8:35 AM | Posted by Bri

2-19-11

So I've been bugging my buddy Joe to let me in on one of these things Peace Corps calls "Med Missions" where volunteers work as translators for medical physicians that come to the DR to aid dominicans for FREE. I was pretty much ready to give up and start putting Joe on my "I hate" list but he saved himself when I finally got an invitation. Haha Joe.

So the mission was set up through ILAC in Licey with these doctors from Chicago's Loyola University Medical Center. This team was super great at what they do, and they were tremendously nice and polite to us (well, most of them). It's remarkable for a team of such high status, busy people getting together to work long days and nights in a foreign country just to help people in need of their services. Thousand dollar surgeries were offered for free but it was because these people really needed the help and the surgeries were needed and deserved. 

Getting there things were super awkward because you don't know who anyone is other than the other volunteers who were really fun (Claire, Chandler, Sarah Roberts). So everyday I pretty much had to get up as early as 630am, eat breakfast, translate a little, snack, sit, translate a little more, eat lunch, poop, watch a surgery, snack, translate, sit and draw, snack, watch another cool surgery, eat dinner, sit around, translate a little more then try to find a way to sneak out so I can get a run in from all the eating. It was fun but it was also exhausting on my feet. My legs were so restless from standing all day long it kind of suck but it wasn't so bad if I sat down.

Here I am with a girl who had to get keloids extracted from her ears from the use of earrings. Weird coincidence: She's another volunteers neighbor! I stayed by her side during the entire procedure because they used local anesthesia so she wasn't completely put under. In the end, she gave me some clips she was wearing to say thanks. Sweet.

The best part of the missions were the patients and being able to serve and feel important and useful. I feel like because I am not the typical american view the people really understood me and had more comfort in speaking with me than with the doctors. It felt really good to talk to the patients about absolutely nothing but see in their faces that they appreciate my time because they are nervous for a surgery or feeling anxious because they can't communicate with the doctors. I even had a few patients that would hug me and look for me or gave me cute little gifts when they left to have something to remember them by. It's the little things like that, that really makes me feel like I am helping someone and doing something good.

Another benefit was getting to know the med students and being able to hang out and celebrate with them. After a long day in the clinic, we all would just want to go out so we went to Puerta Del Sol (bar in Santiago) or other casinos to have fun and relax after working 12 hour days. Last night we went to Cabarete. I am mentioning this because I am writing this half asleep, running on 2 hours of "rest" and I just ended my english class thinking why did i schedule these on Saturdays? Hmmm.

I am really glad I got to go on this mission and will probably be harassing Joe to let me go on more missions because of it. Sorry Joe.

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12:13 PM | Posted by Bri

1-31-11

January is ending but really all the work is just beginning. This week sparks the brink of a lot of new projects which I am very excited for. Oh let me count the ways..

1. Still working on getting batteries and an inverter for my high school, but this process sure does take lots of patience (that I feel I am running out of). I am crossing my fingers for this year!

2. Started english classes this week (which I am not excited for) but it was ooooook. One class is full of little ninos. And if you know me you know I don't really like kids. So this is agonizing. Good thing I have other projects to focus on to give me some patience.

3. My community is the only community in my town that does not have water sent through pipes and tubes. We have to receive our water from trucks passing through then purchase and store the water in big tanks and barrels. Sucks. So I am working with some neighborhood leaders to solicit aid in creating an aqueduct for my community. If this can actually happen and take off I would be sooooo happy. Right now I don't have water because it hasn't rained in over a month and the trucks have not passed by all week. I haven't showered in 2 days and its really bugging me because I want to work out and I cant because I wont have water to shower afterwards. This is really putting a hinder on my workout regimen. Really annoyed.

4. I am also working to get a basketball court built in my community at a nearby school. Basically the community has told me that the school can't offer physical education classes because there is no space to teach this subject and they also said the delinquency is a problem because the teenagers have no way to funnel their energy and time other than hanging out at a nearby colmado where they can drink and gamble. Building a basketball court can solve the problem by offering sports as an after school activity and also a school educational course. I am actually really excited about this one. There is this site called www.courts4kids.org where anyone in the US can sign up to travel to a different country and help build a sports court where it is needed, no experience required. It is sort of like a mini peace corps because you stay in the site and learn about the culture, help out a community and gain a new experience. I hope I can get this aid cause I know my community really could use the help.

5. I also am working with a local women's group on getting them training on how to make household cleaning products and such so they can start their own company and make money. I'm also working on teaching them literacy and offering them health and family workshops too. So much to do!

My women's group and I celebrating International Women's Day together

6. On top of this I will be starting a new youth group this week called Chicas Brillantes made up of girls helping each other out and also includes fun activities and games. It's meant to support girls in this misogynistic country and helps build their self esteem and knowledge about being a woman. There is a conference that I am taking 2 girls to later on this month and an activity I want to plan together with my PC neighbor, Heather in combing our two groups to work together. Cool! Update: We got the grant! Yay! Activity to plan March 5th!

First week of girls group, making masks to celebrate Carnaval of course! Super fun!

7. I am still continuing with my first youth group, Encargados del Futuro, a computer group who I am at the moment, teaching photoshop and blogging. Go figure. The center where we work just installed the Internet so now we will actually start facilitator training so they can start their own computer classes and I can focus on other things like getting pedicures and massages. Oh I wish…

My Encargados del Futuro youth group, look at our flow!

8. I am also doing stuff for myself like I am going to start a worm composting bin this week. I just need to get the worms in santiago and then I will start feeding them all my leftover food and scraps and feel one step closer to being environmentally friendly. Yay! Also maybe I can encourage all my dominican neighbors to start worm bins too? I may be getting too ahead of myself they already think I am crazy.

9. I am also working on an art manual for Peace Corps so we have an A-Z book on everything art including cheap art projects and artworks to enjoy. You can tell this is one of my passions right?

10. Did I mention probably one of my biggest projects yet? Constructing a library for my high school including constructing the building then filling it with fun books and a certified librarian? Yeah it's going to be hard and although my school sucks at supporting me I really want to do this one. Just need someone to help me with the budget… darn it may take a while after all…

Of course there are more side projects in the air such as teacher training, art clubs, sports clubs and more but for now I feel a little bit overwhelmed so I need to tackle things one at a time.

I do feel like I want to take advantage of this year and feel like I have been doing things I normally don't do. I went and visited friends recently, rode a horse (never done that, well not alone without it attached to that circle thing at the swap meet),  I just got scuba certified (terrifying but FUN!) and I want to continue this year with white water rafting, the worm compost and who knows maybe eat more street food, I shouldn't get too crazy though... :)

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