Last week I felt completely defeated. Just completely! I felt like I had no gifts and that I would never be a medical missionary. Why did i feel that way? Well for a number of reasons.
1.) my hormones, that needs no further explanation.
2.) I was talking to my Dad on skype and I mentioned that I wasn't learning too much spanish, and he said he was disappointed. If there is one thing that gets my guilt going, its my Dad saying he is disappointed.
3.) I really wanted to hold one of the babies that was just born but I was to shy to directly asked, when the midwifes daughter found out she asked for me and said that you can't be shy if you want to me a nurse.
4.) I prayed for opportunities to speak spanish and God graciously gave me an awesome one that i chickened out on.
5.) I was chatting with someone on facebook who was making the most of their trip to another part of the world.
So yah after all this, I felt guilty, like i wasn't doing something i should have been doing, like i wasn't making the most of my trip. So at night I sat on my bed and said, "I can't do this." Immediately, I heard, no you can't, not without me anyway." I knew God was right, I can't see opportunities if they are right in front of me, I can't speak spanish if I try, but with HIS help, I can. So I prayed for opportunities to serve him, to learn more, for knowledge to know what to do when, and for courage to try new things. And i went to bed.
The next morning, the midwife's husband started to talk to me in spanish, and I started to answer the question suddenly realizing that that wasn't what he asked. Then i stopped talking and said, wait, what did you say. He sort of laughed and the others smiled. But immediately, I knew exactly what he asked, it wasn't like i was thinking about it, i was frozen in fear, it was more like the exact meaning literally popped in my head. Then exactly what to say popped in my head to, all of a sudden I was just explaining what i thought he said and why i said what i said. I knew how to say everything i said, but it was definitely a gift from God how I was all of a sudden saying it, he literally forced the words out of me, because sometimes i am scared to speak in spanish.
Later on that morning I was walking into the nursing homes drive way and I started to feel a little bit defeated again. But all of a sudden, I felt my hand being held. You would think that would freak me out, seeing as there was no body beside me, but it was so comforting, a reminder that I was not alone. Then i realized that it was my right hand and I was reminded of the verse For I am the LORD, your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you." Isaiah 41:3. I knew right then and there that I had nothing to fear.
Throughout the day, God was indeed helping me giving me nudges to go do certain things, or check up on certain people that turned out to be very important.
For example when I got there, i felt the need to go into the women's bedroom, so i obeyed. When i entered i found one of the ladies lying on her bed. I asked her how she was, she said she wasn't doing very well and she thought she was going to die soon. She speaks a native language mixed with spanish so I am not sure if i understood everything that was going on, but she thought she was going to die soon, but that it wouldn't be so bad, because then she would be with God, but she wanted to see her daughter before she died, and that she was sick, but the nurse was out of pills that she needed. Anyway she started to cry alot. I hugged her, and rubbed her back, and told her that whereever she went God would go with her, and that she had a family at the home, even if her real family wasn't with her. I felt God nudging me to pray for her. I ignored it for a bit, but then just went for it. So i bowed my head, and asked God to care for her, thanked him for his love for her, and asked him to go with her. I am not sure if she even understood what i was doing, but she was nodding in agreement when i said God loves her. It felt good to obey God.
Then later, the nurse was gone for a few minutes, and a senior came to me about a stomach ache, so when the nurse came back, I told him, that the specific senior wanted to talk to him, the nurse left for the bedroom. Pretty soon, i felt a nudging to go see if the nurse had found the correct senior. Sure enough he hadn't! I asked the senior if he still wanted to talk to the nurse, he said yes, but that te nurse wasn't there yet (he is sligtly blind). The nurse started to walk out the room, without talking to him, so i called after him and said he needs your help.
Another point in the day I felt a nudging to stay with Don Juanito a while after I gave him his pills. Don Juanito, is the man i have previously written about it, who went to the hospital. Well the other nurse was wondering why i wasn't going with him as soon as i handed him the pills, but i told him I was going to stay with Juan a while. Its a good thing i did, because he wasn't able so swallow any of his pills, and spit them back up. I know i am not suposed to diagnose, but if i could, i would diagnose him as palliative, he is so much worse then just one month ago. He can't swallow, he doesn't have hunger and he can't hold his own chest or head up. After I helped him clean up what he has spit up and gave him some water. He started to cry. Now Don Juan barely ever cries, even when he was in the hospital he was smiling and laughing. But i think that now, he has had enough. I think he knows he is dying, but unlike the lady i talked about earliear, Don Juan has no family, and he was sad that he was so alone. So i hugged him, comforted him and rubbed his back, And again felt the nudging to pray for him out loud. So I did.
Another time, in the same day, I was bathing one women and i noticed something on her buttock, and i thought i should tell the nurse, i knew God wanted me to. but i started to make up excuses about why i wouldn't, for one, i didn't think they would do anything, and for another thing, i didn't know how to explain it properly in spanish. As soon as i thought that the nurse came by, when the women was just putting her pants on so I could show the nurse the sore. I know God himself set that up, so i wouldn't have excuses. We have since then realized that is a pressure ulcer and the head nurse and I are doing our best to change her positions as often as possible.
This day was last week, and since then i have continuously prayed that God would show me opportunities every where I go to make the most of my trip. Whether it be in the birthing center, with people I know, at home or at the nursing home, God is giving me his strength to SEIZE THE DAY!
-Emma
I take joy in doing your will, my God, for your instructions are written on my heart.” Psalm 40:8 (NLT)
Thursday, 7 July 2011
Saturday, 25 June 2011
The Truth Behind Guatemalan Hospitals
Hello there,
Sorry i haven't written for a while, i can't bring myself to write posts all the time, but i assure you, when i get back to Canada I will personally share stories with you, if you ask.
Anyways, this blog is about the shock i have endured when i had the wonderful oppertunity to witness a birth at the hospital and when i got to bring a senior from the nursing home there. I would like to note that although the things I am going to share with you don't seem fair, not one person is to blame and I do not wish to blame specific people, the reason these things are the way they are is more because of the poverty in this country.
So first of all the birth. When i entered the room there was a women on the table like delivery bed, it is old fashioned (as most things in the hospital are) and she wasn't quite on it properly so she was clearly very uncomfortable but no one was comforting her. In Guatemala no one can go into the delivery room with the women so despite the fact that this was her first birth and she had no idea what was happening, and was not being informed of anything she labored very much emotionally alone. When her pains got closer together the nurse told her to push. This nurse by the way went to school for one year, and the other people attending the birth were nursing students. With each push her hands reached out wanting to hold someone but there was no one there, i walked over to hold her hand, but the nurse said she needed to hold the handles of the bed, so instead I just rubbed her arm. Her pushes weren't quite working so the nurse began to get impatient. I am rather then saying good job and I can see the babies head, like we say at the birthing house, no one told her anything, except for me. I am sure the pushed weren't working because she was scared and alone and hadn't been explained how exactly she should push and breath. Eventually without warning the nurse gave her freezing and again, without warning she gave an episitomy (if you don't know what that is, look it up, i am not about the give gorey details). The womans hip rose in pain and she screamed. The nurse demanded her to stay still. (again i don't beleive this was the nurses fault, she hasn't been taught otherwise). According to what i have learned at the birthing centre i didn't think she needed an episitomy because the baby was crowning. she just needed to relax (this helps the baby to descend, but how could she in this environment), and to walk around a little. After a few more pushs the baby was born. it was still and unnaturally brown. Meconium, i guessed. right away the nurses started doing things in a hurry to help the baby. They were working at the end of the deleivery bed. No one told the new mom what was happening, even the nurse that wasn't doing anything. The mom stared at her baby worried. Pretty soon it seemed to be stable so they weighed it, wrapped it and put it under a light. They still didn't tell the mom was had happened, the only words they they had told to her in the last 2 hours were, push, and its a girl. Next another nurse came in to give the baby an IV through the umbillical cord opening. Still nothing was told to the mom. Another doctor came in to giver her stiches and to assure the baby was stable. The mom was then wheeled into the hot hall way, where she stayed for the hours before she was brought to recovery room. Oh yah throughout the process the electricity went out several times, (normal for guatemala), the hospital had a generator but it took a few seconds to kick in so each time the incubator light was shut off. After it was all done the doctor was talking to me about health care in Guatemala. This hospial is public and basic things are free but for example if they need a complex surgery or a catscan that costs money and they must go to the city. He explained to me that the hospital didn't always have everything that they needed because of lack of funds, so the nurses have to use whatever objects they can find for things they weren't intended for because they don't have the proper supplies. He told me that thats what they did this day, and that ehy have to do that alot. Another thing the hole time the mother wasn't offered water, from the time she was admitted she didn't drink anything. That is standard in case they need to have a c-section, but it makes them dehydrated. Also they get their water broken at 5cm ussually, so it makes it hard to walk around.
Another time at the nursing home one of the seniors was sick so i and another nurse pushed him to the hospital which is right next door. We entered to wear the clinics were. There was people everywhere, after a few minutes i realized that this was the line up to see the doctor! This hall way wasn't ait conditioned like the delivery room had been so pretty soon i was sweating bullets. We entered the line and waited for so long, he went in and got his blood pressure taken. Thhen we had to enter another line to see the nurse. We waiting again. After the nurse told us that we had to go see the doctor so again we entered a huge line. the nurses room and the doctors room were little areas seperated from the next by dirty sheets so that you could here the patiet next to you. There was an old table where the doctor sat and a simple bed. that was it. After we saw the doctor he told us that the man would have to stay for observation. We wheeled him over to the mens part of the hospital, and were given clothes to change him into. In this room there was 5 beds extremly closer together. It was about the size of a canadian hospital room that would be for one person. But here it was being used for 5 men. thats all the room at was 5 beds. Each had a simple white fitted sheet. no pillow, not other sheet, no side table, no bed rails. there was a simple sink at one end. There was only one working celing fan that was broken so it made a noise every time it spun around. There was also beds lined up all in the halls full of people. the halls wre already small but now that they were being used as hospital rooms it was ridiculously tight. When we dropped him off they told us that he would need medicine that this hospital didn't have in stock to just give away to the patients, but that his family would have to purchase it, but of course this man doens't have family at all, thats why he lives in the nursing home so we had to pass up on this medicine. We left him there. We got to the hospital at 1 and after waiting in 4 lines and changing him we left at 4:30!
Five days later the nurse at the nursing home and I went back to the hospital to pick him up. Not because they hadling called us to tell us he was ready, just the opposite actaully because, we hadn't heard anything, and he had been there for long enough so we went to go ask if we could take him home. This time when we entered the room i was overwhelmed by a smell. As a nursing student i am told not to let it be obvious that i think somehting smells, but this room stunk, i am not sure what of but it stunk. foot boards becase there no garbage cans. Everyone in there was sweating so much and there was mud all over the floors and garbage stuck between the mattresses and foThere was even more people in the beds in the hospital this time then the last. I said hi to him and rubbed his back which felt extremly dirty with dried sweat. I wondered if anyone had come to change his position has they are required to do in canda to bedridden patients. I noticed he was wearing the same clothes that we had put on him 5 days before, i couldn't help but wonder if they had changed him at all. Also, the hospital doesn't have enough funds for adult breifs (diapers) so instead they used pads that they attached to him using medical tape. Because there was no table a clean pad that he would wear next was jamed between his mattress and the foot board. This day the bored was so incredibly hot, i have honestly never been in a hotter room. Within seconds i was soaked with sweat. The outside temperature in Guatemala is 40oC, and this room was much hotter. We bought him gatorade and gave it to hi with a straw, he drank it so fast, you would think he hadn't drunken in days. All the other men in the room also had huge water bottles tat their families had brought for them. it made me wonder how much the hospital gave them to drink. A nurse came in while we were there and gave each of thhem a small cup of hot liquid (like hot chocolate). As i looked down at him in his bed I noticed that he looked sicker then 5 days before, his beard was unkept and he had green goop dripping from his eyes, his eyes were also dry (a sign of dehydration). It was then thay i noticed that he had absolutly no sweat on this face or arms or chest, nothing! How could he not be sweating?! The only answer is heat stroke, a sign that you are so overheated your body can't even produce sweatt! I though back to first aid, for what you are supposed to do in this situation. I remember the book said to "take them out of the heat" (he hadn't been out in 5 days), give them lots of cold liquids (i don't think he had gotten much) and bring him to the hospital for medical attention, because heat stroke is serious (well he had been in the hospital and the staff was too overworked to notice this incident, or too understalked to help, or to uneducated to be concerned. Either way i felt trapped. This was the only hospital for hours, the only people that are supposed to help and they didn't even notice how sick he was. There was nothng I could do but feed him more gatorade and bring him home to the slightly cooler nursing home. We did get medicine from the pharmacy on the way out, i am not sure who funded for that but then we left, the electicity was out at the nurrsing home so we couldn't give him a fan to cool down we could just give him a coolish room, and bed to relax on. So there you go. I am not sure how horrible this entry made the hospital sound but trust me if you saw what i saw, felt the dirt, smelt the smells, didn't see the soap, and waited in the lines, you would never take free QUALITY health care again.
Sorry i haven't written for a while, i can't bring myself to write posts all the time, but i assure you, when i get back to Canada I will personally share stories with you, if you ask.
Anyways, this blog is about the shock i have endured when i had the wonderful oppertunity to witness a birth at the hospital and when i got to bring a senior from the nursing home there. I would like to note that although the things I am going to share with you don't seem fair, not one person is to blame and I do not wish to blame specific people, the reason these things are the way they are is more because of the poverty in this country.
So first of all the birth. When i entered the room there was a women on the table like delivery bed, it is old fashioned (as most things in the hospital are) and she wasn't quite on it properly so she was clearly very uncomfortable but no one was comforting her. In Guatemala no one can go into the delivery room with the women so despite the fact that this was her first birth and she had no idea what was happening, and was not being informed of anything she labored very much emotionally alone. When her pains got closer together the nurse told her to push. This nurse by the way went to school for one year, and the other people attending the birth were nursing students. With each push her hands reached out wanting to hold someone but there was no one there, i walked over to hold her hand, but the nurse said she needed to hold the handles of the bed, so instead I just rubbed her arm. Her pushes weren't quite working so the nurse began to get impatient. I am rather then saying good job and I can see the babies head, like we say at the birthing house, no one told her anything, except for me. I am sure the pushed weren't working because she was scared and alone and hadn't been explained how exactly she should push and breath. Eventually without warning the nurse gave her freezing and again, without warning she gave an episitomy (if you don't know what that is, look it up, i am not about the give gorey details). The womans hip rose in pain and she screamed. The nurse demanded her to stay still. (again i don't beleive this was the nurses fault, she hasn't been taught otherwise). According to what i have learned at the birthing centre i didn't think she needed an episitomy because the baby was crowning. she just needed to relax (this helps the baby to descend, but how could she in this environment), and to walk around a little. After a few more pushs the baby was born. it was still and unnaturally brown. Meconium, i guessed. right away the nurses started doing things in a hurry to help the baby. They were working at the end of the deleivery bed. No one told the new mom what was happening, even the nurse that wasn't doing anything. The mom stared at her baby worried. Pretty soon it seemed to be stable so they weighed it, wrapped it and put it under a light. They still didn't tell the mom was had happened, the only words they they had told to her in the last 2 hours were, push, and its a girl. Next another nurse came in to give the baby an IV through the umbillical cord opening. Still nothing was told to the mom. Another doctor came in to giver her stiches and to assure the baby was stable. The mom was then wheeled into the hot hall way, where she stayed for the hours before she was brought to recovery room. Oh yah throughout the process the electricity went out several times, (normal for guatemala), the hospital had a generator but it took a few seconds to kick in so each time the incubator light was shut off. After it was all done the doctor was talking to me about health care in Guatemala. This hospial is public and basic things are free but for example if they need a complex surgery or a catscan that costs money and they must go to the city. He explained to me that the hospital didn't always have everything that they needed because of lack of funds, so the nurses have to use whatever objects they can find for things they weren't intended for because they don't have the proper supplies. He told me that thats what they did this day, and that ehy have to do that alot. Another thing the hole time the mother wasn't offered water, from the time she was admitted she didn't drink anything. That is standard in case they need to have a c-section, but it makes them dehydrated. Also they get their water broken at 5cm ussually, so it makes it hard to walk around.
Another time at the nursing home one of the seniors was sick so i and another nurse pushed him to the hospital which is right next door. We entered to wear the clinics were. There was people everywhere, after a few minutes i realized that this was the line up to see the doctor! This hall way wasn't ait conditioned like the delivery room had been so pretty soon i was sweating bullets. We entered the line and waited for so long, he went in and got his blood pressure taken. Thhen we had to enter another line to see the nurse. We waiting again. After the nurse told us that we had to go see the doctor so again we entered a huge line. the nurses room and the doctors room were little areas seperated from the next by dirty sheets so that you could here the patiet next to you. There was an old table where the doctor sat and a simple bed. that was it. After we saw the doctor he told us that the man would have to stay for observation. We wheeled him over to the mens part of the hospital, and were given clothes to change him into. In this room there was 5 beds extremly closer together. It was about the size of a canadian hospital room that would be for one person. But here it was being used for 5 men. thats all the room at was 5 beds. Each had a simple white fitted sheet. no pillow, not other sheet, no side table, no bed rails. there was a simple sink at one end. There was only one working celing fan that was broken so it made a noise every time it spun around. There was also beds lined up all in the halls full of people. the halls wre already small but now that they were being used as hospital rooms it was ridiculously tight. When we dropped him off they told us that he would need medicine that this hospital didn't have in stock to just give away to the patients, but that his family would have to purchase it, but of course this man doens't have family at all, thats why he lives in the nursing home so we had to pass up on this medicine. We left him there. We got to the hospital at 1 and after waiting in 4 lines and changing him we left at 4:30!
Five days later the nurse at the nursing home and I went back to the hospital to pick him up. Not because they hadling called us to tell us he was ready, just the opposite actaully because, we hadn't heard anything, and he had been there for long enough so we went to go ask if we could take him home. This time when we entered the room i was overwhelmed by a smell. As a nursing student i am told not to let it be obvious that i think somehting smells, but this room stunk, i am not sure what of but it stunk. foot boards becase there no garbage cans. Everyone in there was sweating so much and there was mud all over the floors and garbage stuck between the mattresses and foThere was even more people in the beds in the hospital this time then the last. I said hi to him and rubbed his back which felt extremly dirty with dried sweat. I wondered if anyone had come to change his position has they are required to do in canda to bedridden patients. I noticed he was wearing the same clothes that we had put on him 5 days before, i couldn't help but wonder if they had changed him at all. Also, the hospital doesn't have enough funds for adult breifs (diapers) so instead they used pads that they attached to him using medical tape. Because there was no table a clean pad that he would wear next was jamed between his mattress and the foot board. This day the bored was so incredibly hot, i have honestly never been in a hotter room. Within seconds i was soaked with sweat. The outside temperature in Guatemala is 40oC, and this room was much hotter. We bought him gatorade and gave it to hi with a straw, he drank it so fast, you would think he hadn't drunken in days. All the other men in the room also had huge water bottles tat their families had brought for them. it made me wonder how much the hospital gave them to drink. A nurse came in while we were there and gave each of thhem a small cup of hot liquid (like hot chocolate). As i looked down at him in his bed I noticed that he looked sicker then 5 days before, his beard was unkept and he had green goop dripping from his eyes, his eyes were also dry (a sign of dehydration). It was then thay i noticed that he had absolutly no sweat on this face or arms or chest, nothing! How could he not be sweating?! The only answer is heat stroke, a sign that you are so overheated your body can't even produce sweatt! I though back to first aid, for what you are supposed to do in this situation. I remember the book said to "take them out of the heat" (he hadn't been out in 5 days), give them lots of cold liquids (i don't think he had gotten much) and bring him to the hospital for medical attention, because heat stroke is serious (well he had been in the hospital and the staff was too overworked to notice this incident, or too understalked to help, or to uneducated to be concerned. Either way i felt trapped. This was the only hospital for hours, the only people that are supposed to help and they didn't even notice how sick he was. There was nothng I could do but feed him more gatorade and bring him home to the slightly cooler nursing home. We did get medicine from the pharmacy on the way out, i am not sure who funded for that but then we left, the electicity was out at the nurrsing home so we couldn't give him a fan to cool down we could just give him a coolish room, and bed to relax on. So there you go. I am not sure how horrible this entry made the hospital sound but trust me if you saw what i saw, felt the dirt, smelt the smells, didn't see the soap, and waited in the lines, you would never take free QUALITY health care again.
Monday, 6 June 2011
God's Great and Perfect Plan
The birthing centre that I volunteer at attends on average about one birth a week. So as you can imagine that leaves alot of free time that I must fill. At first I tried small things such as reading books and the Bible and going for walks but i had such a craving for doing so much more. I was still confident that God had called me to spend my summer here in the Peten.
One afternoon I was sifting through the bookshelf that is in the clinic and I found a book on prayer. As I looked at the front cover of this book I realized that I have so much time to pray here yet I haven't really done that much praying. I knew God has placed this book in my hands for a reason. So I started reading this book. One thing that surprised me in the book was a bible verse it quoted; "You do not have, because you do not ask God." James 4:2. I was surprised because i had never read this verse before. So right away I prayed that I would have more opportunities to serve God while I am here in Guatemala. More opportunities to do his will and keep myself busy. That afternoon the midwife that I volunteer for asked me if I was interested in volunteering at the hospital delivery a few days a week. I could hardly believe my ears! That was easy, I thought. She explained to me that we would have to talk to the director of this hospital first. Immediately I prayed that I would be allowed, and I felt God reminding me that if it was his will it would happen.
Unfortunately the director made up an excuse about needing my papers to prove that I am a nursing student in order to be able to work ere. We knew it was a lie because all of the other doctors, had never heard about that, and had had other volunteers. The director is jealous of the midwife because she is taking alot of the patients away from the hospital to her clinic, so she didn't want someone who worked for the clinic to work for the hospital as well. She did allow me however to work there two days in total (which I will talk about in another blog post). I was slightly disappointed but I was actually at peace because I knew somehow, it wasn't want God had planned. But, while i was at the hospital the nurses talked to me about a nursing home that was right near the hospital. I have no idea how we got on that topic but I am glad we did. It apparently has 30 seniors but only 1 nurse and many of the people who live there have no family, or have family that don't care about them. I worked at a place similar to this in Ecuador so I listened with keen interest, and God put on my heart that I could volunteer here a few times a week.
Over and over again I have run into opportunities to to volunteer at nursing homes. In Ecuador, I asked to work at a clinic but was told I had to work at a nursing homes for neglected seniors. In Canada, during my first year nursing when I volunteered at a nursing home for my clinical i was matched up with a man who didn't have much family. And here again I was attempting to volunteer at the hospital but God directed me to a nursing home, I truly felt him telling me that this is what he wanted me to do a few days a week. I know not many people enjoy working with seniors but it is something that I greatly enjoy. Time and time again, people have told me that it takes a special person to want to work with seniors, (particularly seniors that have been through alot), but that I was that type of person).
I volunteered there on Saturday and I was able to give seniors a good thorough gentle bath based on guidelines i had learned in School (its more complicated then you think). I also was able to just talk with the seniors, an important aspect of caring for seniors that is all too often forgotten. The seniors spoke to me about wanting to do stuff, to make stuff because all day, they just sit around. I pray that God can use me to help eliminate boredom in this nursing home.
I will still get to work at the birthing centre all the other days and if we think that a birth might happen that day I just won't go to the nursing home. It is the best of both worlds I guess. All I know is that is is perfect because it is clearly God's plan.
One afternoon I was sifting through the bookshelf that is in the clinic and I found a book on prayer. As I looked at the front cover of this book I realized that I have so much time to pray here yet I haven't really done that much praying. I knew God has placed this book in my hands for a reason. So I started reading this book. One thing that surprised me in the book was a bible verse it quoted; "You do not have, because you do not ask God." James 4:2. I was surprised because i had never read this verse before. So right away I prayed that I would have more opportunities to serve God while I am here in Guatemala. More opportunities to do his will and keep myself busy. That afternoon the midwife that I volunteer for asked me if I was interested in volunteering at the hospital delivery a few days a week. I could hardly believe my ears! That was easy, I thought. She explained to me that we would have to talk to the director of this hospital first. Immediately I prayed that I would be allowed, and I felt God reminding me that if it was his will it would happen.
Unfortunately the director made up an excuse about needing my papers to prove that I am a nursing student in order to be able to work ere. We knew it was a lie because all of the other doctors, had never heard about that, and had had other volunteers. The director is jealous of the midwife because she is taking alot of the patients away from the hospital to her clinic, so she didn't want someone who worked for the clinic to work for the hospital as well. She did allow me however to work there two days in total (which I will talk about in another blog post). I was slightly disappointed but I was actually at peace because I knew somehow, it wasn't want God had planned. But, while i was at the hospital the nurses talked to me about a nursing home that was right near the hospital. I have no idea how we got on that topic but I am glad we did. It apparently has 30 seniors but only 1 nurse and many of the people who live there have no family, or have family that don't care about them. I worked at a place similar to this in Ecuador so I listened with keen interest, and God put on my heart that I could volunteer here a few times a week.
Over and over again I have run into opportunities to to volunteer at nursing homes. In Ecuador, I asked to work at a clinic but was told I had to work at a nursing homes for neglected seniors. In Canada, during my first year nursing when I volunteered at a nursing home for my clinical i was matched up with a man who didn't have much family. And here again I was attempting to volunteer at the hospital but God directed me to a nursing home, I truly felt him telling me that this is what he wanted me to do a few days a week. I know not many people enjoy working with seniors but it is something that I greatly enjoy. Time and time again, people have told me that it takes a special person to want to work with seniors, (particularly seniors that have been through alot), but that I was that type of person).
I volunteered there on Saturday and I was able to give seniors a good thorough gentle bath based on guidelines i had learned in School (its more complicated then you think). I also was able to just talk with the seniors, an important aspect of caring for seniors that is all too often forgotten. The seniors spoke to me about wanting to do stuff, to make stuff because all day, they just sit around. I pray that God can use me to help eliminate boredom in this nursing home.
I will still get to work at the birthing centre all the other days and if we think that a birth might happen that day I just won't go to the nursing home. It is the best of both worlds I guess. All I know is that is is perfect because it is clearly God's plan.
Monday, 30 May 2011
The Search for Liquid Soap!
As you can see by the title I have been having a hard time finding liquid soap here, I have now lived here for 1 month yet, I have looked in many stores and the local super (like a small wal-mart) and yet i have not find it. Despite the fact that I volunteer at a birthing house, we don't have liquid soap here, just bar soap and hand sanitizer. This goes against everything I have been taught. This means that basically no one washes their hands properly, which I know too well to be true (even after going to the washroom). But thats not the only thing that is different here. This blog entry is dedicated to things i have noticed are different here.
The electricity goes out, at least once a day, at least. Sometimes its out for 10 seconds, other times 5 hours, nevertheless life needs to go on. This may be yelling during church services, sitting in the dark at the dinner table, and boiling to death without fans. This also means that many times computers get ruined.
It is easy to literally run out of water, water is by well and storing tanks here, and at least 3 times thus far, this house has literally run out of water. I never thought that I would go to a house with running water, turn on the tap and have nothing come out. It is now a regular occurrence for me.
Because of the recent gang violence in the Peten we now have a government run curfew. Just for a month, but it is stil nevertheless very different then Canada. Everyday no one can be on the streets past 8:00. This means that church, youth group had to be moved to an earlier time, and that teenagers can no longer hangout at the youth center for very long.
Many people here, even christians start dating very young, by the time a girl is 13 she has probably been asked out at least 4 times, and has had at least 1 boyfriend! This goes right along with getting married and having children younger. I was looking through the papers we have at the clinic of all of our patients and to my surprise they are all 19 or 20 years old, having their first, second, or third child at this young age. And this isn't a rare exception. Of the 7 papers i looked out, (how many patients we see in a month and a half) they were ALL either 19 or 20. When i see the women here, i just assumed they were older then me, but I guess not.
Instead of selling alot of bottled water, bagged water is popular, where a clear plastic holds the water in.
Juice is also bought this way.
Doctors and hospitals are very expensive, and rather then a doctor having a set salary, the more patients he sees, the more money he makes. Also many doctors have their own pharmacies at their practice and they get extra money from this so sometimes, unhonest doctors tell their patients to come again, when they really don't have to, or to get a bunch of medicine when they really don't need it, just to get money out of that. Because of this people often choose to just go to the local midwife, or healer for medical help.
Grade school is in the morning from 7:30 to 12 or so and high school is about 1-6. In high school you specify in something already, for example teaching so, you can be a teacher here by the time they are 18. Homework, or at least much of homework, is very rare.
Of course there is so much more different about Guatemala that i already noticed last time I was here for just 10 days, such as chickens and pigs everywhere, extremly bumpy roads, kids driving motorcycles. But this is a list of things that take a while to notice. This was not intended on being a negative list of things wrong with the country. After all, just because something is different does not mean its worse. I hope this gives you a taste of somethings that Guatemalans go through.
The electricity goes out, at least once a day, at least. Sometimes its out for 10 seconds, other times 5 hours, nevertheless life needs to go on. This may be yelling during church services, sitting in the dark at the dinner table, and boiling to death without fans. This also means that many times computers get ruined.
It is easy to literally run out of water, water is by well and storing tanks here, and at least 3 times thus far, this house has literally run out of water. I never thought that I would go to a house with running water, turn on the tap and have nothing come out. It is now a regular occurrence for me.
Because of the recent gang violence in the Peten we now have a government run curfew. Just for a month, but it is stil nevertheless very different then Canada. Everyday no one can be on the streets past 8:00. This means that church, youth group had to be moved to an earlier time, and that teenagers can no longer hangout at the youth center for very long.
Many people here, even christians start dating very young, by the time a girl is 13 she has probably been asked out at least 4 times, and has had at least 1 boyfriend! This goes right along with getting married and having children younger. I was looking through the papers we have at the clinic of all of our patients and to my surprise they are all 19 or 20 years old, having their first, second, or third child at this young age. And this isn't a rare exception. Of the 7 papers i looked out, (how many patients we see in a month and a half) they were ALL either 19 or 20. When i see the women here, i just assumed they were older then me, but I guess not.
Instead of selling alot of bottled water, bagged water is popular, where a clear plastic holds the water in.
Juice is also bought this way.
Doctors and hospitals are very expensive, and rather then a doctor having a set salary, the more patients he sees, the more money he makes. Also many doctors have their own pharmacies at their practice and they get extra money from this so sometimes, unhonest doctors tell their patients to come again, when they really don't have to, or to get a bunch of medicine when they really don't need it, just to get money out of that. Because of this people often choose to just go to the local midwife, or healer for medical help.
Grade school is in the morning from 7:30 to 12 or so and high school is about 1-6. In high school you specify in something already, for example teaching so, you can be a teacher here by the time they are 18. Homework, or at least much of homework, is very rare.
Of course there is so much more different about Guatemala that i already noticed last time I was here for just 10 days, such as chickens and pigs everywhere, extremly bumpy roads, kids driving motorcycles. But this is a list of things that take a while to notice. This was not intended on being a negative list of things wrong with the country. After all, just because something is different does not mean its worse. I hope this gives you a taste of somethings that Guatemalans go through.
Monday, 16 May 2011
Babies and Grenades are Booming
Its been very busy in the birthing center and so I am thankful for this bit of a lull we are having. On Thursday two women called saying that they were in labor. They both came and were still early on in the process. Then another one came who also was going to be deleivering soon! Now in the clinic we have room for 1 women to recover at a time, maybe 2 at the best of times. So we cleared out one of the storage rooms and set up a cot and tent in there for a makeshift recover room. Thank goodness the babies came spread out, two in one days and one two days later so we could handle it. God never gives you more then you can handle. Anyways for these births, in addition to everything i did for the other birth i also had to clean off the babies and dress them. One of the women was fully dialated but her baby wasn't descending so i literally had to push hard on her abdomen, and help her get the baby out. That was neat, i never felt so much a part of the birth!
Yesterday in a city 2 hours from here there was a big masacre where 29 people were masacred and then this morning a min war broke out there, with grenades and alot of violence. All of the schools have been shut down here because it might be to dangerous. Because of the violence over there, they are worried that more drug lords will enter to this area. I don't notice any differences in my towns so please don't worry about that.
Anyways thats all for now.
Emma <3
Yesterday in a city 2 hours from here there was a big masacre where 29 people were masacred and then this morning a min war broke out there, with grenades and alot of violence. All of the schools have been shut down here because it might be to dangerous. Because of the violence over there, they are worried that more drug lords will enter to this area. I don't notice any differences in my towns so please don't worry about that.
Anyways thats all for now.
Emma <3
Tuesday, 10 May 2011
Contracion -> dialation -> baby = miracle!
So i have been in Guatemala now for 7 days, and I have come to realize that I really don't want to be writing down every thing that happens every day. But I shall give you some highlights (in no eloguant way what so ever).
I occupy myself here with whatever the family I am staying with occupies themselves with. The father in the family is a core member of the local churches and christian schools and christian youth center. I go to youth group, the youth center, church things, morning devotions at the school. I also am going to start teaching english since there are 3 guys that want to learn english, and Anita, the midwife told them that I will 2 nighs a week. I read alot, and think alot too. Oh also, I clean the clinic.
On the weekend at a church picnic thingy mabob, I got my camera out and asked if the little girl who was hiding behind me wanted to try to take a picture, well she loved, it soon enough i had a corwd of little photpgraphers taking pictures of everything and anything. It was quite fun. It was so much like the first guatemala trip I went on how there is all of a sudden a crowd. I like talking to little kids better in spanish because they don't judge me.
I also went to a basketball game at the school where got excruciatingly burnt.
I know, I know, all you guys really want to know about is babies! and births! Well, I saw my first one yesterday! My job was to feed the mother water, hold her legs a part during pushing, and suction out the liquid from the babies mouth and nose. Then I had to hold the new born baby for like 45 minutes, while the mother got cleaned up. Then i had to clean up...well alot of stuff. I will spare you the gorey details, even though I don't find them gorey at all, I am sure many of you will. Anyways when the baby was placed on the mothers chest, I had tears in my eyes. It was so beautiful. It was such a miracle. It shows how awesome God is! The baby was just sitting in fluid, in the mothers womb, and then all of a suden he was in the world, breathing air. WOW! I have also saw a few prenatal appoitments too. Did you know that if the women is in her 8 or 9th month you can totall feel the head just by touching her abdomen!
Also while I am here I am learning alot about being a missionary, and how it so much about the relations hips and trust and that you don't have to be constantly working and busy in order to serve the lord!
When their is a women here we are busy and then we cleaning, and then we are tired, but sometimes I am just busy at night, so it really gives me time to think, like really think, and meditate. Its nice.
-Emma <3
I occupy myself here with whatever the family I am staying with occupies themselves with. The father in the family is a core member of the local churches and christian schools and christian youth center. I go to youth group, the youth center, church things, morning devotions at the school. I also am going to start teaching english since there are 3 guys that want to learn english, and Anita, the midwife told them that I will 2 nighs a week. I read alot, and think alot too. Oh also, I clean the clinic.
On the weekend at a church picnic thingy mabob, I got my camera out and asked if the little girl who was hiding behind me wanted to try to take a picture, well she loved, it soon enough i had a corwd of little photpgraphers taking pictures of everything and anything. It was quite fun. It was so much like the first guatemala trip I went on how there is all of a sudden a crowd. I like talking to little kids better in spanish because they don't judge me.
I also went to a basketball game at the school where got excruciatingly burnt.
I know, I know, all you guys really want to know about is babies! and births! Well, I saw my first one yesterday! My job was to feed the mother water, hold her legs a part during pushing, and suction out the liquid from the babies mouth and nose. Then I had to hold the new born baby for like 45 minutes, while the mother got cleaned up. Then i had to clean up...well alot of stuff. I will spare you the gorey details, even though I don't find them gorey at all, I am sure many of you will. Anyways when the baby was placed on the mothers chest, I had tears in my eyes. It was so beautiful. It was such a miracle. It shows how awesome God is! The baby was just sitting in fluid, in the mothers womb, and then all of a suden he was in the world, breathing air. WOW! I have also saw a few prenatal appoitments too. Did you know that if the women is in her 8 or 9th month you can totall feel the head just by touching her abdomen!
Also while I am here I am learning alot about being a missionary, and how it so much about the relations hips and trust and that you don't have to be constantly working and busy in order to serve the lord!
When their is a women here we are busy and then we cleaning, and then we are tired, but sometimes I am just busy at night, so it really gives me time to think, like really think, and meditate. Its nice.
-Emma <3
Sunday, 1 May 2011
God is Good! (T-2 days)
First off I'd like to start off my saying I don't claim to be a writer. I am simply a girl who loves the lord going on an amazing trip who wants to share a little bit of what she learns. What a share on my blog is not suposed to be an eloquant essay, it's just my thoughts.
So way back when a friend of mine first told me that the midwife in Guatemala was looking for someone to help her i had this overwhelming feeling that that job was for me . And that I was going to do it. [God is Good!] Those feelings didn't make sense to my human brain so I immediatly pushed them away. Obviously as time went on I realized that I was going to do this job but I was constantly worried and doubting what on earth I am doing going to Guatemala alone! These thoughts can be seen in my first bloog entry that I wrote in March!
Right at the height of my worry about Guatemala on April the 3rd the sermon at my church was about Job. I am not going to go into detail about his whole story, you can look it up for yourself if you are interested. But in Job 38-41 God reminds Job who like me was doubting, that God knows what He is doing! He basically says stuff like; "did you make the earth? Have you ever brought the sun up in the morning ? Did you give horses their strength? Do you command the animals? NO you don't! thats what I thought! Its me who does that not you, So I know what I am doing! okay?" Keep in mind these is a very loose translation. My response: Oh snap! Job got told! Really I have no right to be saying, this trip doesn't make sense, or say oh this won't work cause God has got a handle on it. [God is good]
As I listened to this sermon I tried to trust in God, and the main thing I needed help trusting was that this trip and lack of employment this summer wouldn't make me go into debt later on. I really prayed hard that even if I did go into dept that I would remember God still knows what he is doing. Well God certainly did know what he was doing because less then a month after I said this prayer God provided every last cent I needed for my trip, my travel insurance and my vaccinatations through generous support! [God is good]. Many people from my church where I go to school, from my church at home, from my moms work, from my friends, and even people who I didn't know in the community, or friends of my parents generously gave towards this trip. It further proved that it is God's will.
A friend of mine told me to read Philippians Chapter 4 when I am scared but I started off at chapter 1. Verse 29 really stuck out to me. "For you have been given not only the privilege of trusting in Christ but also the privilege of suffering for him. " I know that this whole experience won't be rainbows and butterflys, I know that sometimes it's going to suck but at least I can be proud that the suffering I may endure will be because I am following God's will. I keep thinking that of all the people God could have chosen for this trip He chose me, but not because I am awesome, but rather because He is awesome so because of that I can be proud to suffer in his name. [God is good].
-Emma <3
So way back when a friend of mine first told me that the midwife in Guatemala was looking for someone to help her i had this overwhelming feeling that that job was for me . And that I was going to do it. [God is Good!] Those feelings didn't make sense to my human brain so I immediatly pushed them away. Obviously as time went on I realized that I was going to do this job but I was constantly worried and doubting what on earth I am doing going to Guatemala alone! These thoughts can be seen in my first bloog entry that I wrote in March!
Right at the height of my worry about Guatemala on April the 3rd the sermon at my church was about Job. I am not going to go into detail about his whole story, you can look it up for yourself if you are interested. But in Job 38-41 God reminds Job who like me was doubting, that God knows what He is doing! He basically says stuff like; "did you make the earth? Have you ever brought the sun up in the morning ? Did you give horses their strength? Do you command the animals? NO you don't! thats what I thought! Its me who does that not you, So I know what I am doing! okay?" Keep in mind these is a very loose translation. My response: Oh snap! Job got told! Really I have no right to be saying, this trip doesn't make sense, or say oh this won't work cause God has got a handle on it. [God is good]
As I listened to this sermon I tried to trust in God, and the main thing I needed help trusting was that this trip and lack of employment this summer wouldn't make me go into debt later on. I really prayed hard that even if I did go into dept that I would remember God still knows what he is doing. Well God certainly did know what he was doing because less then a month after I said this prayer God provided every last cent I needed for my trip, my travel insurance and my vaccinatations through generous support! [God is good]. Many people from my church where I go to school, from my church at home, from my moms work, from my friends, and even people who I didn't know in the community, or friends of my parents generously gave towards this trip. It further proved that it is God's will.
A friend of mine told me to read Philippians Chapter 4 when I am scared but I started off at chapter 1. Verse 29 really stuck out to me. "For you have been given not only the privilege of trusting in Christ but also the privilege of suffering for him. " I know that this whole experience won't be rainbows and butterflys, I know that sometimes it's going to suck but at least I can be proud that the suffering I may endure will be because I am following God's will. I keep thinking that of all the people God could have chosen for this trip He chose me, but not because I am awesome, but rather because He is awesome so because of that I can be proud to suffer in his name. [God is good].
-Emma <3
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