Shelby's First Day

Yesterday was Shelby's first day in Guatemala. First days are always tough, because you are exposed to many things in a short time and Shelby's first day was no exception. After our welcome back party, some of the kids in the village informed us that the father of a sponsored child  died early that morning. He was 49 and died of an unknown fever.  In Guatemala and especially the villages , it is common when this happens that someone does a collection to help pay for the coffin and other expenses that a single family could not pay for alone. With in minutes someone was at the door for the collection. Then we also knew we had to go and visit. It is customary for the body to be displayed in the the house and for many people to come visit and pray all night with the family. Our cultural experts and guides, Marta and Maria, told us that bringing coffee and sugar, rice and beans and paper cups would be appropriate to keep the people up and praying for the night.

We bought our supplies. Abby, Shelby, Marta and Maria and I went to the equivalent of a wake. It was very solemn as we entered the house and observed the body under a sheet with candles and a beautiful display. We gave our gifts and condolences and sat for about 30 minutes in this little wooden house.

Then we left and immediately went to Plaza American, a short ride down the street. Here we had lunch at Taco Bell and shopped at the grocery store that is for middle class and above. The contrast is a lot for a first day.It is a lot for me and I have been here many times.

Shelby expressed that when she traveled to another developing country, she might have been sheltered from some of the reality of the poverty. But she is up for the experience. I am so proud of our staff . They are all truly committed to serving the poorest of the poor.  Shelby made it through the first day still smiling and I think that she will be a great addition to PID Guatemala.

Welcome back to Guatemala

Yesterday we arrived at the clinic to find a beautiful welcome party. Decorated with flowers and signs.
Some of the leaders danced and sang.
Others made thank you speeches.
They thanked us for all the help. We all cried and hugged. Many of the leaders were small kids when I first visited this village six years ago. They are growing into beautiful young men and women. Last week they went to visit elderly people who have little food,
They brought food and stayed to chat. Millie and Alahandra do a good job
With these leaders. It is wonderful to be here in this village.

New houses for Canaan

The following kids will be receiving new houses from PID.
Ania Millien
Lincee Olisse
Wislander Romelus
The building will begin at the end of Dec with the St Joes team. Two more families will also be chosen soon.
Can't wait to begin.

Off again

As Lizzy and Abby,our field directors, head back to their respective countries, Shelby and I leave from Boston for Guatemala. We are so excited to have Shelby join the staff in Guatemala for over 10 weeks. She will
Continue working on our new data base, doing more interviews and helping set up the children's program in Oct. Welcome Shelby !

Tuesday's the day we have been waiting for

We just found out that Tuesday the Dept of Public health is coming for our final inspection. If all goes well we will
have our Public Health license for the clinic . The Brazilian UN troops also came and will be giving us a flood light, huge water filter, and notebooks for the kids in the program.

Last Day

Today was the last day of our medical training course in North Carolina. We practiced splinting and other emergency procedures. As you can see PID staff make GREAT models =)

with our certificates! we did it! =)

A willing volunteer

This morning we learned about sterilization and injections. Lizzy and I each did a subcutaneous injection on each other and I let Lizzy do an intradermal on me.

After lunch we had Dr. Barbara the dentist come and teach us basic dentistry. We learned how to properly brush and floss, put in a temporary filling and extract a tooth. Lucky for the class that I just so happened to have a cavity that was a perfect opportunity for a temporary filling. (However I was not willing to be the volunteer later on this evening when we practiced feeding tubes and catheters - don't worry, we did them on dummies)

dr. barbara getting things ready

Oh baby!

So today in our medical training class we learned all about pregnancy, labor and delivery! And let me say that I have a new-found respect for some of those ladies in the village for doing all that 10,11, or 12 times!

the baby that was "born" multiple times today in many different ways

Lizzy demonstrating the way to hold a "slippery baby"

unrelated to babies...these are the stitches that i did

Sponsored Found and Medical Training

A big THANK YOU to Robert and Joanna for sponsoring Paula right away! In about a day we had two sponsors! I just hope and pray that she pulls through. It's hard being away and trying my best to help her.

In other news Lizzy and I continue our medical training. We started doing physical exams on other students (we must complete six) today. On Tuesday we started our case studies - we have to correctly diagnose and treat 40 "patients" (a sheet of paper with information, symptoms and complaints for each patient).

Topics that have been covered in lecture are: malnutrition and anemia, medications and dosage, immunizations, malaria, TB, HIV/AIDS, and some lab tests (among other things).

I think tomorrow we are learning how to do sutures! (Don't worry, we learn on pig's feet)

** Emergency Sponsorship Needed in Guatemala **

When I called the clinic in Guatemala today to check up on things, Alejandra informed me of this little girl - Paula Griselda Aju Suhul - who came to the clinic today. She has a bad cleft lip and palette and is severely malnourished. At birth she weighed approx. 7 lbs and now 1 month later she weighs 5 lbs. Because of her condition she was unable to nurse and her mother stopped producing breast milk. Paula is the youngest of five children in the family. The father is an alcoholic and doesn't support the mother and kids. Her mom has been feeding her water. She is in critical condition. Today at the clinic we gave her formula and money to buy a bottle. She is going to come in on Friday to get weighed and check her progress. We are hoping she will be able to suck on the bottle. Please contact PID if you would like to help.

Happy news for Haiti

Well all the tent materials for Haiti have been purchased and delivered. Tarps are priced high because of the hurricane. We received enough donations to fix all the damaged tents.
We also received more house money . So 2 more houses will be built in Canaan. Thanks to all of you who donated.

Here and there

Today Alison, Guetchine and I had a good meeting about the organizing of the medical program. Solene, a young woman,who we provided surgery on earlier this year came in to
Thank us for all the help. She looked great. A new emergency child came into the clinic and is already sponsored. I spent the afternoon looking for shelves
And a vaccine refrigerator, While Alison worked in the clinic. John left to buy materials for all the damaged tents.

We have chosen the next three families to receive house at Canaan.

At night we made Eggplant parmesan and salad, as we worked through Alison's slides for a PID presentation.

Alison and I then tried to move the bunkbed out of the new clinic rotation nurse room and put the single bed in. We promptly got the bunkbed hopelessly stuck in the doorway. We finally had to ask for help
From Mr. Felee. We are happy to report that the room is finished.

At the village medical class, Abby and Lizzy found our how hard it is to take blood pressures, that you can't take pulses without a watch , and they might Be able to practice inserting stomach tubes on a manakin ( which they were so happy to hear) . When I went to the class we had to practice on our partners.

Medical Training: Day 1

So day one of our medical course has come and gone. There was a lot of lecturing today and we learned to take vital signs. It look a while for Lizzy and I to figure out how to do it. But after trying a few times we were finally able to hear the pulse to get the blood pressure. There is so much to learn and not a lot of time to learn it in. But everyone here is so nice and helpful, so we are enjoying ourselves.

Another day in the life of PID

Lizzy and Abby made it to their class in NC. Alison and I arrived in Haiti safely, in spite of delays due to mechanical difficulties. Michele and Martha went to a fundraiser in Conn.
The PID staff is a very committed group of people.

Field directors in the US to study

Lizzy, our assistant field in Haiti and Abby, our field director in Guatemala
Will meet for the first time . They are on their way to a village medical class in North Carolina. This class will help them in managing medical teams that visit both countries. While they travel to class I will leave for Haiti to work on new small business classes for Bon Repo as well as work on database and inventory training. Alison, one of the clinic coordinators will as be going to Haiti to work with the midwives in the area.

Hurricane notes from Haiti

We finally have the count of tents that
Were destroyed or damaged because of the hurricane . We have 4 destroyed
And 31 with major damage. I will return next Sunday to work on a plan for these people . Thank you to those of you who have donated to the tent
Fund. We will build houses for three of the people and be able to replace or
repair about 1/3 of the damaged tents.

September Child Sponsorship Distribution

Today was the monthly child sponsorship distribution. We had a record of 15 new kids who started this month! A great big THANK YOU to all you sponsors =) Here are some pictures of the day:

the shelf of milk in my office - all ready to go!

143 cartons of eggs

bags containing beans, rice, incaparina, sugar, a box of cornflakes and a bag of powdered milk - the kids were SUPER excited about the cornflakes =)

a long line of mothers and children waiting in front of the clinic

Erick Agustin Toc - Thanks Bonnie!!

Ester Suhul Garcia and her mother - Thanks Atkinson Family Practice!

Isabel Suhul with her cans of formula

Eliezer Coche Natareno - Thanks Bonnie!

Sergio - wouldn't let us take his picture until I bribed him with a toy car

Estrella - Thanks Rebecca!

Maria Gomez Chacaj

Aura Carolina Suhul with a check so that she can keep studying

Jenny with her check - Gracias Erin!

Alicia Sofia Coroy

Other notes of interest in Haiti and Guatemala

Lizzy is home on leave and will attend a medical course in North Carolina
With Abby for 10 days.

Karen is still interning in Guatemala working on the poverty index. Millie is preparing to receive Shelby , our next intern, for three months. She will continue with the index and Follow up on filters.

In Haiti, the staff continues to get ready for the visit from the health dept.
We also had a sad day as Benit resigned . We are working on how we want to Fill that position.