Monday, January 11, 2010

January 11th

Hey guys,

It´s been a crazy week thus far. As Katy said, the community of Las Marias is keeping us really busy. In terms of the coffee project, lately it has consisted of scaling the side of a mountain picking coffee berries-- often using the branches of the trees to hoist ourselves up the mountain. We are at the tail end of their coffee season so we are mainly just picking berries so bugs don´t infest the plant. This experience as well as our tours of the coffee plant have helped us to fully grasp the true price of coffee to the producers. It has coincidentally also helped us to appreciate our amazing coffee every morning so much more.

In terms of the medical project, yesterday we had our first full day medical brigade -- starting at 8am and ending around 6:30pm. The experience was equally as earth shattering as the coffee group due to some of the hard public health lessons we learned as a group. We encountered a baby with severe hydrocephilis, a swelling of the skull due to an overload of spinal fluid, one of the first severe cases we encountered that we could really do nothing to help. In the US, the baby would undergo surgery and be given a shunt. But here, a doctor hasn´t come for the past three months due to the community´s inability to pay, and therefore the baby is expected to live until the mere age of 3. Another tough case was the son of one of the community cooks who has muscular distrophy. These kind of cases make us question if we are actually making a positive impact here with our medical efforts. For me, this positive impact was reasserted in the eyes of the children who received stuffed animals and stamps after their visit; the appreciative gestures of the elderly who received ibuprofen and calcium supplements to help their bone aches. Although these treatments are somewhat temporary, we are also trying to provide some more permanent treatments. As soon as a patient enters the clinic, they are given anti-parasite medication (a one time treatment) due to Dr. Walt´s estimate that nearly 80 percent of the community has parasites. On top of that, we offer diarrhea, general pain, and back pain seminars on prevention techniques. We hope that this helps the community. For now, I thrive on the look in the children´s faces upon receiving Hannah Montana band aids.

That was our only medical brigade in Las Marias. Tomorrow we head to a community down the road, and Thursday we are going out of town. These three brigades allow us to participate in the other two projects (as well as the poetry project once it begins) due to the fact that they don´t take up all of our time, which has been really nice.

In terms of the technology project, today we painted the internet cafe room a beautiful shade of yellow. It really brightens up the atmosphere which helps us to imagine the final product. Tomorrow we will hopefully get electricity as well as some chairs so we can start setting up computers by Wednesday or so.

Overall, this experience has been life changing thus far. All of us are continually given the opportunity to hear the incredible war accounts of our host families which makes the recent civil war so much more real. Tonight we were given the pleasure of listening to songs sung during the war to brighten the spirits of the guerrilla members. It´s amazing to think that it´s only day 7 and yet the trip has been so life changing already.

Hope all is well in the US. We miss all of you dearly.

Best,
Kate

1 comment:

  1. Great to hear of your experiences and all that you've accomplished so far... from coffee bean picking to painting to medical assistance. Also, to think about how much we really take for granted here! Thanks for sharing the stories.
    Janet Hannaford

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