Getting my life in order....

Baby blankets, stickers and toys for the babies and children at my health center.

This past week I had the chance to help my friend Kate, a PCV in my training group, with her camp. The camp was a week long with different themes everyday. About 450 kids signed up, so you can imagine the amount of work that needed to go into this camp. The camp was a great success and a lot of children benefited from participating. The last day the kids received t-shirts and there was a little party, unfortunately my bus broke down on the way to Kate's camp (go figure) and I wasn't able to go :( Overall, it was great to see other camps so I can get an idea of what I might want to do for next year.



I had my Project Specialist, Ana Isabel, come and visit me this past week. She had the chance to view the apartment I want to live in. The only problem is the cost. Even though I live in a pretty rural site, the amount of living here is almost ridiculous. Unfortunately, there are no places to live here in Chiquimula, so the cost of living here is doubled. So the plan is to move out the 1st of January. I know my host family doesn't want to see me leave, but I also need my space. I live in a really tiny room and I have no work space. There is also no place to wash my clothes because the sink is always filled with dirty dishes, so instead of taking my laundry to get it cleaned I can finally have a space to do it myself... mom would be proud :) Since this apartment is newly renovated I have to buy everything... bed, dresser, tables, chairs.... so I'll be broke for a while. For Chrismas, I asked my parents to buy me a bed... lol.



I received a package from my grandmother this past week. Granadmas really know what to pack, its like they have this sixth sense. Games, puzzles, magazine, chocolate, stapler (that was essential, I needed one!), clothes, socks, stickers, toys, key chain, hair clips.... everything I can use or donate. Also, my awesome grandma has been collecting baby clothes for my health center. Tomorrow I am going to present all the baby blankets I have so far to my professional nurse. They are building a new maternity wing to our health center. The baby blankets would be a great incentive for mothers to have their births here instead of having them at home.



This week I am really going to go full speed ahead with my work here. I think I have a pretty basic level of Spanish to start running my own groups, besides my Health Promoter groups. This week I am going to talk with my educators and have them pick out 4 groups they think would really benefit from my program, I am going to put up a flyer in the women's municipality office at the muni to see if women are interested in cooking classes, gardens, health projects, etc. I am goung to talk to the director of the health commission to see if he would like me to train men in small towns how to build stoves. I also really want to work with the midwives here. The past couple of months have been a bit stagnant, and my goal is to make 2010 a busy year! But we will see.... this is all in retrospect.



It is a beautiful, quiet, Sunday morning here in Santa Maria Chiquimula and it is going to be a blessed week!