Christmas+Newyears

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It was a quiet Christmas here in Xela with my parents and Kate. We exchanged a few small presents, made crepes in the morning and spent the afternoon hanging out and playing card. I've enjoyed my time in bustling and busy Xela. I will soon be heading back to Copan to start working on the Life To Life program and to continue studying Spanish which has begun to slacken with all these English speakers around!

Kids Christmas Party in Xela

The last few days mom, Greg, Kate and Jorge have been all consumed with the preparations for a Christmas party for a temporary state run kids home. I’ve been having a tough time adjusting to the altitude and have needed to sleep lots. I’ve enjoyed cooking the last few days and being able to share the food which is much more inspiring then cooking solo which I did a lot of when I was house sitting.

Yesterday all the hecticness came to a head and the party happened. When we arrived at the massive cement prison-like home in the morning it was like arriving in a zoo of children. The boys’ and girls’ ages ranged from the youngest being about one, to the oldest girl being about twenty-five with some mental challenges. Many of the other children also had mental challenges of various degrees. The eldest was really really sweet. During the bus ride to the place where the party was held she kept singing on the bus and kissing my cheek. The party was held on a beautiful peace of land that is made available to state employees for little holidays or picnics.

From the beginning I noticed a rather cute and sad looking boy that my heart went out to right away. Our guess was that he is autistic and turned out to be the trickiest of the kids. He managed to get through the gates of the compound several times before the guard caught him. He wasn’t able to speak but communicated in a grunting and gesture manner that caught my heartstrings. By the end of the day he only wanted to be in my arms, holding tightly to my neck. It was really tough to let him go.

Antigua and Montericco in Guatemala

After spending a few days in beautiful Antigua Kate and I took a three hour shuttle ride to the coastal town Montericco where we spent a few days soaking up sand and surf.

Antigua....

Montericco......

Antigua

I arrived in Antigua, Guatamala last night to find Kate in our hotel! We spent a quiet evening and made noodle soup in the hostel instead of joining the throngs of party animals. I´ve had a really bad soar throat all day and think I´m fighting off an ear infection. Kate is also tired from a hectic few weeks of exams before leaving so we had a chill day exploring Antigua and napping in the afternoon.

I´m really happy to be out of Copan and seeing more of Central America. I really feel that Copan is home now and keep saying ¨well in Copan....¨ Its nice to have a homebase here. Were off to the coast for a few days tomorrow to catch some sun before heading to Xela to meet my parents for Christmas.

Partera's Christmas Party

Mom and Greg left Copan yesterday after spending a week here. We have had sunny days on and off since I arrived here but mostly rain. The day they arrived it cleared up and stayed hot and dry for the whole week! It was so much fun to hang out with them. They lived here two years ago for six weeks so had lots of old friends to visit. I found it to be a nice break from studying and enjoyed the company and comfort after I got my last wisdom tooth pulled and which turned out to be really really painful. I have to go back in a few days to get the stitches out…..

Today we had a little Christmas party at the main health centre for the midwifes in the neighboring villages. There was about forty in total ranging in age from the youngest who was seventeen and had a two month old child to women in their sixties. It was such an amazing feeling to sit in a room with all these women from different generations and levels of experience connected by one strong thread, to help women in childbirth. Many of the women were illiterate. I felt a sense of sisterhood with them, coming together against many odds to share space and time. There constant smiling faces and enthusiastic attitudes was a beautiful reflection of their work. Many of the women had to travel really far. One of them left her house at 3am and walked for six hours to be at the centre this morning.

There was a meal for the women and then presents were handed out that Dr. Carla, Anna, Ariel and I worked on wrapping last night. The presents consisted of plastic thermoses, plates, containers, sets of plastic cups and other odds and ends. Once all of the presents were handed out using a number and draw system the women started to open the present’s tentivley. The next thing I knew the room was filled with glowing and thrilled faces. Ariel and I talked about how different things are here compared to Canada. How if a set of three plastic plates were given to somebody for Christmas it wouldn’t be a big deal at all and laughed at as something that could simply be bought in a dollar store but here it made these women’s days. When everybody started to disperse there were many hugs and kisses and feliz navida’s from the women as they left the centre.


Things with the Life to Life program that I mentioned in a previous entry are starting to shape up fast. The website should be up in the next few days and word is quickly being spread. Different options for renting a clinic here in Copan are starting to be discussed and considered. I’ve decided to return to Copan in January and February to continue working with the program.

My mom and Greg arrived here in Copan two days ago. Its been so much fun hanging out with them and visiting friends that they made here two years ago. Today we went to the mayan ruins which Copan is famous for. They were so beautiful, the land around them so green and well kept. I was really struck with a sense of tranquility and silent peace while exploring.

There was a massive tree and we decided to take a picture of me underneath. After sitting for the photo I felt something bite and jumped up to see I was sitting on an ant hill!! I turned around to see my bum was COVERED in them, my mom just screamed and jumped around and Greg kept saying help her! Mom and I ran around behind the tree and up into the forest so we could try and get them out from inside my pants!! It took a good ten minutes and I have been left covered with red bites all over my back and lower bum...ouch.

The coolest granny in town

Apparently this sprightly little lady is the grandma of grandmas here in Copan kicking it at the ripe old age of 99. She's somewhat of a clown to the neighbourhood, always rambling one about things that make no sense but who couldn't love a face like that?? She refused to let me take her picture and kept covering her face until Maritza came over and bribed here with a ten limpiras to let me take her photo.

Cultural Taboo

My teacher, Mariela.

I finished my intense week of school today. I was really sad by the end! I had a total blast with my teacher and will miss our daily conversations and mix of work and play. At the end I was talking about how I wasn’t sure where I was going to live from now on and she offered me a place in her house! I feel like my learning has come leaps and bounds from where I started last week. I hope to do another week of studying in January. It all depends on finances as it isn’t cheap.

Tomorrow (Saturday) is world Aids awareness day. Yesterday Ella and I dropped off about six hundred condoms with a gringo who is organizing stuff for tomorrow. He runs an art centre of sorts and has set up permanent residence here. Later when I was digging in my bag at school for a pencil I pulled out some condoms that I had missed. My teacher, Mariela asked what they were. I asked if she had ever seen a condom before and she shook her head no! I was shocked so I opened one up and gave her a demonstration on how to safely use it. Afterwards I blew it up into a balloon and tossed it onto the floor of the classroom and we both forgot about it. Today when class started she told me that the director of the school was angry at her for it being in the classroom. I told Ella on break and she told her teacher and it turned into a bit of a fuddled mess with Mariela feeling worried that she was going to get into further trouble for it. Ella and I were both rather shocked at what big deal it was made into. It was yet another reminder of the taboos and lack of sexual education in this country.

Pure Honduran Goods

I've befriended one of my schoolmates. Last night Ella came over and we watched a movie and made popcorn in a pot on the stove! We were both surprised at how well the popping went. We made it candied by melting brown sugar and margarine (butter would have been better) and drippling it all over the popcorn, I highly suggest trying it! We had a good laugh at watching the popcorn pop through the glass lid and talked about how in many ways everything is an adventure in Honduras. This morning she came over and we both took Tucker for a walk in the jungle while macho guys drove by in their trucks kissing their fingers and whistling. I found myself laughing and relaxing, loving the company and simple comradery of another female. Its Ella's first time traveling on her own, she left Belgium three weeks ago. Today over black coffee and purring kittens we talked about travel and being in foreign countries. I think we both found a lot of comfort being able to talk to somebody about the ups and downs of it all. She has a travel blog too and we talked about how easy it is to only write about the good stuff. To not mention all the small things that ware you down. At home one doesn't even think about crossing the street, buying fruit, catching a bus. When travelling even the simplest things become a whole new venture and it gets really tiring. We talked about how wonderful traveling looks from a distance and how its easy to forget about the down right dirty grit of it all. The smells, the lonley times, the desire to be involved in the culture but finding ways to be involved in a way that you want to be and not in a way you think you should be. All the things that she has struggled with and continues to struggle with match mine. Its nice to take a breath and have some conformation from another person.

By the end of class today I was itching to move around and didn't want to practice any more past tense verbs so my teacher and I walked over to the local market and bought one of the local delights, cigars. They supposidly rank the third best in the world and cost me a whole five cents each! Ella and I are going to give them a try tonight.

Hotsprings

Today I went to the local hot springs with the other kids in my school. Every afternoon from 1:30 to 5:30 we study in separate rooms with your teachers. Throughout the week the school organizes a few local outings for the students. The hot springs were a major let down. There were two options. The first only cost twenty limpiras ($1) and the second was 200 ($10). The first got you into the "pools" which were empty and access to the river where a water fall of EXTREMELY hot water meets up with the cold river. The second and more expensive option let you up a little higher into the mountains where it was more spa like. Most of us chose the cheaper option and had a heck of a time trying to feel comfortable. It was either MUCH too hot or MUCH too cold, we tried in vain to make a decent wall with the rocks so as to get a good combination of hot and cold in the pool where we sat but none of us had much luck.

I'm really enjoying being in school four hours a day for the most part. My teacher and I were really playful today making jocks and playing around in Spanish. I asked her how much she makes an hour, 36.80 limps! That’s about $1.50. I'm paying the school about $6 an hour. It really reminded me of what different worlds and countries we come from.

escuela

My charges...

The last few weeks I have been studying at the locally run language school, Guacamaya, with Julia the teacher that my mom had a few years ago and is about half my height. This week she is on vacation so I decided to check out the larger language school here in Copan that is run solely by women. I had a rather lazy weekend recovering from having two of my wisdom teeth pulled and was feeling ready to be challenged mentally and take my Spanish to the next level. For the next week I will be studying with my teacher, who is the same age as me, for four hours a day. Since I started house sitting I have not been speaking as much Spanish as I was when I was with Maritza and found myself converting back to thinking and writing in English. Four hours of conversation and studying has once again switched by brain to Spanish and it feels good. I was really surprised with myself today how much I could understand and how I could carry on a conversation. I am starting to be able to form complete sentences instead of knowing only a few words. After each day of school I find myself leaving almost surprised and how much I love it.

If only the answer was that simple...

I’ve recently started reading a book called “In the land of God and Man” written by Silvana Paternostro woman that was born into a high class Latin America family but later moved to the states and become a journalist. In reading her words I have begun to become more aware of the culture around me and am beginning to understand what I see more and more.

Through a thread on FaceBook a conversation has come up around the issue of birth control and thoughts on solutions. In this entry I’m going to try and address some of the things that I have witnessed being here in Central America and quote some of the disturbing and shocking entries in the book that I mentioned above.

If only the answer was as simple as handing out condoms and addressing education issues with the women. As I have begun to discover the issues go much deeper then that…There are several factors that must be taken into account. Religion, many people here are Catholics and it is against their beliefs to use birth control. Another is availability when it comes to reaching the smaller towns and villages. And yet another obstacle is the culture itself along with suppression. The roles that men and women play here are very old fashioned by many western standards. Living with Maritza I witnessed this first hand. Even as a doctor she is still the woman of the house and is responsible for the meals, cleaning and child care (with the help of the two other women which most families would not be able to afford.) In the book Silvana Paternostro talks about the women’s reluctance to bring up the use of condoms with their partners. Many women believe that it is not their place to bring such things up and see sex as part of their duty in the marriage. As I become more fluent in Spanish I hope to be able to begin talking with the women first hand.

Here are some of the shocking entries found in the book, In the land of God and Man:

“In Argentina, last year, a cook as accused of systematically raping his eleven-year old stepdaughter every time the girl’s mother-his wife-left for work was immediately released from prison when he announced he would marry the girl. Under Article 132 of the Penal Code, his ten year sentence would be repealed if the marriage took place: ‘In the case of violation, rape, kidnap or dishonest abuse of a single woman, the delinquent who will marry the offended will be exempt of his sentence, if she consents after she is restituted in her parents’ home or to another safe place’. The girl, who was pregnant, accepted the offer-with her mother’s consent-to marry her mother’s husband, her rapist, so that the newborn would have un papa.


In Peru the penal code states that ‘a women who causes an abortion, or consciously allows someone else to practice one, will punished with no then two years of her liberty or with community service of 104 days.’ In Colombia she can get up to four years in prison. But scarier than the legal punishment was the list of methods used to have them: knitting needles, clothes hooks, spoons, umbrella rods inserted into the vagina. Women of all ages take a wide range of pharmaceuticals and folk medicines. The list ranges from effective and dangerous to ridiculous and dangerous: high doses of estrogen; laxatives; marijuana mixed with oak and avocado or parsley and coriander. They veterinary prostaglandins or inject muscle relaxants, swallow bleach or cheap hair dye or laundry blueing mixed with urine. They will use anything they can afford or get their hands on to terminate an unwanted pregnancy. Many dance and drink for days. Some pray. Others make themselves fall intentionally from roofs, staircases, trees. The last item on the list sent a chill down my spine: Voluntary blows by the husband in the stomach.”

Anna, Maritza, Dr. Carla and some other women are working on getting a program started here in Copan. It’s called:

Life To Life
Vida a la Vida
Addressing family health and education in the Copan region


Mission

To provide comprehensive, affordable, and sensitive health care to reduce infant and maternal mortality, and improve the quality of reproductive health care and education available to women and their families in the Copan region.


To support and improve training of rural midwives to improve their skills and enhance their role as outreach workers and community educators in remote Maya Chortí villages, thereby enabling partnerships between midwives and health centers and the communities they serve.


To provide dynamic and gender sensitive youth education on the topics of self-esteem, sexuality and HIV/AIDS, and to provide prevention programs, testing, treatment and counseling for HIV/AIDS in the region.


Here are some of the stats that they have gathered on women here in the area of Copan Ruinas.

THE MAYA CHORTI OF COPAN
The highest concentration of rural poverty in Honduras is found in the western region of Honduras, including the department of Copan, which also has the greatest concentration of extreme poverty, with an estimated 71 per cent of indigenous peoples living below the poverty line. There are over 220 Mayan villages in the Copan region, encompassing Copan Ruinas, Santa Rita and Cabanas, with a population of over 70,000 indigenous people.

Copan has some of the highest infant and child mortality rates in the country, high teen pregnancy rates and an untreated AIDS population. The indigenous Maya Chorti population is especially marginalized, live in remote areas and are under -serviced in every way, especially in access to education and health care.

The average indigenous Maya Chorti woman living in the mountains has between 7 to 10 children, and children are literally dying of malnutrition, starvation and diarrhea. Maternal and infant mortality rates for the remote Maya Chorti villages are among the highest in the country, with the majority of women in rural areas giving birth alone or with the aid of a midwife who has little to no formal training or sterile equipment. Many infant births and deaths go unreported, but the scant reporting that takes place indicates that mortality rates are high. There are very few health services available in the remote mountainous areas of the region, as many are only accessible by foot, and not at all in times of heavy rain. Because of little to no health education services in the remote Maya Chorti villages, there is generally very little knowledge or access to contraception and family planning methods. It is not unusual to find 12 year olds giving birth, and the doctors in Copan Ruinas have seen 19 year old women with three to five children.

Finding Beauty

The voices and words of Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash and Neil Young lulled me into a sense of peace today. Day to day life here has simplicity to it which I rarely find. The feeling of cutting an onion or running my hands along the cutting board, of doing dishes under a thin stream of water or washing a shirt by hand. I find such pleasure in these moments because I am not rushing onto the next thing. I’ve started cooking for myself and love the challenge of discovering places to buy food, using my Spanish in the fruit and vegetable market and creating meals for myself. I have chickpeas in the crock-pot as I write that I am going to make into a coconut curry. My time is filled with the basics. Cook, clean, study and just be. It’s a wonderful thing which I haven’t had for awhile. It’s been a pretty transient summer moving from place to place since July and I’m enjoying the sense of settlement I have now. Every morning I take Tucker for a walk, the golden retriever that belongs to Anna and Andy the couple that I am house sitting for over the next two weeks. This morning as I followed the winding, muddy, garbage strewn trails with Tucker I paused to look around me and to absorb the scenery. A thick leafy green sky above my head, the hills a rolling canopy of jungle. The calls of roosters, dogs, bugs and birds providing a constant background of noise. I often catch myself walking through life with my eyes focused down being careful to watch my step and not trip instead of taking a chance and looking up. I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about what I’m doing, instead of enjoying what I am experiencing.

60 mothers to be

Anna, Maritza and I met up with Dr. Carla at the main clinic here in Copan on Thursday. Once a month there is gathering specifically for expecting mothers. Maritza gave a demonstration on the steps of labour with the practice dummy and then coffee and cookies were handed out.

Before I left Canada I gathered a suitcase of baby clothes donated from my grandparents and some friends that had just had a baby, after the demonstration I handed them out. There was around sixty or seventy pregnant women and it was rather hectic and a bit of scramble trying to make sure everybody got something! The blankets and socks were the most popular. Most of the babies that I have seen here are usually wrapped in rough, brightly coloured towels.

Prenatal check ups

This morning I headed out to a small local clinic with Carla, a local female doctor. She spends one day a week working in a small clinic four kilometers outside of Copan that was far from well equipped. When I went to the washroom there wasn't even running water to wash my hands with. I set myself up beside her in the small office with a stack of thick files that she would spend the day working through. The waiting room was full of expecting women. The first woman came in with a tiny premature baby. I was shocked to find out she was two months old! From the look of her face and movements I'm guessing she had Down Syndrome. Her skin was almost transparent, her hands making jerking movements. The mother was silently crying over the baby as the the doctor talked to the woman that had accompanied her. Later I found out that the grandmother of the infant had died the day before. My heart ached.
The rest of the day followed with prenatal consultations and check ups with the women in various stages of pregnancy from two weeks to eight and half months. First came the questions of where do you live, how old are you, is this your first child. I was shocked over and over again at the ages of the girls, they looked as if they should be in elementary school! One woman came in, she was 33 and this was her fifth child. After her came a sixteen year old expecting her first. Turns out they were mother daughter and their due dates were a month apart! Doctor Carla was great letting me listen to the heart beats of the babies and locating the heads. Several of the baby's were turned in different directions and we had fun guessing what part of the baby we were feeling and watching the babies kick or punch their moms so hard we could see it!! It amazed me how each one was so different, varying in size and even feel. The first few women I touched I almost felt high. To make that contact and begin learning was such an amazing and inspiring gift

My weekend....

Kisses

Carving of the moon goddesss....

Maritza brought home a mannequin from the clinic to practice birthing with...out comes the rubber baby!

The neighbours cat munching on chicken..

The neighbours mom...

...in the window.

The view from the road when walking into town