Volunteer Nursing Opportunity #1

About 5 weeks ago John was at a Wednesday night fellowship meeting and struck up a conversation with a friend, who quickly made known some family health concerns, especially regarding his 10 month-old son.  It turns out they had moved their whole family to the city in order to seek treatment for an apparently incurable itchy rash over most of his body. He had been experiencing the rash for the past five months. They had been to a few different doctors, and each time they’d receive oral medication and skin cream.  The meds quickly dried up the rash, but as soon as the meds ran out, the rash would flare up again.  The doctors’ best guess was an allergy, perhaps to something in the water.  Everyone in the family had some traces of the rash and apparently hundreds of people in their home village suffer the same symptoms.

John quickly offered me, Erin, up as a possible resource, and they came by the a few days later. After taking a look at their son I consulted all the resources at my diposal.  A small side note: it was emphasized throughout my schooling that nurses do not ‘diagnose,’ we asses and make informed decisions about patient care.  But here as English speakers we have access to many resources which the general public doesn’t.  So I consulted books, notes, websites, and one of our partners, a doctor, back home. I recommended the whole family treat for scabies and picked up the treatment at a local pharmacy, which was about 4 weeks ago.  According to the medication, the “mites” would be killed immediately (if it really were scabies), but it could take up to a month for the skin reaction to disappear completely.

Well they followed my advice to a T, but 3 weeks later they still hadn’t seen any improvement. Alas, last Tuesday we got a text message informing us their son’s skin was 98% better, and the rest were 100% back to normal.  They are so happy as they all are more comfortable and sleep much better at night.  Join us in thankfulness, for their health, and the encouragement this has been to us, to be able to help friends in this small way. We are also seeking wisdom on how we may be able to help their home village where “hundreds of households” are still suffering from scabies.

Happy Holidays



the family's rice field right out our bedroom window

One week ago Sunday, was the biggest Holiday for the majority of the population here.  To celebrate the conclusion of their month long fast, people travel to the home of the eldest family member.  Thus most people return to their villages, unless their parents are living in the city of course.  The first day people gather with their family and eat traditional food; usually consisting of at least rice wrapped and cooked in leaves.  There are at least a dozen different methods and leaves for preparing these individually wrapped rice pockets; each with its own name too.  The second day people go around visiting other family and friends at their homes.  We had the pleasure of accompanying some friends to the husband's village.  We spent two nights with his family. 

Caedmon played with cousins and fed chickens!

cookies, fried bananas, and a corn-jello dessert



 

We visited aunts, uncles, and cousins.  At every house we were served traditional cookies (tasting like short bread and arranged very nicely in jars), drinks, and other snacks.


 

 

 Traditionally during this time, people also visit the graves of family members. 

At the end of the stay, we spent one night at a beach well known here for the white sand.  It was beautiful!  We appreciated the time to enjoy the beach, though it wasn't always relaxing as everyone desired our picture.  We did have the opportunity for a boat ride, which provided some alone time!

stopped for a picture

enjoying the beach

finally asked to take a picture of just us

boat ride!
 

On the way, we stopped at a village that specializes in boat making.  These boats are made by hand (with the exception of a chain saw and power drill) and sent all over the country. 

 

Happy Birthday Caedmon!!!

On Monday Caedmon turned 4.  Every Birthday I (Erin) am amazed he is ..(your name it).. years old now.  We enjoy the opportunity to rejoice and celebrate the fact that we had another year together.  Plus, Caedmon loves Birthdays, so how could we not celebrate.  We decided to throw a party and invite friends and neighbors.  This proved a little challenging as many of our friends are fasting (during daylight hours) this month.  None the less, we decided to have a party for Caedmon by having what is called a 'break-fast' event which begins about 6 pm with sweets and progresses into eating dinner together.  We planned, of course, to finish with Birthday cake. 

Caedmon opening his presents in the morning

We began our day celebrating as a family.  John left early, on his bicycle, to pick up donuts for breakfast, but after two flat tires and an hour trying to get to the store, he came home and we ate homemade scones instead.  I (Erin) spent the rest of the morning preparing for the big party.  A good friend took me to a local market to buy all the needed ingredients for 'ice fruit' (literally). 

'ice fruit':
papaya, unflavored gelatin squares, & jack fruit in a liquid of water, sweetened condensed milk, and fruit flavored syrup 

After our language class in the afternoon, my friend returned to show me how to make it.  It is customary to 'break-fast' in the evenings by eating 'ice fruit' and traditional sweets.  So we prepared 60 cups of 'ice-fruit' and plenty of chocolate chip cookies (I went for a traditional Stateside sweet).  What kid wouldn't love a party that opens with sweets right at dinner time?  We followed this with dinner and then Birthday cake of course. 

we've had a hard time finding matches, so I had to use our stove

We all sang to Caedmon in English, then again in the local language.  It was a great time with friends and neighbors.  Caedmon thoroughly enjoyed the day as well!

Almost Famous

There is nothing like moving to a different country to make you stand out.  Since arriving here we've become quite famous.  Everywhere we go people call out to us, talk to us, and love to touch our boys, especially their faces.  People are so interested they will nudge their friends and point us out as we walk by.  Most people have cell phones; therefore people are always ready, and desiring to take our pictures.  Many young people, upon meeting us for the first time want to know if we know other 'famous' people, such as Lady Gaga or Justin Bieber.  Please be thinking of us as we continue to adjust! Sometimes this is quite amusing; other times we seek wisdom to know how to respond in these situations, especially as our boys are less then fond of the constant cheek pinching. 

Shopping...

Fruits and Vegies

We have been amazed at everything that we are able to get here (should we ever need half of it).  There are multiple malls to choose from; ranging from a collection of very expensive western stores to a collection of buildings continually being added onto for more store space.  There are some grocery stores, mostly located within the malls.  There are also many 'hole in the wall' stores and road side stands.  Though we do most of our shopping at the mall, I (Erin) cannot not help but appreciate the convenience of our daily street venders. 

Chopping up and gutting chicken for me!

Every morning, starting at about 7 am guys on motorcycles, usually with added baskets, drive through the neighborhood selling fish, chicken, produce, and bread.  They drive by, yelling "chicken" (for example) and stop if you yell back.  Caedmon and Whitman love listening for and calling out to any vender I might need.  Later in the afternoon there is usually at least one 'ice-cream man,' music included.  I've even seen a guy selling kids toys and another selling household items, like brooms, small buckets, etc.  I buy most of our produce, bread and chicken this way.  I've also bought fish and shrimp as well.  The prices are great and the location even better.  I do have to be careful as they may not always have what I'm looking for or come at the same time each day.  The bread guy, for example, hasn't been by all week, so much for PB&J this week. 

A trip to the mountains!

Last weekend we enjoyed a trip out of town with some friends.  We spent one night in a mountain town of about 200 people.  Prior to leaving, everyone described the place as "cold."  Although I (Erin) had a hard time believing it would really be cold, we all brought light jackets anyways.  It turned out to be noticeably cooler, enough to warrant a jacket in the evening and morning.  Our friends bundled up a bit more!  It felt like a beautiful spring day, it was a wonderful change from the heat and humidity of the city.  Our friends took us all over to see the sights.  We had a wonderful time seeing more of the country, practicing language, and just getting to know our friends better. 

A dam on the way: water from here is piped to our city.

rice fields

a house ride with our friend's daughter

a walk through a Tea Garden (growing tea leaves)

from the top of the Tea Garden; we felt as if we were in a vineyard back home

one of my favorite fruits: literally Holland Eggplants, reminds me of a berry once peeled

a source of fish for those living far from the sea

waterfall

the walk to the waterfall

drying harvested coffee beans

we stopped for some fried bananas and tubers

Views of the Countryside

The trip we were privileged to take out into the less-populated areas provided some beautiful scenery, and we wanted to share some of it:

A rice field behind our Grandpa's family garden

Pepper, still on the vine

The gardener's house

A chocolate tree (a fruit at center)

The well and slab where our friend grew up bathing

More rice along the highway

Rice farmers in their field

Horses

A restaurant, its sign advertising "Horse soup" (yes, really)

Salt fields, harvested by flooding with sea water, and then letting it evaporate

A Piece of My (John's) Mind

For 18 days now I've had inner ear trouble, and for longer than that my nose has wanted to run more often than not. At this point these are just an annoyance, what having to constantly mind my snot, and occasionally turn my head so my "good ear" can pick up what folks are saying. But they're totally a distraction from what I'd rather be focusing on, that is, other people and their thoughts/concerns!
While my first round of antibiotics were a huge help in removing the extreme pain from my ear, they only cleared up about 80% of the audio-obstructing-congestion. And I'm still not sure whether my runny nose stems from allergies or a recurring cold. So all in all I'd love you to be remembering me as I deal with these (extremely) minor annoyances.

So who's the guy that climbs those trees for the coconuts?



The 50ft + trees I sat admiring

 

After 9 weeks solid in the big city, this weekend we made our first excursion out into the countryside (~5 hours away). A highlight of the trip was when we visited a garden that has been in our adopted Grandpa's family for at least 4 generations. Shortly after we arrived, I wanted to show off all the language I've been learning by cracking a joke.

I was admiring the height of a couple huge palm trees, rehearsing the joke in my mind, when finally I spit it out fluently (see this blog post's title for a translation). They understood my words clearly, the only problem was they didn't understand I was joking, and they answered basically, "Oh he's right over there."

Half-way up

Yeah, they actually called the guy who cuts down their coconuts! As I began to feel guilty I scrambled quickly to spit out another sentence "I was just joking!" But after retrieving a 12 inch knife from a neighboring house, they sent him up the tree without any kind of climbing gear or safety net, and he cut down about a dozen coconuts, which we subsequently enjoyed together. What a treat!




and it started raining coconuts...



All-the-way UP

 

These cocnuts had probably 24+oz of sweet juice inside



Grandpa and Whitman enjoy some together

And they were full of sweet jello meat we all loved