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.