Gracias Cuerpo de Paz

May 19, 2011

Gracias Cuerpo de Paz

Me and my Spanish teacher Liz, at swearing in ceremony

Today is my last day as a Peace Corps Volunteer.  I think it’s a little ironic that my lunchtime fortune cookie read “You will soon gain something you have always wanted.”  I have completed exactly one year of service and can honestly say that I am looking forward to being back in the USA.  I am being medically separated because of a stomach infection that won’t seem to go away; after having numerous tests done, a hospitalization about six weeks ago, and a colonoscopy last week, I keep coming up clear.  That hasn’t stopped my stomach from constant moving, like an old washing machine detaching from the wall.  Since the colonoscopy I have felt A LOT better and the doc says it will just take time…that I probably picked something up from my last bacterial infection that just needs to “move its way out” or IBS.  If you don’t know what that is, I suggest you Google it.

Me and my training instructor, Javier, at swearing in ceremony

As I leave my time with Peace Corps, I went back to read my ‘Aspiration Statement’ and see if I had achieved the goals I hoped to so long ago.  I had written:

“While traveling through Latin America before, I learned how difficult it was for women to gain respect and leadership within Latino communities.  I tried to put myself in the shoes of successful international policy women, such as Condoleezza Rice and Hillary Clinton.  While admired in their home country of the United States, I found that they may not gain the same reception when traveling abroad for meetings and found that adopting this mentality helped me to effectively work with area leaders on a more successful level.  In Honduras, I expect more ‘machismo’ factor, and plan to best adapt by respecting the Latino culture, while effectively expressing to the community that women are smart, intelligent thinkers, whose ideas can be shared on an equal playing field.” 

FYI, THE MACHISMO FACTOR IS ALIVE AND WELL IN HONDURAS.  It doesn’t matter how long you live in your community, who you work for, or who your counterparts are, you will always be viewed as a woman.  It is beyond difficult to be a woman in Honduras and everyday I pray for the women who have to live there.  As a “gringa” woman I do receive slightly more respect, but not much.  

Awesome friendships made in PC; at the feria in Orocuina!

“Three times I have been fortunate enough to live with Latino families and immerse myself in their culture; Nicaragua, Panama, and Ecuador.  Each family taught me something completely different and I made friendships to last a lifetime.  During pre-service training, I hope to continue strengthening my Spanish-speaking skills so that I can succeed in my Peace Corps role, I want to listen and hear what are the top issues facing local Honduran families so that I can work with NGO’s to find solutions, and finally I would like to gain a true understanding of what a day in the life of an average Honduran is, so that I can see through their eyes what it is like to live in the country I will call home.”

The issues facing Latin American families are the same issues facing families in the USA; economic hardship, healthcare, and education.  In the USA everyone has access to an education, but parents and kids take advantage of it and right now the government is cutting teacher jobs (teachers who want to work and love their jobs).  In Honduras only 40% of kids make it past 6^th grade, where teachers go on strike all the time for 10 different reasons; you have kids and parents who want to go to school but can’t.  In Honduras you have people who want to get a job and work for $2/day to support their family, then come home and work over a hot stove all night long.  In the USA you have elected officials that can’t even get a recycling bin on the corner b/c they can’t decide on the right contracting firm to build the trashcan.  Really, America, let’s get it together.

“There is no telling what I will decide 27 months from now; 27 months ago I was working at the United States Senate when I decided to quit my job and ride the chicken bus through Latin America.  This decision led me to a volunteer opportunity in Ecuador and an application to the Peace Corps.  It has always been my intent in life to help those that cannot help themselves; if I find that my work in Honduras is not done in 27 months then I will continue to work with local organizations towards bettering the country.  Without a doubt, the Peace Corps will strengthen my Spanish-speaking skills and could lead me to return to the United States and help the Latino population in a leadership role. “

Yeah….so here I am 12 months later.  My Spanish-speaking is fantastic.  According to my fortune “I will soon gain something I have always wanted.”

All sworn in at the Embassy and ready to go

Thank you Peace Corps for giving me a great year of my life, for helping me make new friends from all over the small aldeas and communidades de mi nueva casa.  Make no mistake, Peace Corps is hard.  As the saying goes “it’s the hardest job you’ll ever love.”  That is correct; there is nothing more difficult than going into the unknown, thinking you speak the language, learning you don’t, living with strangers, eating strange food, eating the same strange food (day after day after day), get scabies, having men follow you around, watching guns fly up in the air, running past machetes, getting robbed, getting sick, hiking up a mountain in the rain, riding a broken bike 20K in the 100 degree weather, having no electricity/computer/iPod/TV for three days, cleaning a pila, finding out what a pila is, but there is nothing better than laughing and sharing ideas with people who have made the same decision as you to build new roads, bring water to the rural world, treat a bronchial patient that otherwise wouldn’t see a doctor, teach kids about HIV/AIDS and self-esteem, give someone a new stove so they don’t need cataracts at age 40, celebrate Thanksgiving with 20 of your best new friends bonding over the only turkey within 100 miles, watching Harry Potter in Spanish with your counterpart who has never been to the movies, and yes, even going on a date with someone who immediately calls you their “novia.”  Thanks for the memories Peace Corps, see you on the flip side.

Life is Like a Cup of Stool Samples

May 4, 2011

Each time I hit a milestone birthday, I always make a list of things I want to do, or hope to accomplish within the next five years.  I have been really fortunate in my life to experience many great things, like watching the Eiffel Tower light up at night, riding horses through the Kaibab National Forest, snorkeling with sharks in Belize.  (This past week I was able to celebrate outside the White House as our nation had one of the most historic days in recent history, another memorable experience)  The one thing I never thought I would have to do, at least for 30 more years or so is undergo a colonoscopy.  Over the last year I have learned way more than I EVER wanted to know about stool samples, big ones, little ones, liquid ones, blurry ones, you name it, I have done it.  The first time the Peace Corps Medical Officer (PCMO) handed me a small brown lunch bag and said she would have the courier pick it up the next morning I looked at her like she had dipped in to her medicine cabinet.  She wanted me to do WHAT? As I peeked into that brown lunch bag, which did not contain some fun snack my mom had long packed for me, I found a little plastic cup and a popsicle stick.  What the hell was I supposed to do with this?  This was obviously a “learn as you go” concept.  As the PCMO and I soon bonded over a scale of diarrhea, where I was to label how “liquid” my stool was on a scale from 1 to 5, I soon realized that my privacy issues had flown the coop.

Since that day last August, I have become a walking commercial for all those Imodium and Pepto ads you see on TV, and way too familiar with anything bowel related.  As Peace Corps Volunteers, I find it both funny and sad that many of our “coffeehouse” conversations often turn to who is the most regular at the time.  I once gave a stool sample in an old Gerber baby jar at the local hospital in Choluteca, the whole time wondering if that was the same baby jar that floated around my neighborhood in the 70’s.  This whole topic brings me to this last month, when I was in the hospital for the stomach pain and vomiting bacteria infection that left me watching late night novellas and “Chicago” in Spanish, surrounded by my PCV friends cheering me up.  Apparently there is still something in my system, although I’m not too sure what.  After singing the ever endearing child’s song “When you’re slidin’ into first and you’re feelin’ somethin’ burst…” for over a month now, PC sent me to a specialist who handed me more bottles than I ever care to see again.  Then, she gave me INSTRUCTIONS, that’s right INSTRUCTIONS on how to poop…

Excuse me ma’am, but I have been pooping for 32 years and I’m quite clear on this scenario.  But, now, it seems I have to do this on saran wrap and then dig into it for parasites?  If I wanted this job, I would HAVE KIDS!  I might as well wear a diaper and bring that back to the lab.  Then, after following all her instructions for three days (that’s right three days), I find out the lab test tubes have been RECALLED.  I’m sorry, but my poop is not good enough for you?  In case you don’t know the standard steps on giving a stool sample, please let me help you out:

1.       1. Eat as much fat and disgusting food as possible.  A little stool will not help; you want to make sure that you’ve got enough to help out the good doctor.  This is not a salad kind of day; I suggest potato skins lathered in chili or hot dogs from a street vendor.

2.      2.  Wait about two minutes, since your body is already in-normal anyways, it’s gonna kick in immediately.

3.       Apologize to your roommate about the bathroom situation (and also housekeeping).

4.     3.   Take the saran wrap and cover the toilet (I suggest doing this before you eat, since once it kicks in there may not be time).

5.      4.  Scoop up as many parasites and critters as possible for collection.

6.      5.  Sit back and wonder what the hell everyone is thinking about you.

Now that I have done all of these abnormal things, the doctor can’t find anything wrong with me.  Even though I still have abdominal pain and my life revolves around the toilet.  This is where the colonoscopy comes in; it’s like the Christmas bonus I never received from Peace Corps.  Muchismas Gracias Cuerpo de Paz!  I have been waiting for this day!  In excitement, I arrived at the doctor with two minutes to spare today, just in time to realize I was the only female there, as well as the only “customer” under the age of 70.  When the receptionist asked for my insurance, I’m pretty sure she wanted to say Medicare.  Obviously this is not the doctor’s office where I’ll be meeting my future husband.  Unless they’re bringing their grandpa in for a check-up.  Here’s hoping!

Staying positive…this weekend I have more stool samples to look forward to!  Yes!  I feel like I should have one of those repeat customer cards, 10 stool samples and your 11^th one is collected by Brad Pitt!  Next week, colonoscopy!  Woo hoo, if I’m lucky, maybe ER Doctor George Clooney will drop by.

Notes from the field: Thanks to everyone who voted for my Thirdgoal.org video!  I won and will receive $27 to REI to use for my site in Orocuina, Honduras.  

See the news here! http://www.thirdgoal.org/blog/