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Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Mana Concert

Just a quick note.  I went to the Mana Concert on Friday (there a band from Mexico) and it was very cool being amongst a crowd that new all of the words and sang along with a ton of gusto (it would not have been the same in the sates).  I've added pics from the concert to my YASC album, so you should check them out.

Traditional Celebrations in El Salvador

So over the last week, I have had some very early mornings and awesome experiences all related to traditional customs in El Salvador.

I'll start with:

#1-las fiestas patronales de San Francisco de Asis (or in english the celebration of the patron saint of San Francisco de Asis).  So basically last weekend, I took the bus to El Pital on Saturday around 1pm to be a part of the "fiestas" from the beginning which started with the election of  the queen of San Francisco de Asis.  San Fracisco de Asis is a big deal to the church in El Pital because the church is named after him.  The election started with a parade of the 5 queen delegates (between the age or 4 and 8).  Three cars were nicely decorated with balloons and streamers and then the little girls were placed on the hoods of the cars to be paraded around the town.  After the parade we started the election process.  I had the pleasure of being a judge, which meant I got to count the money put forth towards one of the girls.  My little girl was named Carolina, and guess what she won! (I can't wait to post these pictures but I took the pictures with the Rev. Irma's camera since I forgot mine so I'm still waiting to get the pics).  In between the ballots, the women from JUL shared information on violence prevention and several of the kids performed skits and dances.  After the elections and the crowning of the queen, there were fireworks and pupusus (yum).  They had fireworks that went up into the sky and also a "bull of fireworks" which was held by one of the young men and as he ran around fireworks shot off in little spirals (it was kind of crazy).  

On to the next day.  I woke up at 4:40Am, in time to leave Irma's house at 5AM to go to an early mass at El Pital and eat "shuco", a traditional soup/drink made out of corn (it's very similar to grits).  After mass I got the pleasure to help (or it might be better just to say learn because I'm not sure how much of a help I was) make tamales.  I got to be part of the process from the beginning to the end.  We started with the corn kernels, which we took to the "molido" (the mill) to turn the kernels into "masa" (which is basically ground up corn with some ground up vegetables and water).  Then we added chicken stock, butter, and oil to the batch and brought everything to a boil.  The next step is to actually form the tamales, putting a little bit of the "masa" into a banana leaf, adding a little potato and chicken, and then rolling the banana leaf up.  Then the rolled up banana leafs are put back into water to boil and then the next step is to eat the tamales.  It was such a treat to be able to learn from the great cooks of El Pital and just to get a chance to chill and talk with them about daily life.  During the cooking process there was also games and a pinata for the kids and more decorating of the church to prepare for a second mass at 2pm that the bishop was coming to.  I unfortunately had to leave before the second mass but the women sent some of the tamales home with me, so I got to try my handy work when I got home.


#2- Dia de Muertos- The second traditional activity that I got to participate in just a few days latter was to join my Spanish teacher (Lisandra) at her family home in the "Departamento Cabanas" and in the town "Guacotecti" or in short "Guaco" to celebrate the day of the dead on Nov. 2.  "Guaco" is out in el campo, so it's away from the pollution and busyness of the city and it was super nice to just be out in the country side (I was actually able to see stars).  The basic agenda of "el dia de muertos" was lunch, a walk to the river, a visit to the cemetery to lay down flowers, a trip to the park, and then back home for dinner and desert.  Through out the day we (Rachelle- a friend from CIS, and I) were also playing with the many cousins in Lisandra's family.  Our playing ranged from playing basketball, swinging, hide and seek, to musical chairs with me signing songs from Sound of Music and "Leaving on a Jet Plane".  Rachelle also brought paper and color pencils with her so I came home with some beautiful artwork to put on my walls.  Our journey ended with waking up at 4:00AM on Thursday so that we could get back to the city in time for work at 7:30AM.  I have to say taking the bus, is always a journey in it self; for instance the buses that go back and forth from San Salvador to "Guaco" sit three on one side and two on the other and they definitely pack you in tight.  I feel really lucky to have had the opportunity to experience "el dia de muertos" in El Salvador and I deff recommend checking out my pics, which i have already uploaded to my YASC album.

So I think that's it for now; I hope everyone is doing well back in the states and I hope all of you other missionaries/YASCers are healthy and happy!

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Nursing in El Salvador

So far I've been pretty impressed with the organization within the nursing department of the Ministry of Health of El Salvador and within the community health centers here.  Regarding the nursing department, everything is very regimented as they have guidelines for everything; for instance right now I am reading "Guías Clínicas de atención a la mujer en los periodos preconcepcional, embarazo, parto, puerperio, y al recién nacido" and "protocolos de atencíon de enfermería para el primer y segundo nivel de atención de salud" ("Clinical Guidelines of care for women in the preconception period, pregnancy, childbirth,postpartum and newborn care" and "nursing care protocol for the first and second levels of health care").  So far in my clinical practice, which has been in the vacine department to start, all the nurses I work with seem to follow these guidelines to a "T", which  means I've been getting a lot of feedback as there are some differences between how they do things here and how we do them in the states, for instance the site of injection.  I am slowly learning the Salvadoran way of doing things.

During my first week in the clinic, I have also been overwhelmed by the amount of paperwork that is completed by each medical professional; absolutely everything is documented and in about five different places.  Everything is also very regimented, for instance the kids can't get their vaccines before receiving their well child check, so every child that comes in to get a vaccine also ends up getting a medical check up; which is very important in a country where many kids are underweight or infected with parasites.

Along with the guidelines for everything, the nursing department has a committee for everything; making sure that there is continuous evidence based research being completed throughout the clinics, community health centers, and hospitals in El Salvador.

In general the nursing department at the Ministry of Health has taken me under their wing and set up an amazing orientation for me and all in the name of cross cultural exchange as they are not being paid for any of the help that they are giving me.  To give a quick overview of my orientation, the first week I had the pleasure of reviewing the various guidelines and meeting with various committee members to hear about the research they are completing.  Two weeks ago I started in "La Unidad de Salud Barrios", a community health center, where I will be rotating between immunizations, child and women's health, adolescent health, family planning, TB & HIV programs, and various other programs.  Starting at the beginning of December, I will start rotating between different ECOS teams, ending with the family health ECOS team that is working in El Pital, which is where I will be based permanently when I finish my orientation.  I have to say, I have been highly impressed with how organized my orientation has been.

Now just to say a bit about a different system that is not so organized, immigration.  Unfortunately, instead of spending the beginning of last week participating in the health care of women and children, I spent the first three days of the week in the department for foreigners in immigration presenting my paperwork for my temporary residency.  So, basically the way it works is that there is a list of required documents that you need in order to apply for residency, which in reviewing this list last Monday, I supposedly had everything I needed but it seems that new requirements are made every day depending on who is processing your paperwork.  So, basically you wait for 3-4 hours just to be seen and then you are told that you need something else and then you go back the next day and the same things happens; can you tell I'm a little bitter (oh well, I guess that's just they way it is and I'm working on becoming more patient daily).  Well that's enough of me complaining; coming soon I will post about my amazing weekend in El Pital this past weekend for the celebrations of the patron saint San Francisco de Asis.