Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! It has been a crazy and abnormal month. I had all of 17 patients in the Clinic the whole month of December, I had visitors from the states (Krista and Alyssa), and had vacation for the holidays!
In my time that I was not seeing patients I spent cleaning the clinic. All meds and the front room were stripped down, freed of rat messes and bleached! I now know where almost everything is. Surprisingly the clinic is very large in compassion to all other buildings on the Finca and in compassion to how many people use the clinic and what is actually stored there.
As far as interesting cases I have a couple. One of the pregnant women who has been coming for check ups finally had her baby. We were unsure of her due date, the doctor had told her anytime in November. We brought her to the hospital Saturday night around 9pm and saw her the next morning walking around Trujillo when we arrived for mass at 8am! These women are fearless!
A young man came in asking for an antibiotic be cause sometimes he reacts to spider bites. I was not going to give him meds just for saying that, then he said "well look like this" and showed me this sweeled bump on his neck the size of a golf ball. After removing the moton de pus or mountain or pus I could see the large bite marks and how the infection had created a tunnel down into his shoulder! So I cleaned it really well and did give him the antibiotics.
Christmas here is very simple and very beatuiful, how Christmas should be. The holiday was celebrated by decorating the houses with Christmas trees. Here that means paint large twigs from the forest white and decorating it with lights and ornaments. Under each tree is a nativity completed with whatever we have, not the Willow Tree matching set. Some nativity scenes had dinosaurs, lego men, sea shells, plastic and wooden animals, you name it we probably had.
Posadas occured the 9 nights leading up to Christmas day. Posadas are the representation of Mary and Joseph passing Inn to Inn looking for a place to stay; this is a very common Latin America tradition-celebration. On the Finca one of the girls dresses as Mary and one of the boys dresses as Joseph and lead the rest of us to the first house. There we all sing asking to be let in, those inside the hoiuse sing back and reject Mary and Joseph. This happens at the second house as well an on the third try they are let in. The third house is then hosts everyone providing a small mirienda or snack and tema or talk for that night. There is something beautiful about the Posadas and it is hard to explain without experiencing it for yourself.
Christmas Eve everyone on the Finca is cooking, and I mean EVERYONE! We had our last posada which lead us to the chapel for a obra or skit-play by the younger kids. Chirstmas Eve Mass was then held and the great Feast began. We had Tomales, chicken, salad, carrot cake bread, rice, veggies, fresco or pop (I am the only one who calls it pop here, everyone so kindly reminds me it is soda or soda pop....right!). We danced the night way like every big celebration here. You can bet money that they will always play Justin Beeber and "Stand By Me". During the dance Amanda, Alyssa, and I acted on Santa{s behave and helped put the appropirate gifts in the correct houses during the dance. Just before midnight we all walked out to the Campo or soccer feild and prayed and sang one last song before it was Christmas morning. Once 12am hit we hugged and wished everyone a Feliz Navidad.
Christmas day everyone had an hour to chat witht heir families. I was able to hear my the beautiful voices of some one my cousins and my aunt and uncle as well as my mom and dad and Jesse. It was sooooo wonderful to hear them all! It had not felt like Christmas till I talked with my parents and Jesse and could picture them sitting around the kitchen table in their PJs eating monckey bread and hearing about which gift this Christmas Dad was going to return. Ther is no snow here it is so warm it feels like summer all the time! After my 60 minutes of Minnesota Christmas talk all the vols relaxed together by going down to compamento a resort about a 10 minute walk on the beach, drank some pop, cervesas, or voka and spirte (Amanda), while we sat around the pool. It was so beautiful. I am excited to be here for one more Christmas though, it will never be like this in the states.
The new year was bright in much quieter. Many of the older volunteers are on vacation and so there has only been about 8 of us here at a time. We all miss our community in many different ways for many different reasons.
Some funny stories: Cesar, 12 years old house 5 boy told me he was having pain in his eye. I asked if he wanted eye drops and he said no, it was probably from winking at the girls all the time! Sigri 19 year old house 6 girl with cognitive impairment asked when my friends were coming back so she could play with them and not me! House 1 girls cannot say my name so they say Di-di-ly, and so some of the vols have started that. But it was even weirder to hear Krista and Alyssa to call me
D-Day and nick name Phil started in Guatemala that really stuck I don{t even know how it started!
A learning moment: Juan Carlos 14 year old house 5 boy apologized after a long drawn out confrontation with me. It started with him putting another kid on his shoulders and riding the bike. I told him to put the bike back for the day he threw it at me and said some choice words, and the disrespect continued for two more days. I walked away crying and thought why did I ever think I could be a parent. I then was also very thankful for my parents patience through my teenage years and beyond as well as sorry for everytime I was disrepectful. He came over to the vol house right before dinner and just stood by me till I asked if her was ready to talk. His simple apology said "just want to say sorry it will not happen again cheque"!
This next month brings: JAMIE, another good friend from camp and nurse! Physical exams for the kids, they hate doctors, glad I am not one! And the return of the whole community! Sorry this was a long one, thank you to all who still read this I really do appreciate the time you take to stay connect in what little ways I can! Much love and prayers!!!! Deirdre
