On a week in the life!

What does a week in the life look like? Here are the highlights!

May 25th was Mother's Day in the DR and our women's group went all out, with raffle prizes donated from businesses in town, a skit, poem reading and a cake! 

Women singing a hymn at our Mother's Day celebration. Very moving.

My 8th graders had a beautiful graduation ceremony and even honored me as their favorite English teacher! Cute!

We made a nice big life size representation of the male bits with my friend Essaul from my youth group Escojo Mi Vida. Just some fun activities to learn about the reproductive system.

Last night I got puked on my this little devil child, Haydee. She was giggling so innocently while she did it so I can't even be that mad. Good thing we had water in the tank so I could shower immediately after! 

Time spent just hanging out with some of my favorite neighborhood kids. 

Stopping in to deliver some reading glasses to my favorite colmado owner, Negra. She has a hard time reading the labels and my real mom sent down some glasses that I gave to a very happy Negra!

Roy came to visit! A very relaxing and wonderful few days of R&R!

And that my friends, is just another week in the life of a health volunteer in the Dominican Republic. Couldn't be more different than cubicle life!

On health myths

Happy Tuesday! 

All is well here in Manzanillo, gracias a Dios! I am ready for a busy summer. Schools out now and I am determined not to let my kids slack in attendance even though the beach is calling and the sun is shining (a little too much if you ask me, it's a solid 88 degrees here everyday and every night and it's getting harder and harder to sleep at night)! 

As my women and youth groups advance in our education course, the topics we cover become more advanced, there are often more details to cover, more misinformation to correct and more myths to debunk. This week, here’s a list of my top myths I’ve heard in my women and youth groups. Play along and see if you need to be in my education group!

Health Myth Quiz: True or False

1. President Obama sent the newest mosquito-born-illness, chikungunya (starts with an awful fever, turns into body pains and ends in a gruesome rash), here as a biological weapon to kill inferior races.

FALSE: I had to patiently explain to my host brother that, no, Obama did not create the chikungunya virus, and no, he is not trying to kill Dominicans. Another relative said the Haitians sent it over, but again I reminded them that the hospital is full of both Haitians and Dominicans, we are suffering just the same. Which led them full circle, “So like I said, Bea, it is Obama’s fault.”

2. You can’t get pregnant if you pee after having sex.

FALSE: My youth were really confused by this one. “You mean it doesn’t work like that? I can still get pregnant?” I looked at my youth and said, “Now kids, let’s review the lady and man bits once again.” After examining my beautifully drawn lady bits, they understood that the “pee hole” and the vagina are in two different places. Ahhhh...who knew?

3. If women have diarrhea, they shouldn’t breastfeed.

FALSE: “Pero, Bea, hace daño al niño!” No, my doña friends, having diarrhea does not to damage to your child. You should continue to breastfeed just the same. And as I’ve repeated more than a thousand times by now, “Dar el seno solo seno!” or “Give the breast, only the breast!” And on a positive note, my cousin just gave birth to a cute baby boy and she told me, “Bea, I promise to breast feed him!” YAY! One point for Bea! 

4. The moon is bigger than the sun.

FALSE: My host brother’s logic for this was that when you look at the moon it appears bigger than when you look at the sun. Again, after a little astronomy lesson and help from my favorite friend Google, we debunked this myth.

5. Real cows milk boiled with garlic cures brain cancer.

Well, who knows? From WebMd: “Garlic is used for many conditions related to the heart and blood system. These conditions include high blood pressure, high cholesterol, coronary heart disease, and heart attack. Garlic actually may be effective in slowing the development of atherosclerosis and seems to be able to modestly reduce blood pressure. Some people use garlic to prevent colon cancer, rectal cancer, stomach cancer, breast cancer, prostate cancer, and lung cancer. It is also used to treat prostate cancer and bladder cancer.” So who am I to judge these homeopathic remedies? But it is also my job to make sure they get themselves checked out at a health clinic!  

6. HIV is transmitted through mosquito bites, hugging and handshakes. 

FALSE: HIV is transmitted through four substances and is present in one other. 1) Semen (including pre-ejaculate), 2) Breast milk, 3) Vaginal fluids, and 4) Blood and is present in saliva (but technically you would have to drink five gallons to acquire the virus). Additionally, as the acronym would suggest, it is a virus that is only transmitted from human to human: Human Immunodeficiency Virus.

7. Vicks Vapor Rub will cure anything.

TRUE: What, you didn’t know? From broken ankle to mosquito bites to stuffed up noses, Vicks will do the trick! To be used liberally much like Windex is used in My Big Fat Greek Wedding.

It makes sense that many Dominican have these misconceptions. They come from speculation and a lack of education. As I’ve mentioned just a few times, Dominicans have quite a lot of time to sit around speculating and many do not receive formal education. These myths illustrate the importance of the work I am here to do. Education! 

There are some days when I get down on myself and feel like I have nothing to teach them, but then its comments such as the above that remind me why my work is so important. Let’s not continue to allow Dominican teenagers to become pregnant solely because they think they can have sex standing up and not get pregnant. And let’s help Dominican doñas go to the medical clinic when they have throbbing headaches and not just stay at home and drink garlic milk. There are interventions and education that I can and should provide within the cultural context here. Respecting a culture and improving lives and health outcomes do not have to be at odds with one another.

Oh, and I sure hope you got 100 percent on the “Health Myths Quiz” otherwise book your ticket down here and let's get you in my health groups!

Besos y abrazos, 

Bea 

On the simple joys

¡Buenas tardes!

I was reading my best friend’s best friend’s blog the other day (thegallivant.net) and it’s all about her take on living in Pensacola, Florida as a newlywed to a Navy pilot in training. I love following her blog because she’s a great writer, so elegant and way cooler than me. I find that I am taken into an alternate and beautiful universe when I read her blog and this week she had a post about the simple joys. So, taking a page from her book (or blog if you will), I shall share compilation of simple treasures. It's been a great week and I'm simply living, working and loving, feeling more fulfilled than I ever have here before! 

The Simple Joys

Caribbean sunrises.

Waking up excited.

Morning runs on the beach.

Good coffee.

Great coffee.

An afternoon spent reading.

Movies during rain storms.

Sharing a cold, cold beer with a fellow American.

Spending a day on the beach.

Drinking guava juice on my grandma’s porch.

A really good story.

My mom.

My bike decorated with flowers.

Being my own boss.

Internet that works.

Living in the Dominican Republic.

Riding on the back of a motorcycle.

  

A cockroach-free night.

People who know where Idaho is.

Yoga.

Being clean.

Taking time for myself.

Sharing time with neighbors.

Peanut butter.

Finding air conditioning.

Speaking another language.

Feeling fulfilled.

Caribbean sunsets. 

It always helps to remember the best moments, the things that keep me here when the going gets tough and finding the beauty in the chaos. I have come to seriously crave, love, cherish and admire the simple joys. Hope you can find some today, too. Oh and happy birthday Momma Taina, love you!

Until soon,

Bea 

Good morning!

My lifesaver!

Ahhhh, a rainy day!

What an expansive collection!

And a beautiful sunset!

On "The Grind"

This week, I was giving a presentation on chronic and respiratory illnesses including malaria, dengue, the common flu, and pneumonia. A major “treatment” of these illnesses is to rest, drink lots of fluids, eat a balanced diet, and maintain hygiene. As I am telling the women that they need to rest when they are sick, the looked at me like I was crazy. “Bea mi’ja, quien tiene tiempo pa’ descansar?” “Bea, who has time to rest?” I looked a little shocked and I continued. “I know you are all very busy caring for your families, but you can’t help your children if you prepare their food with a cough and poor hygiene. You also can’t help your children if you are too weak to get them ready for school.”

That afternoon, I realized that I had answered them rather curtly because in the back of my mind I was thinking, “I just got off the phone with my 23-year old best friend who works from 8am to 10pm many days a month and probably couldn’t tell you what “work-life balance” even means anymore. Another friend loves her job in “The City” but is always putting in extra hours on the polio or malaria account she works on regularly leaving the office at 7pm or later. And another is has been traveling all over the country for work and can’t seem to catch a much-needed break from the “grind.” But I should have withheld my judgment because here, even in a collectivist country, people are exhausted. Not to mention the added element of extreme heat they face while hand-scrubbing laundry, cooking outside on a three-stone fire, and running around after their kids. Life here is difficult, too, just in very different ways.

This is not a capitalist country, it’s a country where most people work in the informal sector, selling clothes or beauty products from magazines, painting nails for a profit on their front porch, asking neighbors for support, or finding American men to support them and their families. But even here, they perceive that they can’t catch a break. The capitalism grind we are so used to in America leaves us little time for rest, but so too, does the informal work sector that many Dominicans rely on. We all need a break and time to rest or these chronic illnesses I’m trying hard to prevent are gonna eat us all up!

On quotes that keep me going

Quotes that get me through the hardest of days:

Caminante, no hay camino, se hace camino al andar.

“When each day is the same as the next, it’s because people fail to recognize the good things that happen in their lives every day that the sun rises.”

After a while you learn

the subtle difference between

holding a hand and chaining a soul

and you learn

that love doesn’t mean leaning

and company doesn’t always mean security.

And you begin to learn

that kisses aren’t contracts

and presents aren’t promises

and you begin to accept your defeats

with your head up and eyes ahead

with the grace of a woman,

not the grief of a child.

And you learn

to build all your roads on today

because tomorrow’s ground is

too uncertain for plans

and futures have a way of falling down

in mid-flight.

After a while you learn

that even sunshine burns

if you get too much

so plan your own garden

and decorate your own soul

instead of waiting for someone

to bring you flowers.

And you learn that you really can endure

you really are strong

you really do have worth

and you learn

and you learn

with every goodbye, you learn...

-Veronica Shoffstalf

All that is gold does not glitter,

Not all those who wander are lost,

The old that is strong does not wither,

Deep roots are not reached by the frost.

-FotR

“Living with integrity means: Not settling for less than what you know you deserve in your relationships. Asking for what you want and need from others. Speaking your truth, even though it might create conflict or tension. Behaving in ways that are in harmony with your personal values. Making choices based on what you believe, and not what others believe.”

- Barbara De Angelis

People will forget what you said. Peoople will forget what you did. People will never forget what you did. 

- Maya Angelou

Communities and countries and ultimately the world are only as strong as the health of their women.
- Michelle Obama

What would I do if I weren't afraid?

The only calibration that counts is:
how much heart people invest, how much they ignore their fears of being hurt or caught or humiliated. 
And the only thing people regret is:
that they didn't live boldly enough, that they didn't invest enough heart, didn't live enough. Nothing else really counts at all.

      

To live for only some future goal is shallow. 

It is the sides of the mountain that sustain life, not the top.

On bicycles and blue blooded bugs

Last week I bought a bike and it changed my life!

A volunteer couple who lived in a town called La Vigia only 23km away from me finished their service and left for America last week. We had talked about me buying the wife’s bike a while back but I had forgotten about it until she called to ask if I was still interested in the transaction. She promised me a few other surprises too, if I made the journey to their house on the Wednesday that they were leaving. So after a nice early morning run, I made my way by bus to their small little campo. I got off the bus and walked a nice and easy 4km from the into their town and cute two bedroom shack. They were busy packing up and getting ready to leave so I scored big! Richard and Cynthia outfitted me with snorkeling gear (two sets if you wanna come down and try one out!), a beach towel, a bike pump and repair kit, and a hotdog and ramen noodle/cabbage salad lunch. It was great to see their site and of course to get myself a bike and I’m only upset that I didn’t visit them earlier in my service, they were so close!

Around 1:30pm (prime sun time), I got on the bike and made my way back home, up a few hills and through a few towns. I made it to the town I work in on Wednesdays, Copey, and stopped at my favorite doñas house there for juice and a shower. When I rolled up to her gate sweaty and with a bike in tow, she exclaimed, “Bea, where’d that come from?” and I replied, “I rode it here from La Vigia!” They couldn’t believe I had actually ridden and not just strapped it to the front of a bus. They were equally as surprised to see that I hadn’t die in the heat or on the highway. My doña/grandma couldn’t stop telling all her neighbors what I had just done and I felt like a celebrity! It was a glorious day!

Now that I have my bike, it makes traveling around my town, visiting doñas and running errands so much easier. I don’t know how I survived so long without one. It even has a basket in the front for my loose ends and a basket on the back for carrying heavy loads. Well worth the expensive ($60) investment.

So last week was great. But as I’ve learned in Peace Corps, all good things come to an end (or so sang Nelly Furtado) and here's why: 

1. My bike got a flat.

Two muchachos were riding my new bike (without permission!) and they took it down to the beach where it got a flat tire...in the back wheel. EUGH! I called my uncle in Australia and he said, “Damn that’s a bitch to fix” and patiently described the process to me. I listened fully hoping I would be able to fix my own bike, but alas, after a challenging few minutes staring at the retro bike and it’s confusing chain parts, I called upon a passing neighborhood kid and sent him to fix it at the local tire shop.

2. I had a bug infestation.

It started raining last night and I ran into my room only to find thousands upon thousands of tiny little bugs flying around my room. I spent the better part of an hour killing them while skyping my bffl Emily. I’m sure she thinks I’m nuts. Our conversation was constantly interjected with exclamations like “ewww gross they’re spurting blue blood” or “ahhhh thousands” or “my floor looks like it has bug dandruff.” It was a mess to clean up this and I still twitch thinking about the bugs that landed on me constantly throughout that sleepless night.  

3. My feet are messed up.  

I’m pretty sure my feet will never be the same after this. I have and will forever have ingrown toenails, a wart and blisters on the bottom of my feet, a fungus on my left big toe (again!), and a painful to the touch third right toe. And then there’s the fact that they’re constantly dirty, sandy, itchy and cracking that accompanies the aforementioned problems. But...at least my host mom paints them with designs every two weeks so it’s not as obvious how nasty these little buggers are. Nothing like a beautiful pink and blue flower covering up a nasty ingrown!

Upon reflection, as I told a volunteer friend, I’m not being a very good PCV if the things that bother me most are the bugs, flat tires, gross feet and variables in projects I can't control. After all, this is what I signed up for, right? So I told myself to buck up, let myself miss how easy things are in America (sometimes), get over it and remember how insignificant these problems actually are. And I’m putting back on my motivation hat and charging full speed ahead this week!

On planting trees

Planting 30 trees seems like an easy task and in America it probably would be. You’d find a spot, dig the holes, plant the trees, give them water and be done with it. But not here. It's not mathematically precise, but if I had to guess, projects here are about five times harder, more complicated and more time consuming than an equivalent project would be in America. I knew this, so I started three weeks ago and for three weeks straight, I marched on into the mayor's office and ask that he help me plan the project down to the nitty gritty details. As I had predicted it would, the project turned into an ordeal! Here are all the variables we had to take care of:

Trees: which kind, who buys them, where do we find them, how do we transport them?

Soil: who has fresh soil to use, what do we put it in, how do we transport it?

Water: who will bring the water for the trees, will we continue to water the trees for days, weeks, months?

Labor: who will measure the space between the trees, when will we dig the holes and who will be in charge, who will help us plant, when should we meet and how often, who is responsible for brining the shovel, stakes, and other tools?

Goats: how do we prevent them from eating the trees? (this turned out to be the most important variable of the entire project!)

Fence: where do we find the wood to make fences to protect the trees from goats, who will make the fences, how do we transport the wood, who will provide said wood?

Other: what about food and water for us, who will provide tools, will the youth help, who takes pictures?

Our little Robles ready to be planted!

My green thumb at work

Bing, the casi mayor getting dirty!

Helper from the Ministry of Agriculture

Down they go!

My tree ready for her new home!

Men using machetes to make the fences to protect our babies from goats. 

The fences are in the works

No goats getting through this fence!

Mi matita!

Done! And it feels so good!

Finally, we had the holes dug and evenly spaced. Saturday rolled around and we still didn't have the wood we needed to make the fences and stop the goats from eating the trees. I had to call the mayor and tell him sternly I thought it was irresponsible of us to plant trees when our work would be destroyed by roaming goats. He assured me he had a plan. Additionally, only one of the fifteen youth I invited to the event showed up. Thankfully, we had some men from the Department of the Environment helping us and they were a huge help! 

It took us about 30 minutes to plant the trees once we loaded them from the vivero and dropped them in their holes but the rest of the day (8 hours) was spent creating wooden fence-like protection against the goats. Suddenly, my job turned from tree-planter to goat-herder. Already, within fifteen minutes of planting, two of the trees were completely destroyed. In the 200 meters we had planted trees, more than fifty goats began wandering in and out of the area eating our trees without a care in the world to the hard work we’d just put in. The men and I got to work protecting the trees and around 2pm, I had to excuse myself to head to my women’s meeting. I left them with water and snacks and they assured me there were going to finish the fences before they left for the day.

I left the area feeling proud, happy and content! This was the first project I could measure and see with my own two eyes. There was a tangible goal, a physical product, and a start and an end. I had done something. I was in Peace Corps euphoria!

However, apparently when I mentioned to the mayor it would be irresponsible of us to plant the trees without protection, he didn't seem to mind as long as he got his photo op of them going in. The men only had enough wood to make 16 fences for the trees, so that left the other 16 completely eaten within a day. I went back to check the work on Sunday and there was no evidence that we had even planted the other 16. It was extremely frustrating to see our work destroyed, but I suppose that only means we'll have to do another tree-planting day!