth to Port au Prince with all the traffic, blame it on boarder control, no one could give an exact answer to the question. One thing is certain though: there were more people somewhere who needed care and were not getting it.
Overall, I am very happy I was given the opportunity to serve in Jimaní. It really gave me a new perspective and a new direction in life as I am 100% certain I want to study medicine when I return to the States. In my four days there, I grew prouder and more aware each day of how efficient the American medical system is and more impressed by the dedication and leadership of the American people. We can’t change racial tensions between Haiti and the DR any more than we can convince all of the Doñas of the world to use green leaves in cooking, but we can at least be examples. It’s easy to become overwhelmed by the enormity of any situation but feasible make a change one day at a time, one situation at a time. We are American Ambassadors here in our little communities and with each day that comes, comes an opportunity for change. Don’t let yourself get lost in it and let it pass you by. Its two years that pass quicker that you would expect and it’s your two years so make them count.
1/18- 1/20: How I ended up in Jimaní, a boarder town
In a nutshell: I went down to the capital Monday morning, the 18th, unsure if I should even be going since I had been out of my site so much in January. But, it was for a meeting to coordinate the next regional Escojo conference and so I packed a couple days of clothes, extra undies (because you never know what’s going to happen) and headed out. I went to the meeting that afternoon and later found out that there was an opportunity to help package boxes with USAID or some NGO the next day, aid relief boxes to send to Haiti. As I had only done a mini food drive in my community and wanted to help out, I decided to stay an extra day. After all, I was already here, may as well.
The next day we were all waiting around to go and package the boxes when Romeo came down and told us to go up to his office. We sat down and he gave us each a list of 4 places that needed volunteers to help out. One was in Jimaní, one in another boarder town, and two in Santo Domingo. I immediately said I would like to go to Jimaní, and noticing it said it wanted medical personnel I pointed out that I was a nurses aide for several years. Romeo immediately shot the idea down and said gruffly that they were just going to send an RN and an EMT there. The only other place on the list that was ready to receive any volunteers was in Santo Domingo. Then Romeo rudely told us that the meeting was over and we could leave. I definitely got the feeling the entire time that he wanted nothing to do with the aid effort.
We all went down to wait for a driver to take us to the warehouse when Randi rushed into the office and grabbed Kenzie. I knew they had some meeting with Romeo and then remembered that Randi is the only PVC who is an RN in PC. When they came back from their meeting I asked if they were going to Jimaní and they were all secretive about it! I was getting really annoyed. The driver was ready to take us to the warehouse but I wanted to go to Jimaní. I was afraid if I went with the driver I would miss my opportunity to go to Jimaní so I stayed behind.
Later I was talking to my friend Rachele and she said her APCD, Adel, had INVITED her to go to Jimaní! Rachele has NO health background (but then, neither does Kenzie and she seemed to be going). I went up to Adel’s office, slightly nervous that I would get in trouble for all this after Romeo specifically told me no. I told her that I have a background in health and would really like to help in Jimaní if possible. She said she thought that would be great and she would talk to Romeo.
Later that day she called me and said she had spoken with Romeo and convinced him. I was the only other person allowed to go for now and we were to leave in the morning!!! I was so excited!!! It turns out that the EMT in the group is married and she said she would like her husband to go with for support. Because of that, PC said Randi could take one person for support too. She asked Kenzie because she knew Kenz wants to be a nurse after PC. They weren’t supposed to tell anyone because Romeo didn’t want a stampede of PCVs headed for the boarder. I was still annoyed with them for not telling ME for crying out loud but, at least it worked out in the end. The PCVs who went to pack the boxes said that when they showed up, the people weren’t ready for them and they had nothing to do still. So, I made the right decision. Persistence pays off:)
When I first heard that PCVs had the opportunity to go to a boarder town to help out medically, I was really excited. I have some experience in health care, am a health PCV, AND people in my community call me Doctora which has to count for something. I, like most PCVs I’m sure, was hoping for the chance to help out in a hands-on, noticeable way.
Honestly, when Randi, Kenzie and I arrived to Jimaní Wednesday afternoon we had no clue what to expect. The extent of our knowledge was that there were two hospitals and an orphanage which were all being used as hospitals. Since the public hospital was located right in town and the others were together a hike outside of town, we went to the public hospital first. We walked in and were affronted with complete chaos. There was no one in charge, everyone seemed to be speaking different languages, probably ¾ of the injured had something amputated, people were in mats on the floor, and patients were moaning in pain… it was kind of what one should expect given the situation I suppose. There also seemed to be a lot of people just standing around, not sure what to do. Randi, Kenz and I went on a mission to find someone in charge so we didn’t become bystanders.
After some looking, we found someone who seemed important. We followed him to a patient lying on a mat. The man in charge had a handful of little bottles and a sharp. He handed all of it over to a random woman, turned to Randi (who we had already established as “the one who knows stuff”) and told her, “Teach her.” Then he walked away. We all looked at each other and Random Woman, who apparently decided not to loose any time, had begun trying to inject the poor, very awake man with some of the liquids in her hands. Randi, of course, mildly flipped out whereas Kenz and I decided to back off and began surveying the scene.
People were everywhere. There weren’t enough IV stands for people so their gravity flow IV bags were on the floor beside them. There weren’t any beds in the area we were, just mats on the ground. A lot of people hadn’t received lunch yet and it was nearly 5 pm. To be brief: this hospital was a hot mess and more patients were arriving by the truckload.
Overwhelmed with the situation and not knowing what could be done, we took the sharp from Random Woman and decided to visit what was dubbed as the “American Hospital”, the one on the other side of town. We got a bola in a truck and as we sat in the back we found out was the truck used to take away the bodies all week. (Did I mention I only had one pair of pants to last me the entire week?) While the American Hospital seemed crazy as well, it seemed more of an organized chaos (maybe it was because we were a little more adjusted).
Kenz and Randi absorbed their fill of the hospital and went back outside while I remained inside, contemplating the fragility of it all when someone asked me if I was doing anything. No. He asked me if I wanted to change a dressing. Yes. I gave him the warning that I wasn’t a nurse to which he laughed and said it didn’t matter, making me think of Random Woman giving an injection. I followed him over to the patient, a large woman on a mat on the floor with two long, visible rods in her- one in each leg. Lucky for the patient, and for my stomach, this doctor was an anesthesiologist and so he put her to sleep right away. I helped by elevating her leg while the doctor pulled gauze from a hole in her leg, the diameter being the size of a quarter, and judging by how much of the doctor’s finger disappeared while inserting the fresh gauze, it appeared to be at least 2-3” deep. He attended her other wounds and then she woke up. It was a thing of beauty. There was another doctor there, not from the US but not from the DR either. She was complaining that before the US doctors arrived there was more to do but now that they have “Americanized” the hospital, it was too organized and there wasn’t enough to do. What a complaint!
In the following days we found out that the second hospital, the “American Hosp.”, wasn’t actually being utalized as a hospital before the earthquake. It was being used to do some eye surgeries here and there but it was never set up to be a hospital. It amazed me to find that doctors from the US (and from other countries as well but mainly from the US) were able to come here and organize an entire hospital that functions relatively well, all things considered, in a matter of days- all while receiving more critical patients!
Randi, Kenzie and I ended up working night shifts, 7pm -7am but more like 6:30 pm- 9 am, the rest of our time there. That first night I worked in one of the two critical care trailers with some Dominican doctors. It was great that they were there to help but I hope I never need serious medical care in this country. I found several used needles in patient’s beds that were forgotten. A patient that couldn’t breathe was told it was in his head and was held down when he began to panic. Another woman was having problems with her IV, which was in her neck, and the doctor said it would have to wait until morning because she didn’t know how to change IVs. We couldn’t reposition patients with neck/back injuries unless an American doctor was present because the Dominican doctors didn’t know how to move a person with a spinal injury (imagine lying in the same position for 12 hours) It made me think of all the people receiving “care” in the public hospital and think of how lucky the patients here were that they ended up in the American Hospital.
A few times there were aftershocks and all the patients panicked. It was really sad. One man who wasn’t hurt in the earthquake was badly injured when he jumped from the second story because he had been trapped in rubble for 5 days in Haiti. Each time an aftershock happened the patients would scramble outside. One night they slept outside because the aftershock occured at 5:30 pm and another about an hour later at 6:30 so they moved all the beds outside and slept under the stars. I’m not sure how the doctors kept everyone straight. It was really amazing the work they did.
By the end of the week we were surprised to find that there were now a lot of empty beds. Despite the overall hesitation on the Dominican hospitals part (a lot of them said they wouldn’t accept Haitian injured), doctors were able to send patients to other, more equipped hospitals throughout the DR. The problem was that no new patients were coming in. Blame it on difficulty getting back and forth to Port au Prince with all the traffic, blame it on boarder control, no one could give an exact answer to the question. One thing is certain though: there were more people somewhere who needed care and were not getting it.
Overall, I am very happy I was given the opportunity to serve in Jimaní. It really gave me a new perspective and a new direction in life as I am 100% certain I want to study medicine when I return to the States. In my four days there, I grew prouder and more aware each day of how efficient the American medical system is and more impressed by the dedication and leadership of the American people. We can’t change racial tensions between Haiti and the DR any more than we can convince all of the Doñas of the world to use green leaves in cooking, but we can at least be examples. It’s easy to become overwhelmed by the enormity of any situation but feasible make a change one day at a time, one situation at a time. We are American Ambassadors here in our little communities and with each day that comes, comes an opportunity for change. Don’t let yourself get lost in it and let it pass you by. Its two years that pass quicker that you would expect and it’s your two years so make them count.
1/18- 1/20: How I ended up in Jimaní, a boarder town
In a nutshell: I went down to the capital Monday morning, the 18th, unsure if I should even be going since I had been out of my site so much in January. But, it was for a meeting to coordinate the next regional Escojo conference and so I packed a couple days of clothes, extra undies (because you never know what’s going to happen) and headed out. I went to the meeting that afternoon and later found out that there was an opportunity to help package boxes with USAID or some NGO the next day, aid relief boxes to send to Haiti. As I had only done a mini food drive in my community and wanted to help out, I decided to stay an extra day. After all, I was already here, may as well.
The next day we were all waiting around to go and package the boxes when Romeo came down and told us to go up to his office. We sat down and he gave us each a list of 4 places that needed volunteers to help out. One was in Jimaní, one in another boarder town, and two in Santo Domingo. I immediately said I would like to go to Jimaní, and noticing it said it wanted medical personnel I pointed out that I was a nurses aide for several years. Romeo immediately shot the idea down and said gruffly that they were just going to send an RN and an EMT there. The only other place on the list that was ready to receive any volunteers was in Santo Domingo. Then Romeo rudely told us that the meeting was over and we could leave. I definitely got the feeling the entire time that he wanted nothing to do with the aid effort.
We all went down to wait for a driver to take us to the warehouse when Randi rushed into the office and grabbed Kenzie. I knew they had some meeting with Romeo and then remembered that Randi is the only PVC who is an RN in PC. When they came back from their meeting I asked if they were going to Jimaní and they were all secretive about it! I was getting really annoyed. The driver was ready to take us to the warehouse but I wanted to go to Jimaní. I was afraid if I went with the driver I would miss my opportunity to go to Jimaní so I stayed behind.
Later I was talking to my friend Rachele and she said her APCD, Adel, had INVITED her to go to Jimaní! Rachele has NO health background (but then, neither does Kenzie and she seemed to be going). I went up to Adel’s office, slightly nervous that I would get in trouble for all this after Romeo specifically told me no. I told her that I have a background in health and would really like to help in Jimaní if possible. She said she thought that would be great and she would talk to Romeo.
Later that day she called me and said she had spoken with Romeo and convinced him. I was the only other person allowed to go for now and we were to leave in the morning!!! I was so excited!!! It turns out that the EMT in the group is married and she said she would like her husband to go with for support. Because of that, PC said Randi could take one person for support too. She asked Kenzie because she knew Kenz wants to be a nurse after PC. They weren’t supposed to tell anyone because Romeo didn’t want a stampede of PCVs headed for the boarder. I was still annoyed with them for not telling ME for crying out loud but, at least it worked out in the end. The PCVs who went to pack the boxes said that when they showed up, the people weren’t ready for them and they had nothing to do still. So, I made the right decision. Persistence pays off:)
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