Book Fate - Reviews 2 and 3

I firmly believe in book fate. When someone talks to me about a book and it magically appears in my life, I firmly believe the universe must really want me to read it.

Both of the books I read this week were book fate book

Enrique's Journey

This book was mentioned to me by Bryan, who works here at Shoulder to Shoulder while we were driving to the clinic on the first day.  I asked if I could borrow it, and then it was just sitting there on the shelf at the clinic. Book Fate.

Enrique's Journey was super interesting. It follows a 16 year-old's trip from Tegucigalpa, Honduras to the United States. I liked reading it actually in Honduras. I recognized different references to parts of Honduras and Tegus, and I think that made it seem more real to me.

Anyone who is interested in child migration, or even just Honduras in general (you know, the country I talk so much about), should read this.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

My mom has mentioned this book to me a number of times. She said, from a public health perspective, it was super interesting. So, I walked into the Concepcion Clinic, and there it was sitting on the book shelf. Book Fate for sure!

Henrietta Lacks was a black women, whose cancer cells were taken at John Hopkins hospital "colored ward" without her permission. Those cells ended up being the first cells that were able to be reproduced in a lab, and continue to be used around the world. People have made millions of dollars off of these cells, and yet her family continues to live in poverty. 

This is an interesting book for anyone, but I would say that for people going into the medical field, it should be required reading. It gets into all sorts of interesting issues around consent, and who has control of what happens with your body. Super nerdy, but super interesting.

Home. Sweet. Home.

I arrived in Santa Lucia on Tuesday.

It is so crazy to imagine that this will be home for the next year.

It feels perfect. Absolutely perfect.

Some things are just meant to be.

Gracias, Lempira

I spent the weekend visiting the town of Gracias, which is located north of Intibuca.

It was a great weekend away, but my favorite part BY FAR was visiting the Aguas Termales (hot springs) just outside of Gracias.

Wikipedia

We went at night, so it looked a little different when we were there.

 Even better, we got to ride one of these bad boys to the hot springs:

http://amor-siempre.livejournal.com

(I didn't have my camera this weekend, so I had to borrow these from the web)

And the winner is...

Santa Lucia!!

Yep, for the next year the Shoulder to Shoulder clinic in Santa Lucia, Intibuca Honduras is going to be my new home.

So where the heck is that? 

Luckily, I have this handy map to show you!

Apparently, I can walk to El Salvador in 30 minutes if I feel like it.

What is the town like?

Well, Wikipedia has LOTS (insert sarcastic tone here) to say about it.

Sadly, since the good ol'internet seems to be hardly aware of existence of Santa Lucia, I am going to have to fill you in on the details of the town when I arrive, next week.

What will you be doing?

So that is a three part description:

 Assistant Brigade Coordinator

 Basically, I act as a facilitator/translator/servant for visiting Medical Brigades

Dental Program Volunteer

I will work with the dental clinics in both Santa Lucia, and Concepcion on education initiatives, outreach and act as a liason between the US based dentists and Honduran staff.

You can read more about the Dental Program HERE.

Santa Lucia Education Volunteer

I will work on health education initiatives, which are primarily based out of the library project in Santa Lucia. As part of this, I will work with the Scholarship students in Santa Lucia on various projects.

You can read more about the Library Project HERE

And the Scholarship Program HERE

Okay, so I know that is real vague, but I am still learning the descriptions of my job etc.

How do you feel about all of this?

I think this photo just about sums it up:

I'm so freaking excited about ALL of it!

Lessons #2,345

LESSON: It is, in fact, possible to get hot enough for a cold shower to feel good.

I honestly never thought I would say something like that. 

I LOVE hot weather!

For my first five months in Honduras I never once actually enjoyed a cold shower.

Intibuca has changed that.

Today, it was so hot I thought I might actually go crazy.

Sitting in the shade, drinking water, I was sweating profusely. 

Not glistening.

Not glowing.

SWEATING! 

A LOT!

Guachi Photos

A few quick photos of 

my first two days in Guachipilincito!

  

The Guachi Clinic!

View from the clinic. So green.

Dental Class

Outdoor Dental Checks

What the roads look like

Running is a bit of an adventure...

Book Review - Finding Nouf

I I turned 27 this month. I’m actually fairly excited about it. I have a good feeling about my 27^th year of life.

Last year my friend Mckenzie and I made a list of the 26 things we wanted to accomplish while we were 26. I got a fair number of them accomplished, and I decided to do this again for 27! 

One of these things was to read a book a week. This was inspired by a blogger I follow who has done this every week for the past five years. 

In order to keep me honest, I am going to try and post a little bit about the book I read that week.  A bit like second grade book reports, but I’m okay with that.  Feel free to skip over this if it bores you. I won’t mind. 

This week I read Finding Nouf. It was a recommendation from my mom, and she was not wrong, it was a super interesting book. 

The book takes place in Saudi Arabia, and revolves around the murder of the daughter of a wealthy family. The twist is that investigator/main character is a Muslim woman, and much of the book revolves around her life, and the manner in which she must move through the world. It covers everything from the different lives men and women live to why Saudi men don’t like to wear glasses.  

I think the best part about this book was that nearly every chapter I felt like I was learning something new about Islam, Saudi Arabia, or being a woman within a Muslim family. It was fascinating. I highly recommend it. 

Well done Mom.

Next week: Enrique’s Journey: The story of a boy’s dangerous odyssey to reunite with his mother.

Concepcion, Honduras

Shoulder to Shoulder has two primary clinics in Intibuca; St. Lucia and Concepcion.  In a few weeks, I will be placed at one of these two clinics for the remainder of the year.  Each of the clinics have housing connected to it, for those employees and volunteers that do not live in town.

This week we are spending at Concepcion.  Concepcion is the closer of the two clinics to La Esperanza, but we are still talking at least two hours down a VERY bumpy, dirt road. That being said, it is well worth the trip!

Concepcion has a population of about 8,000 in the entire municipality, but an in-town population of probably a few hundred. The center of town has about five or six blocks of paved roads, with several small stores, a few places to eat, and apparently only one place to make copies.  The clinic is located just up the hill, and it is STUNNING.

Here is a photo of the view I am enjoying while I write this post

Tomorrow, I will head to Guachipilincito (Guachi for short). This clinic was funded by Brown University, who normally does several medical brigades a year to the clinic. I’m going to spend the next two days there observing how brigades work, and what I will be doing for my position.

More photos are soon to come!

Orientation Station

We are on the move!

(We = the four new Assistant Brigade Coordinators)

Yesterday was mostly a travel day. Living in this part of Honduras, or really Honduras in general, you learn that it takes at least a day to get most places. Even if on the map it looks likes it should only take an hour or so.

We switched locations yesterday from Brewery heaven to La Esperanza. La Esperanza is the biggest city in the state of Intibuca, the department (state) that I will be living in for the next year.

Today we move on to Concepcion, where the first Shoulder to Shoulder clinic is located. We will be staying there for a week, and then moving on to St. Lucia, where the second clinic is located.

Now, I am running off to breakfast! Adios!

I have arrived....

Well, not exactly. Almost. 

Currently I am right here

We are doing the first part of orientation at D&D Brewery. It is this amazing Brewery/Hostel/Hotel on Lago de Yojoa.

Rough life, huh?

UPDATE

Wow! It has been a long, long time since my last blog post and SO much has happened.

As I write, I am sitting in the Houston Airport, waiting to fly back down to Honduras. I have been in Portland for the past month, eating everything I could get my hands on (oh, and taking the GREs). It was an incredible month, and I loved being in Portland as a visitor. I managed to do nearly every thing I didn't have the chance to do before I left last January.

When I arrive in Honduras, I will be starting a new position as an Assistant Brigade Coordinator with Shoulder to Shoulder. This means a new location, a new job description (more on this later), and a whole new organization to learn about.

I am so so excited!