Brief Update

Hi everybody,

I had hoped to have more internet access and time, but the days are packed from early in the morning til late at night. Sunday we did house calls all day in Santiago Sacatepequez. That wasn't nearly as challenging though as our major project for the week, which is the clinics.

Sunday night we grabbed a bite to eat at the Bagel Barn and hopped on the shuttle to Comalapa, a little over an hour away. That night Hannah and Peter and I got to stay with Magda (Ixkamey) and her family. It was wonderful to see her and her siblings, and her folks. You might remember all the stories of the time Peter and I lived there over a year ago. The girls were wearing the stocking hats I made them.

Yesterday and today I worked for about 18 hours total as a translator for the two doctors we brought to a clinic in Comalapa. The clinic is housed in the ACOTCHI building. (ACOTCHI is the midwife cooperative we work with.)

Tomorrow morning we'll get up at 6 and start in again. Then as soon as the clinic is finished we will get on a bus to Tecpan, where we will do a clinic at another ACOTCHI location Thursday and Friday.

The work is invigorating and exciting, and a bit of a mental marathon.

Peter works as the translator for the pediatrician, Mike.

I work as the translator for the OBGYN, Melinda.

They are both amazing doctors from Illinois. I am learning a ton about women's health issues.

Most of the patients over 30 or so years old do not know much of any Spanish, so it's necessary to conduct the entire consultation in Kaqchikel. (Some of the younger women are better at Spanish than Kaqchikel, so I do everything in Spanish for them.)

Melinda does not know any Spanish or Kaqchikel, just English. All the patient notes have to be written in Spanish (for subsequent doctors'use). This is why it's a mental marathon.

An example of a consultation is a 44yrold women coming in for her first prenatal visit of this pregnancy. I introduce myself in Kaqchikel as only the translator, not the doctor, and introduce Melinda. I ask her what the problem is. I listen to her talk quite a bit in Kaqchikel, write it down in Spanish, ask more questions in Kaqchikel, tell Melinda everything in English, ask more questions, etc. And my mind does a lot of swirling.

But mostly I have stayed on top of everything, and I can't understand how I'm saying all the things I'm saying. Things I did´n't know I knew how to say. I talk nearly constantly for hours. I am using more words in one day than I've used this whole past month. Maybe that's partly why I'm tired.

Got to go, but I'll try to update tomorrow. I got to work with Mike for a couple of hours today too and got to see a few children with scabies.