But that is not the source of my frustration. Well, I was frustrated but that is not the point of this post. :)
I was talking with my teacher this morning in class. I don't remember how we started talking about it but she was telling me that when she takes her birth control, if she forgets a day she takes two the next morning. I was horrified and thought I would educate her. I told her what I knew and she said "But the doctor told me this. And he is a specialist for women." He said if you forget 2 days in a row then take 2 each morning for the next two days to catch up. That will keep her from getting pregnant. So what do I say? I don't want her to lose all trust in her doctor if she does believe me. But it is so wrong! So the frustration came in when I couldn't adequately explain what I wanted to because of my lack of language skills. Then she says to me "I have destroyed my body because I have been doing this for 10 years" I scared the crap out of her. It was terrible. Limited vocabulary. So I reassured her somewhat. But it definitely made me think I am right in getting these language skills down before I start working with people in a medical capacity.
When I do work with people it will be with people who don't have access to any health care so I may not run into this problem much. But how do you educate people who have been doing things a certain way for generations. Without offending them. I don't know. I have a lot to learn. Even with my being sick I have heard a LOT of advice on what I should and shouldn't be doing. Pregnancy here is my favorite. The women are to lay in bed for 30 days. I think something (like a scarf I think) is supposed to be on their head, and they aren't to do anything laborious at all. Now this may sound sort of great but only for a day or two. And it slows recovery. AND they are not supposed to drink anything cold so that their milk doesn't come out cold for the baby. You can't just walk up and say "That is ridiculous." You would get no where. So I will watch and learn from others who have successfully gone before me.
Tonight we were talking at dinner about the situation here in Guatemala. It has been in the news in the US a bit. Not sure if it made it all the way north. :) The president has been accused of being behind several killings (3 in particular). The lawyer of a man that was assassinated earlier this year was killed last Sunday. He made a tape before he died (think The Pelican Brief) outlining what happened with his client (who was killed along with his daughter to make it look a little more random). I didn't get all of it but the gov't (President and wife) wanted him to front for illegal money laundering (I think). He wouldn't and was subsequently shot. This lawyer knew it was coming and had plans to leave the country that Monday. Apparently there are FBI agents here to investigate further.
The gov't here is very corrupt. Juan Carlos was explaining a bit of it. And of course I couldn't understand everything but he basically said that there is money out there. It is just being skimmed off as it works it's way down the line. Each gov't worker it passes takes a cut and by the time the money (or materials) that is for the people gets to where it is supposed to go, it hardly exists. So sad. This will never turn around quickly, if it does at all, but this past Sunday more than 30,000 gathered to protest against the gov't. Whether it will do anything I don't know. But even as a moral boost I would think it would be somewhat effective.
I finished reading Three Cups of Tea. The authors theory is that education is vital for change. I tend to agree. While I am here to help keep people alive and healthy, I think that any contributions I can make towards educating kids would be good. That is the only way change can come about. But this is a slow process taking years and even generations I believe.
So. That is some of my thoughts for you to think about. It is so easy to ignore this stuff. And even being here there is not a lot I can do about the second half of my rant. But educating people as I can will be my goal (once I can speak Spanish :).
Other than that. I have felt two earthquakes here now. They have been 5.2-5.3. Pretty fun actually. A lot of people here get scared because in 1976 (I think) there was a large earthquake that ruined most of Antigua and killed a lot of people. That is why there are so many ruins here. And Antigua used to be the capital but was moved to where Guatemala City is now because of it. But in my ignorance, I think they are kind of fun. :)
I have been pretty bored the first half of the week. I was sick for a couple of days and now I have lost my voice but I feel fine. So maybe that was part of the problem. I seem to be okay now. I finally unpacked my thing (and organized, which I LOVE to do). And I studied this afternoon (which I had kind of been ignoring, while being bored). So I feel like I am back. Just one little slip in the road. Might even reward myself with some ER tonight. :)
A few of us went out to a restaurant last night to listen to some live music. It was really good. I enjoyed it. It was open mic night so the first couple of people were English and then there were a couple of Guatemalan's who sang and played. And this weekend Lori (student here) and I are going out for treats. It is probably a good thing she studies in the afternoon and I study in the morning. Otherwise we might be going for treats a lot!
Well this is really long. Hope you have made it this far. I am not usually a political talker but when it affects the people I am serving in a negative way I tend to get a little fired up.
Have a good night all! (or morning, or afternoon or whenever you read this)
Naomi
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