July 5, 2010

I had a productive day today, although I didn't finish everything I set out to do. I was hoping that today I could finish my next physiology and anatomy lesson- which is supposed to be about the digestive and nervous system. I also wanted to write one of the papers for my cultural proofs class and do 50 pages of reading. I started on my presentation and did about 30 pages of reading, but I didn't start on my paper. I think the important thing is that I worked the whole day without stopping. We continued teaching about parasites in the colegio. I often fail to mention these day to day things that are part of our work here. I don't know why, but I guess since they have become such routine tasks I feel like there isn't much to report.
There are some exciting things that are happening with the parasite education and treatment, however. Linnea, Xochi and I are teaching the high school kids so they can then teach the younger primaria kids. They have come up with some great ideas so far. The most exciting thing for me is to see that the kids are taking part in the learning experience. I know that this will mean that they retain and apply more of what they learn here. Another exciting thing is that the kids came into the nurses office to get their names on the list so that on Wednesday they will get their first parasite cleansing pills. The government is sponsoring this project so all the kids in school get the parasite cleansing pills in the next month.
I continue working with the students from Rochester to finish their prostate cancer research. I was able to give the surveys to 5 men over 50 this evening. If we continue at this pace we can be done in the next couple days. It's exciting that we will be able to finish the whole population so quickly. There is a possibility that we may go to a smaller village just outside of Yantalo before we leave, but our data may be sufficient with the surveys we do here in town only.
I'm excited to continue working. I want to work hard this week because we have a fun trip planned for the weekend. Wish me luck, I want to be really productive in the next couple days.