Tuesday August 2nd 2011

The plan today was to clean the house and pack. I woke up at 8am and did an hour workout. After working out and feeling quite satisfied I ate breakfast and began to clean the kitchen and living room. While I was doing this I began to complete the left over laundry I had. Its so weird how much dirt accumulates in this house and how this house needs so much more scrubbing and cleaning for me to at least feel somewhat clean in it. A full garbage can later while also completing more than half of my laundry and cleaning the kitchen, throwing away vegetables, the house was in a much better state. I almost forgot my meeting and rushed on campus at 12:15pm. Upon reaching Dr. McKays office I discovered that I was an hour early but she agreed to still have the meeting. After talking and catching up I suggested having a nutrition intervention or exercise intervention. She loved it! We started making other interventions ideas and she discussed the importance of getting in touch with Dr. Corvin especially in moving the project forward.

Dr, McKay also talked about involving the University of Southern California, Victoria University and Viturbia University. USF would still remain as the central university since this is mainly our project but having other involvement will help in asking the project actually work.  We also discussed the importance of the professional development of Alicia and Tita especially with sustainability. I also discussed the importance of removing the stigma surrounding mental health in San Martin and having that become a component of our project. McKay loved that idea. 

Another idea Dr. McKay suggested was a focus on men’s health issues especially since Public Health has really focused on Women’s health and women’s issues which are important but the lack of focus on men’s health has pushed many people away. I agree, we definitely have to redraw public health to include everyone. We also have to start looking for funds for our projects and writing proposals, which should be extremely exciting because there are many calls to proposals currently for the Caribbean and Central America Region. My only fear is that the project may loose the focus we have wanted to target if others involved do not understand where we want to go with this. I also worry about the sustainability of the project. 

Monday August 1st 2011

Today I was finally able to meet with Marissa. She finally showed up after me trying to get a hold of her for the past week. After trying to get our deposit back I became frustrated and just couldn’t deal with her anymore. She has tried to make this experience very un-enjoyable because she has definitely tried to milk us and take advantage. KARMA will get her back! After she left I continued with re-checking the entry to ensure that there were no mistakes in data entry and then started to look at some of our results. I’ve been doing some preliminary views on the surveys collected and it seems very interesting. Towards the late afternoon I started cleaning and doing some housecleaning. At 4pm I went on campus to use the internet and send out some emails and then met with Ruud who came over to watch "Basketball Wives"” our guilty pleasure here in Belize. After dinner was over I noticed the quietness in the house and it is becoming more apparent that time is going by.

Saturday July 30th 2011 (Belmopan Day)

Today morning I had to call Chris and Rich to inform them that I wouldn’t be joining them for church since I had the house keys and my roommate wasn’t yet home. They sounded disappointed and I was disappointed too. Thinking that Suzie would arrive by 11am like she had informed me, I waited around and prepared myself to leave the house however by 3pm she had not arrived. By then I was frustrated of waiting at home and decided to walk to the neighborhood park where I could hear music playing( I left a note letting Suzie know where I was incase she came later). Walking over to the park was a great idea because it is actually Belmopan Day today. Today is when the culture of Belmopan is showcased to its inhabitants and all those who want to take part. The coolest part of the day was the steel drum band that played songs from lady Gaga to Bruno Mars. After hanging out at their booth I walked around to other booths that were mostly food vendors and ran into Roberta who was at a booth with her husband showcasing the things they sell at their computer store. After sitting with them for a while and chatting I decided to try my luck at horse riding since the prices were pretty cheap. As I looked at the horses and decided which horse to take for a ride an owner came over and told me he would let me take one of his horses for free. Feeling a little uneasy I said thank you but I would rather pay. The advances eventually progressed to him asking me whether I wanted a boyfriend on the side despite me telling him I was already taken. He even admitted to being married and I was very disgusted and he was making all these advances in front of his 9-year-old son. I was embarrassed for him and sorry for his son. Because I was disgusted I decided not to get on any horses until later when someone older was also around. When I went back to Roberta and told her the story she said she was not surprised. That could be one way STI’s get transmitted so easily, awareness has to start somewhere, but how do you tackle this issue to show men that having extramarital affairs hurts their families?

At 5pm Suzie and her boyfriend joined us at the Belmopan fair by then some of the booths had cleared out and a Dunk contest had begun. After watching the games we listened to some Punta Rock and walked home at 9pm. Tomorrow Suzie will and her boyfriend will be leaving to go to Caye Caulker and will be leaving the country after that. I officially will have 12 days left in Belize. Where has the time gone?

Monday July 25th- friday July 29th

 

Data Entry

On Monday I woke up, ran at 7am and did a 20 minutes workout. Perfect start to a day. When I was finished Suzie was still asleep. I decided to prepare myself for the day. At 11am we headed for the UB library. While there I tried to fix the Epi Info database but after 4 hours I realized that the file was corrupted and was exhausted. We then went home at 5 and Suzie decided to reenter the Epi Info since I felt so frustrated with the program. By 9pm the Epi Info had been redone and I decided to do a 30-minute workout. As I headed out to the balcony I looked up and saw the largest spider I had ever seen. After running back inside and refusing to workout outside I decided to do my workout in the living room. Lately there have been more spiders coming out so maybe that’s the big mom or something. Either way I was inside and it was outside. After my workout I headed to bed.

            Tuesday morning was much the same. I woke up to do a 20-minute kickboxing workout. After that I readied myself for the day. By 10am I had began entering the data into Epi Info. At 12pm Suzie headed to the library while I stayed home working on the Epi Info until 3pm.  Suzie then came in at 3:30pm and continued working on the data entry. We are coming to the end.

            On Wednesday Suzie left to go get her boyfriend while I continued working on data entry. By the time she came back it was 2:30pm and since they had arrived late they decided to go and get lunch. By 7pm they returned. By then I had prepared dinner and was watching “Captain America”. I don’t understand how they have movies that have just opened in the U.S playing on TV. Gotta love the black-market.  At night, Suzie entered some surveys and we went to bed.

            On Thursday, Suzie and her boyfriend left for their vacation in San Ignacio and are supposed to return tomorrow afternoon, while I continued working on entering the surveys. I also tried opening up the work that Suzie added but could not locate it and had to start re-entering data. Thinking that Suzie would return to Belmopan on Friday evening so that I could get help at entering the remaining data I was instead informed that I wouldn’t be getting any help since Suzie would be staying that Friday night and coming on Saturday morning. Thus the remaining time was spent on entering the houses into Epi Info. We have officially completed 155 households. Data analysis will begin this weekend.

Sunday July 24th 2011

 Life and death

I woke up at 6am since we were supposed to be in San Ignacio by 9am. After getting ready I sat in the living room and waited for Suzie to emerge from her room at 7:15 I knocked on her door to discover she had not awoken yet. After asking her if she could be ready in a few minutes I waited and hoped we wouldn’t be late for our appointment with the horses. By 7:35 we had left and that meant we had missed the opportunity to catch the 7:30 am bus. As we walked to the bus stop I wondered about horses and the entire experience and whether we would make it on time (especially since we had haggled our way down to $25 US and did not have a receipts. When we go t to the bus stop at 7:55pm we saw that the next bus was supposed to come at 8am. 8am came and passed, next bus 8:15am. That came and passed. I was now more worried. At 8:50am the bus pulled in, to make it worse the bus was really full and we had a difficult time finding seats. In the end we ended up sitting three to a seat which doesn’t usually happen. I think the bus management felt bad since the bus  was so late that they allowed us all on the bus. Once we were packed in we headed to San Ignacio. At least it wasn’t raining outside because that would have meant closed windows and hot air in such close proximity.

Once we got to San Ignacio I was approached by the taxi driver who said he had been waiting for us. We got in and headed back towards Lomaloss SDA hospital and pulled of a road headed to the stables. Once there we realized how hot it. HOT!! After the taxi driver talked to the stable hands they prepared the horses for us to ride. While we waited we talked to the stable hand of the other stable who said we should have come earlier because the other horses had just left. I didn’t know what he meant since the horses were in their stables and we could see them. I then understood what he said when one of the horses they were preparing for us decided to just fall on its side. UMMM NO!! I definitely was rethinking this horse-riding experience. Was it worth it to get on a horse that wasn’t that stable? What was even wrong with the horse, was it rabid? After being adamant they brought another 2 years old brown horse for me ride. They then told us that it would be good to ride bareback since it was easier on our legs. We tried bareback, it was a no go. We then got English saddles put on the horses. As we were about to head out another couple who owned two horses said they would not ride the horse I was assigned because it was being trained to race. Because of this the stable hands decided to pony-ride us (meaning they would hold the horses while we were on them) to the river. After hearing about the sewage in the Macal I don’t think I will be going in for a dip especially since we are down river from where the release occurs. As we rode my horse would get a little startled by cars but once we were out in the open country it was quiet except the clicking of the horses hooves and me making conversation with the stable hand holding my horse. As he kept reassuring me about my safety I asked him questions about his life how he got started with horses, Belize, etc. it was a good conversation as I learned a lot about horses and taking care of them. By the time we got to the river I was a lot more calmer and we took a break by the river while the horses went into the water to cool down and ate nearby grass. After 45 minutes we headed back to the stables. On our way back they et the horses trott which was a little scary but pretty awesome. When we got back to the stable we helped to wash down the horses to cool them off. By then more people were gathered drinking Belkins. After 20 minutes we were invited to sit under the tent with them while we waited for the taxi to come back.

The conversations occurring around us were funny and varied. We then learned that we were in the midst of some of the gagsters of San Ignacio from one of the stable hands. He even said if you were alone with your bag you would be robbed but you are here with us and we are happy so you are okay. We then heard stories about racing horses and the importance of not caring what other people say. As we waited, more men came and pulled out some drug paraphernalia. I declined and sat in conversation with the other stable hands. Some of the stable hands then headed to the stable we had rented horses from and the stable hand we were with explained that 2 of the horses had laminitis because they had had diets that were unbalanced and mainly consisting of protein. We asked about who bought the food and we were told that the owner of the horse was somewhere in France partying and had not provided food for a while. They then told us that the horse had to be killed because there was no cure for laminitis and the horse had benne suffering for a while. One of the guys they led the horse away as it limped. It was sad because all the other horses became tuned in and just started quietly in their direction. After a while the taxi pulled up. As we talked we heard the distant sound of a gun shot. I guess the deed had been done. I cant believe my ears were witness to that.

            As we headed back to San Ignacio I couldn’t help but wonder about the fragility of life. We then headed to Cahal Pech, walked around, took picture. On our way out we talked with the lady who sells souvenirs and I was able to see Xichel and the medicine man (not sure what his name is in Maya). She then told us that pregnant women should not eat cool things but only warm things she even said that they shouldn’t eat certain fruits like pears. It would be great to do some type of medical anthropology class here in Belize. I think I would learn a lot. After walking back down the hill we headed to the San Ignacio hotel where we lounged in the pool for an hour and a half before heading back to Belmopan with beef quesadillas.  It was a successful day besides the horse dying.

Saturday July 23rd 2011

San Ignacio

Basking in the excitement of getting an awesome grade on my EOH (Environmental Occupational health) final exam, this morning Suzie and I went to San Ignacio. I was really excited today morning because yesterday evening I discussed with Suzie what things I had yet to do and really wanted to get accomplished here in Belize. Since Suzie hadn’t been to San Ignacio we headed there at 10am. The ride took the usual 1-hour and some minutes. When we got there we headed to the market, which is a few steps from the bus station, and walked around to see what mementos we could purchase to take back with us. After walking around and scoping the stalls we planned our plan of attack and were able to purchase a few of the slate stone Mayan calendars and some necklaces. Since Suzie is planning to come back to San Ignacio with her boyfriend later this week we walked around San Ignacio looking for tour companies and prices for different activities. I still want to go horse back riding. The prices we got were $50 US and up for 2 hours and the price went up as you increased time. We then went to a local restaurant which also houses Sergio who gave us an awesome quote earlier when we had gone to Caracol earlier in June. His price quote was also a little high. Since we were already in the restaurant we decided to get lunch. It was hard to make a decision but after getting input from individuals who worked in the restaurant we settled on Pineapples juice and Beef quesadillas, Mmmh GOODNESS!!!!

After quenching our first and satisfying our hunger we headed back to the bus station and stopped at a tour company and after haggling we were able to get horse back riding for 4hours for $25. JACKPOT!!! We then went to the market to purchase some melons (Cantaloupe and watermelon) and pineapple but got sidetracked b the Macal River. There we met a gentleman named Michael who we talked with for a while. He revealed to us that the Macal river was not clean because sewage was allowed to seep into it and he did not understand how both political parties would not do anything to prevent the sewage from leaking into the water. We then headed back onto the bus satisfied and excited for the horse back riding that is going down tomorrow but convinced that we would not set foot into the river.

Tuesday July 19th through Friday July 22nd

             These past days we have had off to do homework and prepare and take out final exams. Suzie and I have been at the library studying daily, looking over our assignments. On Wednesday I was so nervous because I was unsure of whether I would do well because of pre-exam jitters. It is also exam week here at UB so we have seen a larger than normal group of students here at the library studying for exams. Everyone seems a little stressed. My hope is that the internet does not go out or that power does not fail us, but its been sunny lately so I don’t think power will go out especially when it sunny and there are no environmental elements messing with the power or internet. Suzie and I have also been running every evening, which has really helped to relieve stress.

On Friday I woke up at 7am and looked over exam notes. I debated bringing my earplugs but talked myself out of it since it was a Friday and the library was normally empty on Fridays and I wouldn’t need it, or so I thought.  I walked to the library to start the exam at 9am. By 9:30 am I was ready to start and logged into the exam. There were not a lot of people at the library, which was good because there was not that much noise to contend with and I had enough space on the table to spread my materials out. 100 questions, 2hrs and 30 minutes. I remember thinking please don’t let anything go wrong and I began the exam. 20 minutes into the exam Suzie walked into the library and inquired whether I had started. With a quick nod she was aware that it was in progress. I noticed that the Internet was a little slow but at least it was in working order. When I got to question 30 there was a time out in the Internet, which made me, freak out since I was already falling behind. I asked Suzie if the Internet had gone out and she agreed. Within a few seconds it was back on and I continued to do the exam. At question 40 it timed out for a few minutes and I asked Carmen if it was out. She concurred and proceeded to call the technology department at UB while I cursed internally and became angry. Within a few more minutes it resumed but my timer on my exam was still ticking forward. I remember thinking “this better not happen again” and of course at question 51 it happened after 1 hour and 10 minutes had passed. By then I was over the UB Internet and I told Suzie I was relocating to the one place where Internet was guaranteed, the Bull Frog. Although, I had agreed earlier in June not to return to the Bull Frog because of their service I was desperate. I packed hurriedly and Suzie packed her belongings. I am so grateful that UB has taxi’s services right outside the library so I approached one with my laptop wide open and told him “make haste to Bull Frog, I am taking an exam right now, please”. I think the look on my face really expressed the urgency in my voice and we were on my way. 5 minutes later we pulled into Bull Frog and I rushed inside while Suzie helped by hooking up my computer to the power outlets and I continued my exam. Of course since Bull Frog is a hotel/restaurant the radio was blaring and we were approached on whether we wanted to eat. I really did not care and so Suzie ordered a coke for me while I continued my exam. With all the stress around from relocating and the radio I started to feel like I wouldn’t get enough time to go over questions so I started to give best guesses to questions and also stated to mark down these questions on a sheet of paper. I was running out of time and quickly. Even though the exam was an open book exam I had already lost considerable time and started to get very sad. At 2hours and 25 minutes I made it to question 99 and went back to the questions I had left blank. Oh yea, thank you black board for having Test survey which allows you to see al your questions at once and see all the blank ones so that you don’t have to go through each question to get to the blank question, THANK YOU.

            Anyway, I was able to go over the 12 or so questions and give my best guess, I then went to question 100 answered and with 30 seconds to spare submitted my exam, with the feeling of dread and sadness. I then emailed my professor and explained my sadness on how I did not think I did well. After so much sadness I started talking to my sister about the exam and expressed my sadness. I was very angry with the Internet and I was over Belize, I deserve and “A” because I studied my material, I just needed more time. After waiting a few minutes and trying to lift my spirits I still wished I would get an answer from my professor either confirming my fears rejecting them. After 3 hours I got an answer. I did amazingly well a 93!, Guess who got an A? I did!!!

Belize has certainly showed me how much I appreciate small things like Internet. The grade was a good close to the summer semester and gives me 3 weeks of no stress especially about schoolwork, well besides the IFE. Talk to you on Monday.

Monday July 18th 2011

This week will be filled with homework and study. Today morning Suzie and I woke up and headed into San Martin to try to complete the last 4 surveys we have. Alicia wont be able to help us because she is officially on vacation and Tita has began her work with the city council, so it will be interesting. I really wonder why Dr.McKay doesn’t want us to enter San Martin alone. I think having to rely on ourselves is also a good lesson because sometimes you may never get the support when doing research. Regardless, we entered San martin alone today and visited one of the last houses that we were unsure about language. Once getting there we were relieved to have English speakers and we commenced with the survey questionnaire. After 45 minutes we thanked the household and headed back to UB since the remaining houses were Spanish speakers. It feels really awesome to have all these survey’s done and the database completed. After heading home to pick up our computers and books we headed for the cool, refreshing A.C. powered library where we would be sending the rest of our day.

            At Lunch we ate at our usual spot Ice point and after lunch I went to visit Mrs. Pallacio who is in charge of housing for international students and who has also agreed to assist me in finding a housing solution for the days after my lease is done here in Belmopan. I headed to her office after 1pm knowing that there was a higher probability of her being there after one but when I got there she was not in. Instead I met her 12-year-old son who was holding down the fort. We made small talk and talked about sports, (Skateboarding, surfing, soccer). He is a really amazing person and very nice. After about 45 minutes Hope walked in ( I don’t mean that feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen). Hope, a Nigerian student attending UB has been a great person who smiles constantly and wishes me well every time I see him. Today instead of the smile he constantly wears on his face he seemed more anxious. I asked him what was wrong and he proceeded to tell me about his long day which began with the statement I am running for city council member. I was a little bewildered especially since he is Nigerian and he proceeded to tell me how he had become a citizen, the passing of his father, his medical school journey and his hopes to be a politician. He then shared a Nigerian proverb with me which goes something around the lines of “a young inexperienced, immature boy should not go looking for the thing that killed his dad until he is mature and ready because that same thing will kill him”. After a little bit more chit chat and talking about the difference between Nigerians and Ghanaians we laughed and I headed off, having yet to meet Mrs. Pallacio. I wrote her a note and left it with her son, a little worried that I was running out of time to secure a placement. I will return tomorrow.

In the evening after talking with Ruud for a while about bugs and the scary creepy crawling creatures that lurk around and unsafe drinking water, Suzie and I headed home where we began our 30 minute workout courtesy of Nike. After our Nike workout we began talking about how awesome it would be to have an intervention next ear where we teach exercise classes to the San Martin community. I have noticed that many of the women definitely have pronounced central adiposity. Also most household surveys were completed by women so it would be pretty cool to have women have an exercise class where they get to mingle with other women (emotional support) build community support and get healthy. I think it would be awesome also to check BMI and body measurements beforehand and then do a follow-up each year where we teach them about simple exercises that can be done at home and simple recipes or educate them about using less salt etc. I’m pumped now I think it’s a great idea that can change lives for the better. There are a few logistical components that need consideration but MAN! that would do a lot of good for a long period. After our talk we began to enter the last part of the questions that had been modified in the form of check-boxes to make it much easier for data analysis by the time we finished it was 1AM and I was exhausted. Next year can be awesome if we do an exercise intervention.

Saturday July 16th and Sunday July 17th 2011

Today I was not able to go to church with Chris and Rich. They are currently in Caye Caulker. I plan on visiting next week so I am excited and I have another person to ask advice on where to stay and where to go. Because I did not go to church I was able to sleep in for a while longer but since it is really hot here in Belize, a while longer was 30 minutes more. Once awake I prepared myself an omelet with spinach, onions and tomatoes, which would go well with my doxycycline (malaria medication). After sitting around all day not really doing anything productive I decided to head to the UB campus and use internet for a while to read emails, Facebook (is this a verb?), check on class work and talk to loved ones. It was then that I was informed about the Human Bot fly. Apparently this fly is here in Belize and had the unfortunate chance to watch extraction of the larvae from an individual who had visited Belize. Fun stuff! Now I’m a little freaked because the mosquitoes here are crazy and the bug bites hurt like crazy. Once it was dark  (around 6:45pm) I walked back with Ruud (student from the Netherlands, doing research on Belizean culture) and Suzie. We parted ways and once home Suzie and I went over all the surveys looking at all the qualitative answers and finding ways to generalize the answers to make data entry easier. By 11:30pm we had completed all the qualitative answers and were exhausted and ready for bed.

Today (Sunday) I slept in until 9:30Am, a first for me this entire time I have been in Belize. After eating breakfast I started to study for my final exam but halfway through, because of the hot climate I had a mini nap and woke up at 1:45pm. I continued to study while Suzie watched the Women’s world cup final (Japan vs. US). After studying a considerable amount of time and watching the medal awarded to Japan, Suzie decided to leave to go on campus and use the Internet while I stayed home and continued to study. At 5:15pm, tired from studying I took a break and watched TV. There is nothing better than flipping through channels when your brain is exhausted. At 6:15pm I decided to go out for a jog, which was very refreshing. By the time I returned back home it was 6:45pm and the sun was setting. Suzie then returned 15 minutes after and I continued to workout. After my workout I prepared myself for bed and also started thinking about how far the needs assessment process has come. Tomorrow we will only have 4 houses to return to and then we enter data. It blows my mind how quickly time has gone by and I don’t know where the time has gone. Its really funny, I entered Belize at 25 and I’m leaving Belize 26. Time really has flown by.

Friday July 15th 2011

Today morning a little tired with the housing situation and since we weren’t really getting any answers from Marissa we called the landlord. He is very approachable ad we expressed our concern and soon discovered that we had been overcharged and taken advantage of. Since it is almost the end there is nothing we can do and since we signed a contract we cant really get our money back. We now know not to ever deal with Marissa again and we know that we need to instead have a home stay. Also early planning is going to be crucial to saving money next year. The landlord felt bad for our situation and seemed a little upset that he had also lost out on a considerable amount of money. I think because we were in such a sad situation he decided to help us go and pay our electricity bill and then took us back to San Martin. I’m glad to finally know the truth and know how much we have lost especially after hearing it from so many people that we really got taken advantage. In the afternoon we then completed 4 houses later in the evening we ran and worked out. I’m so over this housing experience.

Tuesday July 12-Thursday 14th 2011

Last night the rain fell like cats and dogs and the cat meowed the whole night while hiding inside my windowsill. I felt so bad but I’m not sure what diseases this cat carries and I don’t want to find out. I would wake up periodically and it would be purring but once it sensed that I was awake it would meow and rub against the window. I want a cat so bad now. In the morning while I readied myself for surveying I left some food for the cat and we left.

Our first meeting was with Dr. McKay. She is really set on us achieving only 100 houses. So today I presented my case, we have enough time to get a little more. Finally after 10 minutes or so we both compromised. I agreed not to include the last houses in the back of San Martin which we have titled Zone 3 and that it would be beneficial for us to at least complete all the houses in the main part of San Martin. I think this is a good compromise that way we don’t use a lot more surveys than intended and we also get a better number. Dr. McKay’s office will be giving us another 30 surveys however Mrs. Pate has indicated that it may take much longer than a day to get survey copies and to return in the afternoon.

When we returned in the afternoon the surveys were not yet made. Roberta had also just arrived from her internship in Belize City and I felt really bad since she had taken time out of her day and we were not going to be able to accomplish much.  In the evening we decided to eat at the mom-and-pop establishment across from Ice Point, we then headed back to our house where I taught Roberta Epi-Info . After Epi Info Suzie and I went running in the community behind our house, which was a welcomed adrenaline rusher. Wednesday was very similar to Tuesday, however I have began to notice that women from the surrounding countries are more likely to use contraceptives than women from Belize. Very interesting.

On Thursday we were able to complete all the sections in San Martin, which means all households have been visited at least once and we need to revisit some of the households that did not have a family member present. To award myself on Thursday night I watched “the Blind Side” which is a great feel good movie. My spirits were definitely lifted.

Monday July 11th 2011

            Despite the rain today, which started last night, we were able to get over 10 houses done. It seems as though the rainy season has officially started but what can we do but go with the flow. Despite the heavy rain today Tita opened up to me more about her family. Since she is the only one with a stable income and since she is a council member she has a lot of pressure from her family to provide but she also has to provide for her own family. Today, she let me know that her brother had tried to commit suicide over the weekend. I don’t know the details but that is pretty serious. She seems a little angry about the whole thing maybe a little frustrated. Her brother is an alcoholic and has been fighting with her parents who are old. I now understand why she always says she feels like giving up, that’s a lot of pressure, to be expected to provide when you don’t even have enough to give to yourself. As we surveyed she talked and let it out and by the end she seemed to feel a lot better. I think I may be an outlet for her because she doesn’t have anyone to talk to. This experience begs me to question what type of mental health intervention can be put in San Martin without the stigma that is associated with mental health issues?

            Also, this morning Alicia told me that she is currently in trouble with the City Council and that this is the second time that she has been called in to a meeting with them. It has something to do with her title as community health worker, which she has apparently lost because of what sounds like mismanagement. I hope her participation does not affect results but how will we find this out? As a result of this meeting she wasn’t able to help us in the morning but only in the afternoon.

            To further confirm my suspicion, today I had a household refuse to participate in the survey in the evening. It was interesting because Alicia had approached the family and they had shut her down completely but when Tita approached they opened their house and wanted to participate.  Its very interesting because Suzie has told me that there have been occasions were Alicia has not wanted to go to certain houses because people don’t like her. I haven’t had that experience with Tita at all. Since she is a schoolteacher and knows a lot of the families and she is also a council member people seems to have respect for her and want to talk to her. Maybe it’s because of her power, but it could also be because she is respected in the community.

            In the afternoon after lunch we ran into Marissa who is claiming that we have not put down any money for utilities. I explain to her some more that we have and she continued to deny. I really need to get a copy of our lease to show her we paid her money. UGH! Why is the lease not here? This is so frustrating, Word of advice if you want to stay in Belize its better to do a home stay with a family so that you don’t get swindled out of money.

            As I walked home back across campus with Suzie, tired and excited but a little irritated we met a kitten who meowed at us and would rub himself on our feet. We were drawn to his meowing and continued to rub him, which I guess got him interested in us. As a result the cat followed us home. Because he was so skinny we gave him some Tuna and so now we have a cat. I hope she is not rabid because that would suck. She is also really lovey and if your arms or hands are near the floor she will run to them and meow and try to get rubbed down. Makes me want to get a cat when I get home.

Sunday July 10th 2011

Lions and Tigers, oh my!

Today we went to the Belize Zoo. Awesome experience. Tell me a place where you can come face to face with a Jaguar or a Puma and have it roar in your face? Belize Zoo. Not only did we get to see the communication between two howler monkey families separated by land we also got to meet pretty amazing animals. The Belize zoo is located on the Western Highway and was started by Sharon Matola from Baltimore who took care of the animals that had been accustomed to living under the care of humans after the filming the movie “Path of the Raingods”. Suzie and I boarded the bus at the Bus station in Belmopan and boarded a bus headed to Belize City. The bus ticket was approximately 2Bz and took about 25 minutes mostly due to the stopping and going. As we neared the zoo it began to rain and i became disheartened because it was so sunny in Belmopan there were no clouds. We were worried that we would now not get to really appreciate all the zoo had to offer because of the grey skies above but all we experienced were light showers.

As we disembarked the rain stopped and we began the walk into the Belize zoo, but the sun was not shining and grey skies covered the sky. The price to get into the zoo is $14U.S.  The zoo is on 29 acres and is home to animals endemic to Belize and many of the animals are rescue animals. We got to see the Tapir, a mother and child (similar to a rhino), gibnuts, scarlet macaws, puma, jaguars with an “S”, white tailed deer, howler moneys and their crazy calls, and a python.

Because of the grey skies we were able to walk around the zoo and spend a lot of time in front of different animals’ enclosures without the noise from overcrowded spaces. Most of the sounds we heard were from the animals and birds chirping. As we headed back to the entrance one of the zoo keepers had removed the boa constrictor and allowed us to carry it and take pictures and ask questions. Awesome experience! After walking around more we were able to come face to face with the jaguars and watch them during feeding. Having a jaguar roar in your face is one of the most exhilarating/frightening things I have ever experienced.

 After spending over 2 hours enjoying the zoo we headed back to Belmopan, however on our way back the front right tire on our school bus popped and the bus driver and conductor decided to change the tire while it was full of passengers. I decided to get of the bus and witness the whole thing which took about 45 minutes of sweaty, muscle wrenching work. In the end after multiple curses were said, the bus driver and conductor changed the tire and I aided in providing wet wipes to remove the grime off their hands (they were grateful, go tourists!) We arrived back in Belmopan at 6:30pm and walked home thoroughly satisfied at experiencing the animals and the tire change 

July 9th 2011

Saturday July 9^th

Today Chris and Rich picked me up at 8:45am and we headed to church in St.Thomas as we have all the past Saturday’s. We picked up two hitchhikers who were also going to St. Thomas and then headed on to church.  Today’s preacher was the same preacher we had last week. The opening story was about the importance of family and after this past week with my birthday and getting sick on Thursday I cannot agree more. I especially miss having them around and cannot wait to head back and sleep at home. After church we headed to their house and had curry vegetables and rice.  It was also an opportunity for me to see the stories presented in the Belize newspapers.

The newspapers here are very different and mostly have stories of people being killed or chopped up. One story that stuck out was about a father who had chopped his two daughters with a machete after they had been in an altercation with their younger sister. The two daughters also threw acid in his face.  Another story was about a man who was found dead after a graduation party. My mouth the whole time was open and I now understand why many people feel like Belize is becoming more lawless. There is a lot of crime. I kept asking Chris and Rich where are the good stories? It is very interesting and definitely gives a lot of insight into the country of Belize.

Upon reaching home I remembered that today was the first day that South Sudan was a country and now I wonder is it being set up for failure since there is a lack of infrastructure. I also wonder if my family is okay. Belize online newspapers.

Thursday and Friday July 7-8th 2011

What started out as a productive day yesterday quickly turned into a nightmare. I woke up at 8am and felt okay, maybe a little hot but okay. By 9am I was feeling a little tired but was okay. When Suzie returned form using the internet at UB to send some urgent emails we headed into San Martin and began surveying the households that needed to be visited. Suzie and I had talked previously that we had wanted to have our “cultural brokers”(Mrs. Tita and Mrs. Alicia) help us identify all the Spanish and Maya speaking households, that’s way we could tackle these households first so that they would not have to come out with us everyday for the entire day since we are almost done with surveying all sections. As we l divided up the street we Tita and Alicia began pointing out all the houses that were non-English. Our first house was a Mayan house but the woman of the house spoke fairly good English but needed some questions translated because she did not understand them that well. I often wonder how well the questions are being translated and whether the questions are being interpreted in a totally different way. As we continued through the questions I started having mild cramps but they were not terribly painful. We then thanked the woman of the household and continued to the next household. While walking I used anti-bacterial and wiped my hands and then took an Aspirin with 2 gulps of the purified water. Our next household was a mother of two boys who had just moved into San Martin a few weeks ago. I introduced myself, asked if she would consent, she agreed and I started the survey process. Halfway through, I started to get more painful cramps but I tried to keep a straight face and finish the survey. Towards the end of the survey I had started to sweat profusely and I excused myself and went outside of the house to catch a fresh breath of air. It seemed like an eternity passed in those 10 minutes as Tita was also trying to get registration information about the households for the City council. By then I was writhing in pain. I gestured to Tita and told her that I was not feeling great and was going to walk home. She texted Alicia as I started walking home. Less than 25 feet away I started becoming photosensitive and decided to sit on a concrete fence to catch my breath and drink my water. I noticed that my hearing was becoming sharper/dull or muted (hard to explain). My thoughts were: “Great, now I’m going to pass out here and I cant even contact my parents”. Suddenly Alicia and Suzie were around me asking me if I was okay and we decided that it would be best to move under a shade. As I sat in the shade all I could think was “I need to get home”. The head of the household came out and asked if I was okay and offered to take me home. Within minutes we were in his car and on our way bumping because of the unpaved road. This movement did not sit well with my stomach and I had to ask him to stop 3 times so that I could open the door and vomit. Not a good look.

After 5 minutes we were home and I rushed into the bathroom and sat under the cool shower. By then Suzie had gone to the local store and purchased Gatorade to replenish my lost electrolytes. After taking a few sips I still felt sick and decided to lie down with the fan blowing over my body. Any sudden movement felt uncomfortable and I wondered why this had happened. To deal with the painful cramps I decided to try to take aspirin once again and hopefully I would be able to keep it down. After 30-45 minutes of more pain the cramps became a little subdued and I was able to close my eyes an drift off in a light sleep.  Suzie then called Dr. McKay and Dr. Hoare who jointly agreed that I should take the day off and rest until Monday. The rest of the day was spent with me sleeping in bed and trying to keep food down.  The entire night was spent restlessly and I decided to watch “Coco avant chanel” by 3am the pain had subsided and I was able to sleep.

Friday morning I woke up at 9am ate some breakfast and was on the alert for any uneasiness, by 10am I was convinced that I was okay and headed to the UB library to do some homework and a quiz. By 5pm I had finished majority of the work and was not as stressed as I was earlier in the week. In 2 weeks I will be officially done with this class.

Wednesday July 6th

Day 5 of data collection. We are hoping to get all the houses done by this weekend but it seems like Belize has another idea. Today we walked out determined to get a lot done. By 9am we had located Tita and Alicia, however Tita was busy because she had been called by the City to locate a woman who lived in San Martin. As she left Alicia, Suzie and myself I wondered if I would get different responses from individuals I would be interviewing. As we started we divided the street and I went to some houses that I was going to visit a second time. After visiting them and finding no one I started on the street we had split up. My first house was a Spanish-speaking house. No interview. My second house was Spanish. By then I was starting to wonder if I would get any houses completed. Half way through it become sweltering hot and I started to sweat like crazy. I decided to stop by a stream/gutter and the amount of snails I saw was astounding. I wonder if there are high rates of schistosomiasis here? It would be interesting to see what other parasites exist in the water and what kids and people here are carrying. My third house luckily was an English speaker but she was in the middle of work so I agreed to come back later. After walking a while I located Alicia and Suzie and we decided that we needed to have all the Spanish households identified so those houses would be interviewed earlier just in case Tita or Alicia could not come out with us on some days. We then interviewed the Spanish speaking houses and our first household consisted of 15 people. The grandmother of the household admitted to having to give up one of her daughters for adoption because she could not afford to take care of all her children. The daughter she had given up for adoption was also helping to translate our study questions and I wondered how she felt about being given up? After finishing two more houses it was lunchtime and we departed ways and I went ahead and interviewed the other two English speaking houses, as I started on my last house the sky grayed and it began to rain heavily, the lady I was interviewing invited me into her house and we sat around the dinning room table as I interviewed her. At the end since the rain had not let up yet she asked me questions about myself and the project which I freely shared with her. She also told me about her family and was glad that we have taken time out of our summers so do this work which she also believes is necessary and vital. Once the rain stopped I bid the family goodbye and headed out in search of Suzie and Roberta. In the evening Roberta confirmed with Tita and Alicia about their availability and if they would be able to help in case we run over into next week? We may not have them starting next week. As we started up again t began to rain and thunder which stopped our work leaving us to only accomplish 7 houses today. 

July 5th 2011

Today was day 4 of survey collection; so far we have completed 64 surveys. After meeting with Dr.McKay and figuring out what else needed to be done, she suggested that since Suzie is an engineering student it would be beneficial to her to observe the water systems, drainage and toilets etc so that she could also get something out of this experience. We then discussed the next plan forward after we leave. We at USF have to determine what students from USF will be doing when they come in the following summer months. I definitely think a health fair should be done so that we could educate people in managing many of the chronic conditions such as CVD and diabetes. The health fair can become an element of the 5 year program so that we can at least have something to give back to the community for allowing us to study them in such great depth.At the end of our meeting Suzie and I continued to do surveys in San Martin with the help of Tita and Alicia. I am so grateful to all their help because we would have not been able to accomplish as much as we did.

July 4th a Birthday in Belize

Monday July 4^th

It’s my birthday, I turn 26 today.

Instead of partying it up I am here at the UB library using the Internet to do homework. Outside the weather is a deep gray and it seems like even if I had wanted to go somewhere I would not have been able to. Last night we had a heavy downpour of rain and it seems like it will linger possibly for the entire week. The good news is that I was able to do more homework and talk to my parents and siblings J. However I now have the worst craving for my mom’s food today, some Dove mint chocolate ice-cream and a good steak. This week we are learning about emerging diseases and all I can think about is the huge mosquito that bit me last week and getting Dengue or Malaria. Thank you for prophylactics but it’s a shame that they are not available to everyone who needs them. Also the use of DEET (which to me is cancer in a bottle) is handy here since everything can bite you. Beware of the horse flies!

July 3rd 2011

Sunday July 3^rd

Today, Cailtin, Debby and Elizabeth left to go back home (U.S). The guy on the motorcycle came at about 8am. His bike has this distinctive sound that can be heard a mile away. When he pulled up Debby freaked out because she thought he was only coming to pick up Cailtin since he had asked for her the previous day. She looked so horrified. Elizabeth and I went outside and he asked if they were ready and said he was going to UB to pick up the truck (Debby was relieved). After about 15 minutes he was back and they packed up and headed to the airport in Belize City. The House is so quiet now, but within a few hours Suzie will be arriving. Anyway, I’m exhausted and feel lazy and I turn 26 tomorrow.

Suzie arrived at around 2pm and we headed to the Bull Frog, the weather so far has been cloudy and there are intermittent showers. Of course on a Sunday, Belmopan the capital is deserted and 1 or 2 cars passes by. Suzie was so surprised at how small Belmopan is and I also expressed my dismay when I first got here because many African cities that are smaller in comparison have more activity on the weekends. After eating lunch and using the internet we walked back home to avoid getting showered in. I also emailed Dr.McKay, the dean of nursing, to ask for tomorrow off since its my birthday and it is also the Fourth of July. Hopefully I get a green light, if not, I can always celebrate when I get home.

Saturday july 2nd (aint no other day like a holy day :)

 Aint no other day like a Holy-day

Saturday July 2^nd

So today would have been the day we would do the Health Fair for San Martin but things have not really worked out as we planned. We think that next year it would be better to have the health fair especially since they take time to plan, budget for and execute. Also by then we will have built relationships with organizations throughout Belmopan and also UB will have more “buy-in” into our vision. Caitlin and I are definitely interested in coming back and seeing how the process has proceeded.

So this Saturday I went to church with Rich and Chris and their daughter. We went to the same church we visited last Saturday and this time a different guy preached. He sounded un-Belizean maybe Haitian (he had this accent that is very familiar in Florida). The church was filled with mostly children from the orphanage and there were a few new faces that I had not seen last week that were present. After singing a few hymnals without the aid of a piano and also participating in Sabbath school the preacher began preaching at 10am. The message was interesting and very different from what I have heard and lasted about 45 minutes. During the 45 minutes I found myself sweating from the humidity and heat that was interrupted by short bouts of rainfall. Coupled with the hot weather the flies and bugs were buzzing around and would bite anyone they were able to land on for more than a few seconds, so to deter them I would fidget in my seat and try my hardest to pay attention. The message was different and Chris mentioned that she didn’t like the way the sermon was preached because it seemed like a sermon that was used to scare people into being good. She also said that she realized that most preachers in Belize would preach those types of sermons and wondered why that was the case. After the sermon we headed back to Chris and Rich’s house and made lunch, which consisted this week of baked potatoes (Belizean potatoes seem a little more starchier than potatoes at home), salad, stir fried garlic and broccoli, and a fruit salad (mangoes, cantaloupe, pineapple, banana) that I made. MMMMM… after eating so much fried food this week having greens and fruits felt very rewarding. As we ate we talked about the how my research was progressing and they also wondered why the Belizean government did not allow imports of vegetables and fruits into the country. Its interesting because there are many factors that are affecting the health of people here and politics has a large part to play.  It seems like everything is PUBLIC HEALTH, everything is related to health here. As 2pm approached Rich and his wife dropped me home and told me they would pick me up next week. When I came home the house was empty and the girls had left me a note indicating that they were at Perk-up, a coffee, Internet café. I was glad for the solitude and rested on my bed for a few hours before getting back up again and feeling somewhat bored. After a few minutes I turned on the TV and surfed the channels looking for something and found a CNN special about sex trafficking of women which is also an issue here in Belize, sometimes its sucks to be a woman because in many societies you are a voiceless individual. I wonder if next year we can tackle this issue in a survey or intervention?