Gripe, gastritis, y mocos

Woah… it’s already nearing the end of July and I am coming to realize that my time here in Guate is quickly coming to an end!  In fact, I leave in 2.5 weeks!!  How’d that happen?!?!  Anyways, I’m not going to dwell on that right now, but rather enjoy the rest of the time I have here and all the fun that comes with it! 

Speaking of fun… this past week I had the opportunity to translate for a team of nurses that were working in San Jose Pinula.  The team was from a ministry based out of Virginia called Vessels of Mercy (vesselsofmercy.org).  We ran 5 different clinics in 5 different parts of San Jose Pinula.  Each day we had 4 stations… registration, three diagnostic tables, one prayer area and the pharmacy.  I got to help translate for one of the diagnostic tables, which was right up my alley!  J

The first day we just worked for the afternoon, but we were in a church in SJP.  This was a good day to start to see how everything was going to work and to just get into the swing of things.  I think we saw around 50+ people in the afternoon… not bad!

The second, third and fourth days we actually traveled about 1-1.5hrs into the hills of SJP and set up clinics out there.  We were in three different schools so we saw the students and parents that came in.  This was a completely different part of the country than I had ever been in, so it was fun to be able to get out and about a little more.  It was also interesting to see the differences in the peoples that came into the clinics.  One day many of the people were light skinned, light eyed and light haired… it was actually kind of crazy!  Another day most of the men and boys were in sombreros and cowboy boots with machetes strapped around their waists.  No matter where we went though, the people were EXTREMELY open and loving, which was awesome!  J

The final day we worked in a school in SJP and saw the students and families there.  It was a pretty crazy day, but none of us got bored!  We ended up seeing 144 people… for a 6 hour work day with 3 people doing diagnosing, that’s pretty good!!  In all we ended up seeing just under 500 patients!

Overall I really enjoyed the week and the interactions that came with it.  I came home each day EXHAUSTED, but quite happy too!  J  It was nice to have something to keep me busy for the week and to have one “final” translating experience before heading stateside.  Not to mention, the group was pretty awesome and it gave me some good experience in my future career!  

View on the drive out...

4th day clinic

SO many cute kids!!

=)

Those eyes...

Final day clinic... more cute kids!!

We had an audience  :)

The CONSTANT line

I'm a puddle!!

Set up a pharmacy wherever you can!

So curious!