Well, that's clearly exactly what I've achieved. When my birthday officially began at midnight, I was crouched behind a giant log on the beach, playing Sardines with all of the volunteers. Last Friday night was spent alone at home, chopping up my veggies that were on the cusp of going bad for a stir fry, watching Jane the Virgin, and trying to shoo a giant grasshopper out of my house. My work consists of slipping down mud paths wearing rubber boots and homemade floor-length dresses, to sit and talk with families in huts with palm thatch roofs. I travel by bus, in the back of converted pickup trucks, or by foot. Occasionally I splurge on wine or a beer. I haven't gone on a date in over three years, haha.
I thought that at 25 I would be "all grown up", but honestly, I still feel so young. And that's a good thing.
The past week I spent a couple days facilitating a seminar that my fellow volunteer Eliana planned. It was for an association of botanical doctors and midwives in the Comarca. The idea was to help the members understand the science of HIV/AIDS and how it is treated, recognize potential cases of HIV or AIDS in their communities based on symptoms and health history, promote preventative behaviors, and create a better connection between the Ministry of Health and the association. The participants brainstormed strategies to deal with people who believe HIV can be cured by God or traditional remedies alone, different types of record-keeping systems for their patients, and ways to record information to send along with patients to the hospital. Often times, people arrive in the hospital without a health history and a low Spanish level, which makes it really difficult to accurately diagnose them. Hopefully these medicine men and women can help bridge this gap.
It was amazing teaching and learning from these people. There was one part where we passed out cards with symptoms, and they had to write down what types of natural medicines they would use to treat the symptoms, or decide if it was serious enough to refer a patient to the hospital. One man in my small group immediately recalled a plant for each symptom - fever, headache, infected wound, night sweats. Example - for an infected wound, you have to harvest a certain leaf, but only the baby green ones because the mature leaves are poisonous, chop it up to make a paste and apply it to the wound. It was so impressive, getting a little taste of the vast amount of botanical medical knowledge he has memorized. Before Peace Corps I never dreamed I would have the chance to participate in something like this, much less be ABLE to facilitate a seminar in Spanish.
Life is unexpected but reality is much more exciting than any of the plans I could have made for myself. Here's to 25. Happy golden birthday to me. :)
The midwives and botanical doctors doing an activity, classifying common illnesses.
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