Potentially Boring Read, Definitely TMI- *Warning Weird Medical Journey Coming Your Way- Sorry*

As a 25 year old American girl applying to the Peace Corps in 2014, many emotions, fears, and expectations began to take shape in my mind. Of these, medical concerns were certainly one of them, though no where near the top of my worry list. I had read stories of Volunteers contracting parasites, eating food that makes them sick, and of course the infamous line, 'your not a true peace corps volunteer until you poop in your pants'! Thankfully the latter has not happened yet (though a extremely close call would unfortunately be an understatement. Not even a close call- more like a near miss, as my dad used to say during the hair-pulling tumultuous year of learning to drive with my permit. Also, as PCV's are notorious for talking about the shape, consistency, and any and all details of poop, so I apologize for any information that is TMI. I will try and censor myself a bit, but you have been warned.

I prepared myself for the likelihood that in 27 months in-country, I would most likely get extremely ill once or twice. What I did not prepare myself for is a giant list of medical woes and two Medical Evacuations 'MedEvac.' For your amusement and to finally document this, the following is a list of my medical crap from the past year and 3 months of being in Belize. Please do not pity me or think that EVERY PCV experiences something similar to this. Many Volunteers barely get a cold during their 27 months, while others do have some pretty interesting medical tales. 

July 2015: Three weeks into Pre-service training I began having bad diarrhea. This went on for about 1 week before I suddenly began to feel REALLY bad. In the middle of Spanish class one day, I had a 101 degree temperature and began vomiting.  After speaking with Peace Corps, we agreed for me to take Tylenol and go lie down. Long story short, I got very dehydrated with over 15 episodes of diarrhea in one day, and my fever went up to 103. Peace Corps picked me up from the village that night and I spent the next 4 nights in a private hospital in Belize City. A stool sample determined I contracted that parasite Giardia. Reference July 2015 blog post for more detailed story.

November 2015: Bad reaction to food or water and 48 hours of misery

January 2016: Scabies! As my friend Michelle likes to say, "Scabies is it's own kind of fiery hell." This is definitely true. Imagine not being able to eat, sleep, work or anything because your body is so damn itchy. That was a fun two weeks.

February 2016: Dog Attack- This was definitely one of the worst experiences because of the mental and emotional after effects. Like any other normal day in the village I was walking to school when all of a sudden a GIANT (think the Sandlot...ok maybe not that big) dog and one smaller dog came running and growling at me. The big dog is usually chained up and somehow got loose and was clearly ready to exact revenge for her imprisonment. As they came showing teeth and growling towards me, I didn't have time to react so I just turned my back and screamed incredibly loud...loud enough for half the village to hear apparently. After being initially bitten three times (though thanks to adrenaline, I wasn't sure I was even bit until later), I came to my senses enough to open the umbrella I was carrying onto the dogs. Thankfully this spooked them enough to take off.  

The family came to apologize and even offered to take me to the hospital, but peace corps protocol is for us to come into the capital to be given shots. Later that day, someone even brought me a cupcake! We later found out that the dog was beginning labor. My CHW (and 2nd Mom in the village) loves to laugh and tell me I was the dog's Doula and helped with her pain!! haha. Even to this day, I am asked weekly if I was really attacked by a dog or people make a joke about it! haha. I think it took about 20 minutes for the whole village (450 people) to hear the story about the screaming gringa being attacked by a dog. Unfortunately, I still walk past this dog (now chained) every day. Every time, my heart beats a little faster as I take those twenty steps with the dog's bark obviously saying, 'I will get you next time, white girl'... 

March 2016:1st MedEvac! Since February I was having a pretty bad toothache. The tooth problem was due to a complication with a root canal.  After seeing the dentist a few times and consultation with the Peace Corps medical team in DC, they determined that the tooth needed to be pulled. 

MedEvac, or medical evacuation is when Peace Corps feels that our needs and level of care is beyond what can be provided in our country of service. Therefore every region has a 'hub' where volunteers are sent for medical care. For central and south america, Panama is the country volunteers are sent to. So off to Panama I went- with 2 days notice....

Little did I know that this would be a three part process- pulling the tooth, a surgical implant, and getting a crown. The pulling of the tooth was moderately traumatic (and had complications during the procedure), and I very quickly gained a great deal of appreciation for sedation during dental procedures and pain killers after. Thanks peace corps for the useless 'extra strength tylenol' given to me. Despite that, I felt very well taken care of by peace corps and the oral surgeon. The hospital was a branch of the Johns Hopkins Medical System. Unfortunately, during the recovery, the antibiotics combined with the anti-inflammatory caused a horrible stomach reaction. I was diagnosed with gastritis and had lasting effects from that for about a month.  The best part about the trip the three weeks in Panama was spending two of those with my mom! 

June 2016: As mentioned above, the tooth extraction procedure was a multi-step ordeal, which required an additional Medevac. Unfortunately that was not the only issue I was dealing with. Since around my time in Panama (3 months), I was dealing with HORRIBLE UTI (Urinary Track Infection) symptoms. However, test after test came back clean. They even did a urine culture and ultrasound, which showed no problems. Some days were better than others, but I was getting to my breaking point with being in constant pain and discomfort. With no infection present, no ideas of the problem, and with my inevitable 2nd dental procedure...Peace Corps decided to send me on my SECOND Medevac (which means I officially joined the super rare club of 2 Medevacs). I do not have enough appreciation and gratitude to give to Peace Corps for deciding to send me home for medical care and not back to Panama. Within 4 days of being home, my symptoms quickly dissipated, which  lead me to believe it was environmental (later confirmed when I went back to the village). Thankfully, I have figured out how to prevent the problem. Also, while I was home, I had the anticipated dental implant, which was a BREEZE compared to the extraction in Panama. 

October 2016: At the end of September, I started to present with a soar throat and slight nausea. I thought very little of this, ignored it, and took extra vitamin C to try and stay healthy. I knew cough and soar throat were going around the village, so I just thought great, now it's my turn. However, after 4 days with a soar throat, I was getting nervous because I was going on vacation two day later. While in the office on October 3rd, Jackie, our PCMO checked me out. My throat looked clear but I did have a low grade fever of 99.4. She gave me some psudefed and tylenol for the journey home. We both laughed at the 'comical' fact that ANOTHER thing was wrong with me. The next day, travel day, I began to have left side chest pains. I was also extremely anxious for many reasons, so I convinced myself I was just having a panic attack. Wednesday and Thursday, the chest pains got worse. On our way to a wedding, I didn't want to burden anyone so I didn't make a big deal of it. However, by Friday, stuck in Atlanta do to the hurricane and convinced I was in heart failure (slightly joking), I decided to finally go to the doctor. At an urgent care facility, they ran an EKG, chest x-ray, 12 different blood test, strep test, flu test, etc. Three hours later, I was told I have the bacteria- mycoplasma (walking pneumonia)! After returning to the village, I learned that we have had several cases of Malaria and Dengue Fever. As a pro-active response, Vector Control, came to the village to spray pesticides all over the village and inside the homes. This was less than 24 hours back in the village, and let me tell you- Pesticides and Walking pneumonia do NOT mix! Thankfully, I got out of the village really fast and am safe and sound in Orange Walk (nearby town). 

I am happy to say that my situation is rather unique. I am glad that the majority of PCV's stay very healthy during their service, with often just minor little hiccups. I have been extremely impressed by the quality of care from Peace Corps and appreciate all the support I've been given by our PCMO (Peace Corps Medical Officer) in Belize. Thanks Jackie! 

One of the primary reasons I decided to join Peace Corps was because I knew it would be challenging. I like the idea of placing myself in challenging situations and seeing the self-growth and reflection that takes shape. Though, of course the appreciation is almost certainly after the fact of such stressful incidents. And trust me there have been many stressful, insane, and crazy incidents. Despite everything medical that I've gone through and the added stress and anxiety because of it, I am still smiling. I still feel that San Roman is my home, the only home I have right now in fact. The people there are my family. Of course there are good and bad days, but there is absolutely no where I would rather be. I look forward to the next year of my service and doing so with a smile on my face!

I am back!

Surprise, it’s me again! I am sure you and I are both tired of this same song and dance- me spending the first few sentences of my blog post apologizing for not posting since January, then proceeding to convince you of how I will improve, and then not improving at all. This time is different, no promises and no pleads of forgiveness…just hopes you enjoy a small (or rather large) update of my life!

The last many (MANY) months have been in classic Peace Corps fashion- a whirlwind! A true roller coaster ride of up’s, down’s, and all arounds!  Life has been…well life. I have settled into a routine here, have people in my life I truly love, and have been working hard on lots of projects. It is hard to believe I have been a Peace Corps Volunteer for over one year now and in Belize for 15 months!

Let’s start with the highlights of the past few months:

As many of you know, I went to Panama and to the US for medical reasons. Thankfully nothing too serious- dental surgery, but these long departures from Belize and from my village of San Roman have been a defining part of my service. Leaving for so long presents challenges of reintegration, inevitable stalling of projects, perceived vacation from community members, and culture shock many times over. Though these challenges are still not easy, I am glad to say that living abroad for the last four years has certainly helped prepare me for these transitions. Alright…onto the fun stuff. Aside from the not so fun medical stuff in Panama, I am so thankful for the two weeks spent with my Mama (shout out to the best Mom ever) who came to help take care of me in Panama. For my mom to drop everything, rearrange her schedule, and hop on a plane with three days’ notice, I am in awe and eternally grateful! We had so much fun- walking the beautiful Panama City- seeing the stark contrast between its two very distinct halves- old, beautiful, cultural and classic Casco Viejo and the metropolis with skyscrapers, casinos, and businesses. I’m sure you can guess which one I preferred… We enjoyed going to the fish market, hitting up the casino (we found our lucky machine), touring the Panama Canal (fascinating) and just spending time together. I was very impressed with Peace Corps level of medical care and am thankful for the support I was provided.

Returning back to Belize from Panama, I knew it was time to get back into work mode and thus we immediately went into one of the workshops Peace Corps provides to Volunteers and Counterparts. PDM (Project Design and Management), is provided to volunteers about six months after service begins, precisely the time we should start focusing on project development (first 3-6 months focus is on integrations, assessment, and relationship building). The information was incredibly useful and we had sessions on project design, planning, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of projects. Everyone came to the workshop with a project idea in mind, so it was really exciting to see what volunteers and counterparts plan on doing in their communities. It is always wonderful to see each other since we rarely get together as a whole group. It was great to hear stories, share and brainstorm challenges and project ideas. 

After returning to my community, we finished out the school year working with preschool, the school garden, teaching in the school, conducting childbirth education classes, and further integrating into the community. In June, we had preschool graduation, which was a LOT of organizing work, but so much fun! The children looked adorable, and it was very rewarding to see how far they have come in one year. I gave two speeches in Spanish, which was scary but really rewarding to realize how much more comfortable I've become with using another language! 

                                          Slideshow of our wonderful year of preschool!

                                                                                           

One of my favorite project in the village is a joint initiative by a teacher and me. We started a GLOW Club (Girls Leading Our World) at the school. It is a club for girls 10-13 and focuses on self-esteem, self-expression, leadership skills, and community service. This year, the girls want to focus on cleaning up San Roman. We plan to do village cleanups and making signs encouraging community members to not through trash in the river. GLOW is a Peace Corps initiative that began in 1995 in Romania. Many volunteers have GLOW and BRO (boys reaching out) clubs in Belize and the difference we see in children that participate is so rewarding! I am so thankful for my partner in this project- Ms. Shahira Lara, the Standard 6 teacher. She has become a good friend, and we share a joint vision for to try and empower these girls to become engaged, confident, and active citizens of Belize and to take leadership and pride for their village of San Roman. 

                                        

                                        

                              GLOW Girl's Vision/Inspiration Boards- Collages of their goals and dreams!

Our efforts to establish a community preschool have been moving forward as well. We have held several community meetings, formalized a preschool committee, and now have the Ministry of Education’s assistance in making this project come to life.  The need for this project cannot be expressed enough. San Roman consistently has low educational outcomes with very few children continuing their studies past primary school. One of the greatest challenges is the language barrier. When children enter Infant I, very few have any familiarity of English and have serious difficulties in reading, writing, and general communication. By offering Preschool, we hope children will gain English writing, speaking, and letter recognition skills, while also garnering essential developmental and social skills. We are entering the fundraising stage (stay tuned for my desperate pleas for assistance! Haha!). But right now, we have many plans- from selling food, conducting raffles, and 

distributing letters to local businesses requesting material donations.

This is already getting way too long (for those who have gotten this far…Thanks and I’m sorry!). As briefly mentioned, I went home to the US for 5 weeks this summer to finish part 2 of oral surgery. It was great to see everyone, but I quickly became homesick for Belize, San Roman, and village life. It was strange getting ‘used’ to the modern conveniences the US provides. Week one, I was humbled, amazed, and ‘freaked out’ at the ease of driving a car from point A to point B….no care about traffic…hell, loving traffic because it meant more AC and NPR. The strangeness and awesomeness of buying ANYTHING at wholefoods, Trader Joes (so exciting it’s now in Bham). It was a strange since of relief, enjoyment, and disgust at the over-consumption and excess that Americans (including myself) have become so accustomed to. The same things that propelled me to this adventure, had me yearning for back home. However, week by week, little by little, I slipped back into my American ways of discontent with traffic, standing in lines at grocery checkout, and being frustrated with myself for feeling this way! Needless to say, I had to get back. Day one back in the village, waking up way too early to the roosters, dogs, and radio blasting….I was happy. I was home. 

Though I was happy to be back in the village, I am very thankful for the time I got to spend with family at home. I had the opportunity to spend a few days with my cousins and aunt who moved to Israel, my sister, and lots of family and friends. I am extremely grateful I was home to see my Great Uncle Max, who is 91 years old, get honored for a Lifetime Achievement Award. He has created his legacy by sharing his horrors of the Holocaust with schools and communities in Alabama for the last 30 years. He is one of my personal heroes, and I am glad I was able to witness this wonderful achievement. 

Unle Max- receiving the William M. Miller Lifetime Achievement Award

             Spending time with my little cousins (Gia and Kayla) before their big move to Israel!

While home my mom and I marched along side our human family in the Black Live's Matter protest in downtown Birmingham. Was an amazing experience and right here in Birmingham- A dark history but with a diverse, passionate, and driven community ready to help make a difference.

The past 2 months of being back in Belize have been really great. Of course there have been challenges, both back at home and here in Belize (won't bore you with details). I have am in the process of learning how to be resilient. How to stay positive and grateful, despite really unfortunate situations and circumstances has been one of the greatest lessons I’ve learned (and continue to learn).  Beginning this school year has been great. We celebrated it UP, for the 21^st- Belize’s Independence Day, which in reality is a month long celebration! It was fun helping out for the school parade, celebrating in town with friends, and getting all dressed up.

School Parade

                                   

                                      Meeting up with PCV friends to celebrate in town!

We have been busy starting up projects at school, including the school garden (which turned to complete bush over the summer), GLOW- which the girls are SO excited for, and beginning a English campaign at school this year- ‘Speak Up, Speak Out, Speak English.’ It is a competition designed to encourage children to practice speaking, reading, and developing confidence around using the English language. We are also in the process of moving locations this year for preschool! The past few years, the community preschool was held in the clinic, which has no water, electricity, and a serious infestation of Ratbats. Needless to say, that was not a suitable or healthy learning environment for children. All of the fundraising efforts will go to building a classroom inside the already constructed community center. I am thankful to have a wonderful team of strong women who are ready to make this happen! I hope we can begin class by early November!

                                    

                                                           School Garden Project!

                                                   

                                                                 Harvest Time!

 'English Year' Campaign Kickoff poster!

My and my Community Health Worker's work with maternal health and women’s health has been really great and busy this year! We have had eight births in the village this year alone! It has provided wonderful opportunities to build relationships with women in the village and learn about the many cultural practices surrounding birth and maternal health in Belize. It is sad to see that nearly every one of these births ended up being a C-Section, and most without sufficient reasoning. The stories I hear of the women’s experiences and treatment in the hospital is really heartbreaking. However, it has encouraged me to provide as much compassion, support, and encouragement as possible.

One of my postnatal home visits! A bonus to helping women with breastfeeding and educating about postpartum/postnatal warning signs...holding adorable babies!

It is hard to believe that my first year as a Peace Corps Volunteer is already over! There have been so many first…Surviving my first and hopefully only dog attack, starting my women’s exercise group (and it failing), and trying to hone my Spanish skills, eating alligator (and ‘helping’ clean it), seeing and celebrating my Nephew’s Baptism, becoming comfortable teaching and giving presentations, and the list goes on! More than anything, I am most thankful and humbled by the wonderful friendships and connections I have made in San Roman. This community has welcomed me and I truly feel like I can call it home. Even though I will inevitably leave in one year, this place and these people will always be a part of who I am. 

So Thankful for my TWO families in San Roman! One is my host family above (including Blackie- the dog who follows me everywhere). My mom and Daisy, my sister, have been a huge support system in the village. 

Thankful for my next family- My CHW (Community Health Worker-top left)- From day one she took me into her family and they have all made me feel like a daughter and a sister. This picture was 

celebrating my birthday in May!

My sister Flory who has been a great sister and friend the last year!

Crocodile Meat Time! Thanks to my friend for cutting me 2 delicious pounds of fresh gator meat. Was not prepared when he asked me to help him clean it! haha. Quite the experience!

One of the worst parts about village life...unwelcome visitors (getting eaten by ants!)

Learning to make coconut oil with my friend and host niece- Flor- Best coconut oil right in Belize!

My favorite food in Belize- Serre/Hudut- A Garifuna Cuisine of snapper, mashed plantains, veggies, and local spices in a delicious coconut broth

Life is Calling How Far Will You Go?

Well, when I started writing and ultimately procrastinating this blog post 1 month ago, I appropriately introduced it singing to you all...“All I want for Christmas is YOUuuuuuuuu…..Feliz Navidad…I want to Wish you a Merry Christmas….” However, now that the holiday season has come and past, Alabama won the national championship (thanks for the updates, Dad), and that life well...has kept going, I guess it's about time to finally finish this post.

 I apologize for majorly slacking in my delivery, I can throw you all sorts of excuses, but this is the truth... When having such an intense experience, full of abrupt up's and down's, personal growth, inevitable failures, surprising successes, cultural mind-spins, and so on, it is not easy to convey into words (especially words that are appropriate for this forum!) With that being said, I will attempt to do so! Despite all the challenges, I know that this is exactly where I am meant to be at this point in my life. I am so grateful for this opportunity. So let's get on to the updates...

This holiday season was filled with a wonderful over-abundance of Christmas music, delicious food, and shimmering Christmas lights decorating the village. Despite the weather staying at a tolerable 75-80 degrees, the Christmas spirit felt truly alive this month. For this Jewish girl from the deep-south who spent the last two holiday seasons in Israel, let’s just say the December festivities were interesting to observe and inevitably, become totally immersed into. In addition to Christmas, I was privileged to experience two new holidays in the village. These holidays, Feast of the Immaculate Conception and Las Posadas are celebrated by the Roman Catholic community across the region (RC is predominant religion in Belize). I accompanied my host mom to church, who is thankfully the church 2 days a year kind of lady! From what I garnered from the experience (and wikipedia), the Feast of the Immaculate Conception celebrated on December 8th, recognizes the importance of Mary to the Catholic Church. The celebration involved a large procession through the village with teenage girls leading the way by carrying a large figurine of Mary. During the painfully slow walking procession, we continuously recited Hail Marys. The second festivity, Las Pasados, is celebrated December 16th-24th. This 9 day holiday represents the 9 months of pregnancy, specifically in honor of Mary's pregnancy of Jesus. Catholic members of the community would go to a different house each night reciting prayers and getting snacks. Following these holidays was of course Christmas! It was a wonderful day that I spent celebrating both with my host family and my CHW's family (helps that they live across from each other!) The holidays brought a wonderful change of pace from the normal day to day of village life.  I ate more ceviche, tamales, and relleno than I could ever imagine and had the pleasure of witnessing many cultural holiday traditions.

Beginning the Procession through the village

My Beautiful and Amazing Community Health Worker, Manuella. Yay, Christmas presents!

BBQ Time!

New Years Eve was an amazing experience! My first time out of the village was spent back in Valley of Peace with my host family from training. Being that it was the day before New Years, my journey back to valley consisted of jam packed bus rides- one being a two hour ride from Orange Walk to Belize City…Standing for two hours squished between people was made slightly better by the wonderful reggae beats that were blasted on the bus. Arriving back in Valley of Peace was wonderful...it truly felt like going home and I am still so thankful for the relationship I have with my family in VOP. Immediately after getting off the bus, I was greeted by warm hugs of the children, my sisters, and of course my amazing host mom! The joyous reunion was brief as everyone was really busy preparing food for the day, which included making hundreds of tamales (or so it seemed), ceviche, and cakes. In true family fashion, I was promptly handed a knife and lovingly told in more or less words to get my ass to work in helping prepare the absolute largest bowl of ceviche that I had ever seen! It was also wonderful to travel with my amazing friend, Jade, who also went to see her host family in Valley of Peace...

                            Jade and I getting ready to celebrate NYE! So thankful for this gyal!

                                  

                                My amazing host sister's- Ara (left) and Irma (right)

Aside from getting into the Christmas cheer, unsuccessfully attempting to make latkes, failed efforts of explaining Hanukkah, I have been quite busy these past few months in San Roman. I have now been here a bit almost four months, which means that the integration/observation phase is coming a close (though these things of course never truly ‘end’) As is one of the core expectations of every PCV, Peace Corps is a 24/7 job. This means that even while on vacation or out of our site, we are still representing the US as Peace Corps Volunteers, thus working. This also means that we do not have a structured 8-5 schedule, weekends off, or clearly defined roles and responsibilities. Though the thought of a normal and boring 8am-5pm desk job makes my stomach hurt and the idea of doing ONE thing for the rest of my life sends me into a minor panic attack, it has been really nice to get projects off the ground and to start really working. I have begun to establish some semblance of a daily routine, which includes teaching pre-school, teaching health education in the primary school, house visits with pregnant women, walking group, and many other things. 

 My main focus has been split between a few different projects. First and foremost, I have dedicated my time and energy to establishing and teaching pre-school in the village. As mentioned in the previous posts, the pre-school was established last year by the previous Peace Corps Volunteer, and is a project that is heavily desired by the community. My first week in the village I was asked about 5 times a day when ‘kinder’ would be starting! If asked a year ago, I absolutely never thought I would be a pre-school teacher, but after a few months of classes, I have truly started to feel more comfortable in this role. The kids are adorable, and every week I have enjoyed teaching more and more. I am lucky to have some wonderful counter-parts and volunteers who are also helping with classes.

Nature hike day! Spent our lesson collecting various objects to practice counting, sorting, and other skills

Our clinic converted into a pre-school class!

 Usually, we only allow fruit and water for snacks at kinder, but practicing our ABC's with cookies                                                           was a delicious exception!

In addition to kinder, I have been Muy Occupada… (really busy!). I am working towards applying for an official ministry run pre-school in the village, starting an exercise group, teaching in the school, childbirth education, doing health talks, working with my counterparts, and generally just trying to continue integrating into the village. Additionally, I have been asked by several women in the village to accompany them to the hospital to help support them with their birth! I will try to keep everyone updated!

 I am thankful there are more happy days than sad days, bountiful fresh coconuts scattering the village, making friends with the village fisherman, making friends with the retired American Mennonite couple who live in the back of the village and spoil me wonderfully, my growing ability to engage with love and peace with those I utterly disagree with, for this fleeting beautiful cool weather, my fellow Peace Corps Volunteers who provide much needed sanity, laughter, and support, my CHW and her beautiful family that I now feel apart of, for my beautiful host family in valley of peace that are the most generous people I've ever met, for gaining trust of women in the village to ask me to support them during their birth....I am thankful for a true experience. I am thankful this is not simply an idealized grand adventure of beautiful cultural exchange and meaningful work...but rather a long process of building trust, relationships, a heavy dosage of needed personal growth, and perhaps some small seeds planted for eventual positive changes. 

  Jaheem and Hariceli helped put the finishing touches on the Thanksgiving sweet potato casserole!

                                            Chellsea, enjoying Thanksgiving the way it was intended

                              Two sweet girls in my village! Nashani (right) is one of my Kinder kids!

   My favorite snack to get when I go into town! Fresh Jicama with chili powder, salt, and lime!

                                   
                                   A gift from the fisherman in my village...eyes and all!