August brings the heat

Greetings my friends,
I received a wonderful email this week from a friend in Iowa that was quite nice, but kind of put me to shame because she said, “I just finished reading your last blog, but that was from two months ago, so I would love to hear an update!” I realized that yes, it is indeed time to give an update.
Really things here continue on as routinely normal. I am doing the normal shifts of sometimes shift A: 5:45 am-2:15pm, or shift B: 1:45pm-9:30pm, or shift C: 9:00 pm-6:15 am. Though nursing here seems to be a different world, there are some things about nursing that are universal: stinky shifts! I don’t think I’ll ever be able to stop complaining about the stinky shifts we end up working. Weekends, holidays, nights, etc. Should have picked a different career, I guess. I continue also in my shifts to do some supervision of the especially new first years on the floor.
My recent accomplishment at the hospital was a day of education with the nurses and students on Diabetes. One of the other professional nurses and I gave an interactive day of exploring Diabetes as an illness with a focus on nursing care and education of the Diabetic patient. It was kind of tiring for me, especially as the night before the first day (there were 3) I got a nice head cold that threatened to wipe me out. Upon completing the third day, however, I had a nice feeling of satisfaction, knowing that one year ago, I no way could have done that with my less than adequate Spanish at the time. We got good feedback, and one always hopes that the theory will be put into practice. Also, as a college grad from EMU, we always learned the concept of empowerment. I could be talking idealistically, but I like the idea that perhaps a few more nurses are a tiny bit more “empowered” to educate others on the diabetic diet, exercise, self-cares, etc; even if it is just their own mother or grandparents, etc.

Things I am looking forward to that are coming up: In September I plan on taking a trip to visit my dear friends in Nicaragua Adam and Marisa, who are doing MCC for 3 years there. I am also hoping to stop in Choluteca, Honduras to visit my cousins Mark and Melanie who are serving there along with their children. I have found lately that I need some time spent away from Siguatepeque, and some time to reflect on my time here with people I know and love, and people who understand me and my culture, including my Mennonite beliefs. So I am definitely looking forward to a little time on the beach away from the routine of my daily life.
I also am looking forward to a missionary conference at the end of September with the missionaries of Honduras. The guest speaker will be Elizabeth Elliot’s brother, who supposedly is really great. Hopefully it will be a good time of encouragement between other foreigners serving in Honduras, and a time of restoration, and refocusing. I have high hopes. I often downplay the importance of rubbing shoulders with people who are like you when you are in a foreign land. Although I have enjoyed the independence I have here as the only VMMer here, I often feel very solo, and am thankful for the input I have of other Christian expats here.
Some struggles of Honduras: There are a lot, but to list a few of them.
1. The everlasting fight against lack of water. I will never ever EVER take for granted a hot high pressure shower. Most of the time, it’s a cold bucket bath for me. It’s frustrating. But I live in Honduras, why should I be any different from any other Honduran who occasionally has water.
2. Ever-present cultural differences. One becomes aware of how great cultural differences can be whether it be in friendships, in interactions with the opposite gender, in the professional world, or in church. Especially in the healthcare field, one finds the typical myths a people/culture has. I am going to share some of them with you further down. It is so hard sometimes to accept habits and beliefs of a different culture when they are directly contrasting to your own or seem to be just hokey.
3. Danger. I get tired of the restraints this puts on my life. I have to watch how much money I carry with me and if my purse is appropriate for where I am going. One has to plan pretty far ahead if you want to do something fun some night, because once it’s dark and you don’t have a car it is a rare time you will find anyone who would venture out with you. Hondurans are more wary than Americans actually.
4. A lot of exposure to death. I have never been exposed to such a high rate of murders. Weekly you hear of this or that assassination, etc. We have a lot of emergencies come into the hospital with wounded patient from knife wounds, machete wounds, or bullet wounds. Many of them die and I get tired of them. It’s one thing if they are in a gang; one expects those sorts of things. It’s another thing when someone comes in having been shot by someone who was robbing them for their cell phone or what not. Even worse is when someone tries to step in to help someone else getting robbed and they get shot. The violence is just ridiculous here. Human life is not valued, and people don’t think twice to take a life. It’s quite a shame. It’s this huge cycle of: poverty, lack of sanitary facilities, illness, and lack of education. This leads to young, single mothers, delinquent children, crime, drugs, and more poverty. When one looks at the big picture, it can seem like a pretty desperate situation. So much needless death, however, can be quite disconcerting and troubling and quite angering as well.
5. Seeing high rates of very very young and single mothers and children conceived between people who had no intention of investing their lives into making a child’s life beautiful. It seems like one after another is born into a situation with little opportunity to better oneself, maybe to a mother who may or may not be able to care for the baby. The thing is that there is so much emphasis placed on having children in this culture. It seems a little whack to me that people ask me if I have children, but not if I am married.
6. Living with machismo. I already posted on this one pretty heavily in another post.
So talking about interesting cultural beliefs, here are some of the popular ones amongst many:
-A woman should not eat rice or eggs or cheese (amongst others) after giving birth. Neither should she bathe for 40 days afterwards. (wrong, wrong, wrong. Sorry, there is no cultural sensitivity here. Those are all just bad ideas. Hygiene and a balanced diet are very important post-partum.)
-On newborns, many of the women believe that you need to put a red bracelet on the baby’s ankle or wrist to protect it from the “mal ojo” or the evil eye. This is to say that someone could give your baby the “evil eye” and make your baby sick. Many also bring along a “fajuelo” or a piece of cloth to wrap around the baby’s belly and umbilical stump to do, well, I still don’t know what it’s supposed to do. But you can buy factory-made fajuelos and people from all socio-economic levels use them. Our pediatrician advises against them.
-About anything can “hacerte daño,” or “do you harm.” Wearing a bra to bed, washing your hands with cold water after ironing, eating this or that, having a fan or the A/C turned on.
-People have all sorts of beliefs and tactics to elevate your hemoglobin and hematocrit, lower your blood pressure, fix your problem with “sugar” or Diabetes. My favorite is the case of “embacho.” Again, not exactly sure what it is, but when someone is sick with gastro problems, or stomach issues, or I don’t know what all, you can go to someone to “sobar” you. They give you a bitter drink (pulgante) which is a laxative, and they do some sort of massage. The funniest thing about it all, I actually came close to really consider trying it. If you’ve kept up with blogs and Facebook status updates, you will see that in the last 1 ½ years I have had a heck of a time with gastrointestinal infections. It could be that I don’t wash my veggies well, or that I ate something bad off of the street, or drank contaminated water, or who even knows? But one time I just was not feeling better, felt bloated all of the time, and it wouldn’t go away. I went to the gym, and ended up feeling better after exercising a good bit. Most doctors say that “sobando” is completely bogus. But some people swear by it, having been helped by it when no modern medicine did. But as our surgeon at the hospital says, “If you think it will help you do it, or think it will “hacerte daño” don’t.”

I find myself at times being slightly pretentious and rolling my eyes at these “stupid myths.” But I imagine that sub-consciously I have a good bit of my own stupid myths that I believe. Can anyone list any of these that we have as North Americans in our growing up and beliefs?

Other things I am learning have to do with personal growth. I am relearning the immense mercy and love of God. I am learning that God is not indifferent, and his justice is so great. Every step I make is important to him, and he wants to be present in everyday of my life. In times of doubt and anxiety, God is right there beside me wanting to hold my hand so that I am not alone. His mercy is so great to cover a multitude of sins, and his love extends beyond that to not only forgive but redirect me back into the path he desires for me. God is also teaching me my worth, and my value as his daughter. That is a wonderful thing as well.

Prayer Requests:
-That I can continue to find purpose in my work at the hospital, and look for the daily blessings of living here.
-I only have about 6 more months here. Pray that the Lord will begin to open doors for me in the path he desires for me to go for my future.


Feel free to post any thoughts you have on this post. I love to read them! Hope you are all well. Thanks for reading! With much love until the next time, Malerie