Sunday- Health Fair in San Benito and Yes Mom another story about peeing in the woods.

Sunday:
We left Hillside by 7am for our 2 hour drive to San Benito to have a health fair for the community.  So here's the entertaining part of the journey for me: Well it was a rainy long bumpy trip and I had to pee. At one point, we stopped before deciding if we were going to cross over the river that flooded. So Stacy and myself decided we were going to go for the experience of peeing in the jungle. It was pouring outside, literally pouring, but desperate times call for really desperate measures. We ran up the side of a mountain/ hill and into the bushes enough that you couldn't see us pop a squat  from the road. On the way back down the mountain, Stacy was almost down and fell on her bottom, muddy spot on her bottom and all! And then there was the 2nd mobile watching us... they got a nice laugh.  We were soaked getting back into the mobile and then we crossed over the two flooded rivers, drove up a hill and wa la- we were basically at the village...... reallyyyy, we were soaking wet for nothing BUT everything was fine- it's all about the experiences!

We got the the building where we were holding the health fair, we did bring a tent to set up in case of rain, but since it was already raining, we had the fair inside. We hung up posters and made different stations: face painting, nutrition, teeth brushing, blood pressure and blood glucose checking and the PT's station on exercise.  Our station was basically trying to get the kids to play anything- soccer/ futbol was the only attraction for a while and only with the little boys, who were not the nicest, even to us girls! We had first attempted to jump rope inside, but no one would participate with us, so then the futbol came out.  We finally were able to get the little girls to join in some jump roping, when the boys were not attacking each other at the front of the line! It was quite the experience with the children. I LOVE playing games with kids, but this was not the same at all.  The younger boys, well the majority, were rude to everyone, pushing to get in front, demanding that they get things like stickers, toothbrushes or for you to take a picture of them. I was amazed at how timid the younger girls were. The first hour was all of us having our faces painted, and the children and older adults just staring from the outside. We were trying to encourage participation the best we could!

The cutest little boy ever!

Spiderman!

Getting the young girls involved in jump rope!

When we finally got the younger girls jump roping, some of them were really enjoying it. Caroline had asked some of the girls what they do for fun and the answer was work. Yet, some of the younger girls did tell me that had jump roped before, they definitely looked like they had practiced!  It is a sad reality in these poorer communities that everyone in the family is relied on for work and feeding the family. We were trying to encourage play and exercise, but it's hard to break through that cultural barrier, and the questions is, do we even want to break through this? We can't change how a culture looks at play vs. work.  This is the struggle we are having with PT participation, especially with the women.  Perhaps they look at what we are doing as play, and since they must do work before play, they are more unwilling to participate in something that will help make their work more efficient and pain free.  Maybe that is the approach we need to take more often when speaking to these women about PT? It's also so hard to go in a change their mindset about pain and how they need to take breaks while working. This will still be a continuing topic of discussion for us!

We arrived back to Abby's house later Sunday afternoon and a few of us when for a bike ride to go swimming in the sea. This afternoon was the best weather day since I've been here. We biked to the sea and it was breezy, low humidity and I didn't even sweat! So it was even more relaxing not being drenched with sweat while riding and being able to enjoy the ride and the views.

 

I get daily quotes in my inbox and this one seamed the most appropriate for this journey.  I need to be better about thinking before I speak and not jumping to conclusions.... all in all making this a more fulfilling and happier experience for all involved! It's a constant adjustment. 

Carol, my CI for the first 4 weeks, flies back to St. Louis tomorrow, and Monica, who is the Rehab Director at Hillside, is back from her vacation. So this week will be one of adjustments again. Good thing I've had 4 weeks to practice being more flexible and going with the flow!