Lauren's Peace Corps Experience in Honduras

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed and experiences described in this travelogue are mine personally. Nothing written here should be interpreted as official or unofficial Peace Corps literature or as sanctioned by the Peace Corps or the U.S. government. I have chosen to write about my experience online in order to update family and friends; I am earning no money whatsoever from this endeavor. Please do not copy or forward any of these contents without my permission.

Wednesday, September 27, 2006

Working with midwives...

Hi all! I hope everyone is doing well. Life is great right now...I have plenty of work to keep me busy. The only bummer at the moment is studying for the GREs. I am taking them in Tegucigalpa next month and started studying this week and have realized I remember next to nothing of high school algebra, geometry, angles, and other various simple equations. I am going to be putting in at least an hour a day but am not sure that will be enough, as I have flipped ahead the 100 or more pages of "key facts" I need to know...*sigh*.

Other than that...I am going home for Christmas! I finally decided to just do it since it sounded so good. I was going to spend the holidays here in my town with friends, but I wanna go home to see Wendi's big pregnant belly and see the family, since I am planning to extend an extra three months, and so that would put me going home for good in July 2007. I have already talked to my boss and he would love for me to extend, so that's that.

Last week I spent 5 days in a workshop in chilly La Esperanza, Intibucá, with midwives and other Peace Corps volunteers...it was really interesting interacting with the ladies, who all care so much about women and though they don't usually have formal educations, are full of information. A fellow PCV who is in her 60s named Debby and is the mother of us all helped lead the workshop as she is a nurse and practiced midwifery for 30 years in Rhode Island...she is an incredible lady. The purpose of the workshop was for them to learn more about emergencies in childbirth and signs of risk in pregnant women, and then learn how to prepare their own talks and workshops to give to other midwives back in their towns. They are not used to being treated as equals among medical professionals so it was really great to see them get the respect they deserve and to realize that there is a need that they can fill by educating other women. I got to pretend to be pregnant and about to give birth for a demonstration...I stuffed towels under my shirt and modeled my belly to the group of 45. I am pretty sure I want to use a midwife in the states when I go back and start a family, because it was so nice to have my hand held and feel complete trust in the midwife, who fusses over you, stroking your forehead and talking to you like your own mother would...a doctor in a hospital just isn't the same. I took a young health volunteer named Argentina from an aldea of Dulce Nombre, who isn't a midwife exactly as she's never attended a birth, but is eager to learn. I also took a young nurse, Margarita, from our health center. The last day of the workshop my trio paired up with another community's trio and they prepared a mini-workshop for a group of midwives and health volunteers in a poor community outside of La Esperanza. They did great, considering it was their first time as educators. By the end of the week we all felt like family and it was hard to say goodbye. The hotel (Cabañas Los Pinos) was incredible too, and every night after the agenda was spent I hung out with other PCVs in our rooms chatting.

Other than that, I am working with my youth group, doing sex ed and fundraisers and fun days with them. My stove project was just approved and supposedly is online for donors to start donating, but I can't find the page. I have written to the lady in charge and will let everyone know when they can start supporting the project.

Well that is all from here. I love you all and can't wait to see you in December!

1 Comments:

  • At October 12, 2006 at 1:39 PM, Blogger Julia Ardón said…

    No te perdás esto, mañana viernes 13:

    “Centroamérica Travel Market” en Omoa,
    Orquesta de la Papaya llenará de
    sabor centroamericano feria turística
    en la Patria de Morazán



    Toda la riqueza y la diversidad de la música centroamericana interpretada por la Orquesta de la Papaya vibrará este viernes durante la inauguración de “Centroamérica Travel Market”.

    La Orquesta de la Papaya, integrada por 19 músicos de siete países, fue escogida como carta de presentación de este importante encuentro turístico debido a que su música reúne la memoria ancestral de los pueblos centroamericanos, su mestizaje y la fusión de diversas culturas como la indígena, la africana y la europea.

    La Orquesta se presentará el próximo viernes 13 de octubre a partir de las 4 p.m. en el coctel de inauguración de “Centroamérica Travel Market”, el cual se realizará en el impresionante Fuerte San Fernando de Omoa.


    Un crisol hecho orquesta

    La Orquesta de la Papaya fue fundada en el año 2002 con el fin de mostrarle al mundo la variada riqueza de la música centroamericana, la cual, hasta ese momento, había sido poco explorada.


    Catorce músicos de siete países que no se conocían entre sí fueron convocados por el pianista costarricense Manuel Obregón para interpretar la música tradicional que solían tocar en sus festividades, en las faenas de trabajo, en las ceremonias religiosas y en la vida cotidiana.

    La innovadora orquesta fusionó instrumentos tan diversos como el violín campesino de Panamá, los tambores garífunas de Belice y Honduras, las tonajas guatemaltecas (percusión en cerámica) y las marimbas de arco nicaragüenses, entre otros.








    Ademas la Orquesta tendra como invitados tres cantantes catrachos:
    el conocido cantautor Guillermo Anderson, Jackeline Espinal y el Adrian del grupo Caoticos.


    Si desea más información puede comunicarse con María José Núñez al (506) 306-4209 o bien escribir al correo: prensa@papayamusic.com

     

Post a Comment

<< Home