The women in my pregnancy club think it is the funniest thing they’ve ever heard that I don’t have a baby. And the question makes me laugh every time.
Pregnancy club is going really well. Since my last update, we’ve had two more meetings with decent attendance. Our second meeting on Family Planning was on the same day as our school’s graduation, but we still had nine women come! During our family planning class, we talked about all the barriers women in this country face in terms of family planning and discussed the myths surrounding contraception. Because of a lack of education (or willingness to even address such a taboo subject) the women in my group are very nervous about using birth control. And those that do understand how birth control works aren’t able to use it because their husbands won’t allow it. My nurse and I emphasized that the administration of birth control in the clinic is 100% confidential, and if a woman comes in asking for the injection, she can get it without her husband’s knowledge or permission. But the topic of family planning still remains a touchy subject.
Our third meeting was on World AIDS Day, so we had a lesson on HIV/AIDS. I was extremely nervous about this lesson, as Estella does not have a great track record with me on giving accurate information about HIV/AIDS but I printed out some materials for her to go over, and boy did she surprise me! She had done her homework and our lesson went very smoothly. HIV/AIDS is another topic that Salvadorans (especially in the campo) don’t know much about, and a lot of what they do know comes from the campo myths that exist in the rural areas. The women were very interested and asked tons of questions, which is always exciting! I think they learned a lot that day.
Next week we’ve got cervical and breast cancer scheduled. We’re going to talk about both types of cancer and explain prevention for both diseases. The clinic offers free pap smears in the community, and I’ve been told it’s required for all pregnant women during their first trimester when they come in for their monthly checkups. Results take three months to process though…que lento! And for mammograms you’ve got to travel to a hospital, so maybe we can make a field trip out of that?
What else? Oh! Since it’s nearing Navidad everyone in my community is setting off fireworks. All day and all night. And they’re not pretty colorful fireworks. In El Salv we’ve got what they call “cuetes,” which are just noise. Big bangs. In a country where the murder rate is something like 19 per day, you’d think people would be more sensitive about setting off fireworks that sound exactly like a gunshot!? The first time one went off next door I literally hit the ground! Needless to say my nerves are shot!
The weather has been kind of perfect around here lately. December is apparently the coolest month in the country and I have definitely cooled off a bit. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still real hot during the day, and I haven’t stopped sweating yet, but in the evenings we’ve got a nice breeze going and it’s pretty nice. Not looking forward to coming back in January and starting the hottest months of the dry season. I wasn’t in my new site during the dry season last year so I have no idea what is about to happen in terms of the heat, but I live in the hottest region of the country so I’m not excited about it.
And speaking of the heat, I think I’ve definitely acclimated myself to the extreme temperatures we get out here in La Union. I was at a Habitat for Humanity Blitz Build last week in San Vicente (where I lived for training). We were working hauling concrete for eight hours in the sun and although I was tired from all the heavy lifting, I wasn’t really sweating from the heat. I actually thought it felt kind of fresco, even in the sun! The volunteers that were there working were from Indiana and Canada, and they reminded me of myself eight months ago in that same San Vicente sun…they could hardly stand it!
Although I’m used to this heat finally, I am VERY excited about the winter cold that will greet me at the Norfolk airport in two short weeks! I am beyond anxious about coming home and it’s about all I can think about anymore! I am going to freeze my butt off though! Looking forward to putting on my LLBean slippers and not taking them off for 15 days!
Miss you all! Hopefully I’ll see you soon!
0 comments:
Post a Comment