May 30, 2016

     Wow, what a day. I am typing this update very late at night and I will explain why shortly. The title of this day should be “A Day of Surprises”. In the morning before breakfast I was hanging out in the kitchen with some of the girls. I was helping them clean up some of last night’s food that were left out. At one point, I picked up a small blue cup that looked like it was filled with milk. But that was not the only thing residing in that cup. Swimming around the top of the milk was a cockroach the size of a USB drive. I screamed like a little girl and backed away yelling “Cucaracha!” (I knew that word thanks to that little song haha). Anyway, that is how my morning started.

        After breakfast, Elena (my German friend) asked if I wanted to go to the health clinic with her and a little 2-year-old girl to get her checked out because she had a nasty cold. I agreed and off we went! We rolled out in a motorcycle taxi (with the two-year-old on the driver’s lap!) and got there safe and sound. The clinic was a small building with a courtyard in the center. It was very crowded and we had to wait an hour to see a doctor. When we finally saw the doctor, our visit was less than 2 minutes long. He hastily scribbled down some prescriptions for medicines on a piece of paper and we were on our way to the pharmacy down the street to pick up the drugs. After we picked up the medications and came back to the office, two nurses gave a shot to the poor little girl. I have never heard a wail so violent before. We left the clinic and went back to the Hogar via motorcycle taxi again (little did I know at this point that I would return to this location two more times today!).

        When we got back to the Hogar I decided to help around with the little kids. So I go off to the Santa Anna building to lend a hand with whatever they needed. When I arrived to the building I saw Carina and Chiki looking through some girl’s hair. I knew immediately what they were doing. They were searching for lice. I offered a hand and spent an hour on another girl’s head. It was covered. I had to pull 50+ lice eggs off the hairs and many lice that were crawling on the roots. I hope I don’t get lice! So far I have been pretty healthy (occasional nausea and other issues) but the last thing I want is lice. It would stink to have to go back to the short hair (and be squirrel boy again).

        I finished up with the lice hunting and was about to help some girls with homework when I was invited to lunch with Mother Superior, her assistant, and a land worker there. It was very nice and I held a good conversation! Mother Superior has noticed my increase in listening ability so now she is talking faster when she speaks to me. But, she also told me to work on my talking (I’m having problems with my tenses) haha. After lunch I was invited to go to different stops around town with Mother Superior and her assistant (Profesora Lilly). I hopped into the car that Mother Superior pulled up in and recognized the song that was playing, “That’s the Way (I Like It)” and she told me she loves listening to old US music! She enjoys listening to the Beatles and Bee Gees. On our trip we listened to “YMCA” and also their favorite song “Survivor”. Mother Superior even sang and danced a little! Anyways, we went back to the clinic and Mother Superior talked to a doctor. She got me set up with him to watch a surgery tomorrow! I’m super excited and nervous for what’s about to come.

        We make a few other stops then get some ice cream to celebrate Memorial Day (they felt bad that I wasn’t with my family for the holiday). We arrived at the Hogar at around 6:00. At this point I thought my day was about done (boy was I wrong). I decided to Facetime my family and then go to my room to write about the already filled day. While I was using Facetime with my parents, four girls came running in the room saying “Chris we need you to come here NOW!” I said goodbye and ran out of the room following them into the San Francisco part of the building. I run into the sleeping quarters and I see a bunch of girls surrounding a bunk-bed in the far left corner of the room. I run over to the bunk-bed and there is a girl shaking uncontrollably (very seizure like) but also whimpering. The girls were speaking a million miles per hour and time slowed down. I was then instructed by Professora Lilly to pick her up and take her the street where a taxi would pick us up. I picked up the 12 year old girl (who was shaking mildly at this time) and went to the street. We (Profa Lilly, Carina, and I) waited there for 10 minutes while I sat there with this poor girl shaking and moaning in my arms. I felt her forehead and she was burning hot so I had some girls fetch me a towel soaked in water to cool her down. I placed the towel on her forehead and I think that it helped a little. During this whole time, she was unresponsive by the way. Once the taxi arrived we went to the medical clinic for the third time of the day. When we arrived I carried her into the clinic and placed her in a bed in one of the rooms. I was then instructed to leave the room after they asked me a few questions. While sitting in the waiting room I could hear the moans and the sounds of the doctors and nurses working hard. I saw nurses running in and out of the room getting more and more drugs and needles for her. She apparently she would nope stop shaking and continued to be unresponsive. After what seemed like forever, we were instructed to transfer her to the town’s hospital for further treatment. By this time, Mother Superior and her posse of nuns showed up and were assisting in the transfer. We put her in the back seat of Mother Superior’s truck (needles still inside of her) and moved her to the hospital. At the hospital we waited for an answer to what was going on. I heard many different things while I was there. I heard that she might have chikungunya or another illness similar to it. After waiting outside the hospital for some time Mother Superior took Carina and I back to the Hogar. I will update when I find out more information tomorrow. Till then, I am extremely tired and need some sleep. I will answer any questions in the comments below. Chao!

 This little girl is 3 years old. She has a very good stare.

 This is one of my favorite girls! She is either 4 or 5 (I will update later) and she is always following me around. I think she is the cutest girl here at the Hogar.

 This is Carina teaching the girls numbers. The girls of Santa Maria are ages 2-5. They were struggling with the numbers.

 This is the picture I got of the clinic when I went there the first time. Notice how crowded it is and how tiny the waiting room is. The room that I placed the sick girl in is right behind me in this picture.

 This is the doctor looking at the 2-year-old. The doctors there wore whatever they liked with a scrubs shirt on top. I saw one with an Adias sweatsuit on and scrubs!

While waiting outside the hospital, an ambulance arrived. It's the only picture I took at the hospital.