Day 5

Day 5 

 

Today we got started a little slower. We were asked to teach a lesson at the nursing school. The NURSING SCHOOL. I haven't even been to nursing school or had any sort of medical training for that matter. Another example of how much they trust us! They told us to just pick a topic to inform them on. We'll be teaching the lesson on Monday so we tried to get our presentation put together today. We decided to prepare several different topics which include; cholera, hypertension, anemia and malaria. 

We then headed out to teach at a school in the community where we're living, Leogane. We set up a program with them where they go through a certain number of classes with us and we give them a certificate stating they have completed the health education course. When we got to the school it was completely empty.  We talked with the equivalent of the principal and he said that it was some catholic holiday so school was cancelled. Miscommunication seems to happen a little more often when you're communicating through translators. 

Rhiannon, Stanley, Matt and I went and visited the last community in our program that I hadn't met yet. On the bus I sat next to boy who was reading a book that was translating French words to English. We were able to communicate a little bit. The remainder of the taptap ride he practiced the pronunciation of his English words with me. I loved hearing how well he was doing. I am so impressed with people that speak multiple languages and more so with those who work and study it on their own. He boy was also working on learning Spanish. Matt speaks Spanish so it talked back and forth with the boy for a while. 

In the community it was supposed to only be the chosen community health educators that we were meeting with somehow that hadn't been communicated. Half the people were there for a health class and the other half were there for an English class. Rhiannon and I did our best to incorporate English into a health lesson. Rhiannon was translating everything into French. I was so impressed that she was able to do it on the spot. Their English level was a lot higher than we had expected. We kept teaching words, thinking they didn't know, and they would respond in complete English sentences. It's hard to teach a class when they are all at different levels, especially when you're unsure how much they are able to understand.

It sounds a little unorganized but in reality I have been so impressed by the organization of Sustain Haiti. They started from scratch this year, making contact with different community leaders, getting classes set up, scheduling days to teach, teaching the the first core lessons of health to the community and from those classes picking good leaders who would then be able to go on and teach their community after we did one on one training. It has taken an incredible amount of (unpaid) work. I am constantly in awe of their dedication to this organization! 

We then went straight to the community with the voodoo priestess. We were running a little late so we had to speed through the English portion to get to the health section. Today was our last lesson before picking community health educators. 

I reviewed the digestive system with them and then Rhiannon and Liz taught about the reproductive organs. Before they started the adults actually had the young kids leave - I was a little surprised by that. Liz and Rhiannon did a really good job teaching. They explained the woman's organs, what was happening, when it happened. They involved everyone, asked them questions and everybody in the community asked lots of questions. It seemed like they were grasping the concepts. One man asked why women sometimes don't want to have sex when they're pregnant. They talked about hormones a little and then Matt jumped in. Before answering the question he asked them where the baby grew in the woman. Someone in the community confidently answered, "the ovaries." Without correcting her or making her feel stupid he then asked her to take him through it step by step. He drew a body with ovaries, fallopian tubes and a uterus on the board. We had literally just gone over it with Liz and and Rhiannon teaching yet somehow they weren't able to grasp the concept. Matt was able to gage their understanding and backtrack to where they were lacking understanding. Again he teaches so simply that everyone can understand. After he answered the mans question they flooded him with more questions. One of the questions was something like, "how do woman get pregnant without having sex?" Instead of completely shutting the question down he listens to them. He asked if the man knew someone in particular whom this had happened to. The man brought up Joseph and Mary and then he also said it had happened to people he had known. The man asked if seeman  got in a river and floated down and into a woman could she get pregnant? Matt didn't shut him down but rather told him he would do some research and get back to him. He had me answer a couple questions. I answered one about c-sections, which is hard because those are situational. And one about babies that go longer than 9 months - they were telling me it was common to carry babies for up to 16 months.  

I really like this community. I like how many questions they ask. I like how interested they are. Communities like this motivate me to become more knowledgeable. And to become better at teaching. 

After dinner all the volunteers laid on the roof watching the stars and listening to music. It was one of my most nights yet. The music was all very chill and calming. I felt so peaceful and happy (cheesy I know). I felt excited about my future, like my hopes and aspirations could actually happen. They're not all just far off dreams.

I thought a lot about my future. 

And about Rachel. I can't describe how much I miss her everyday. I can never put my thoughts about her or our friendship into words. 

Tonight was wonderful. I'm grateful for memories like this.