Time for some pictures!

These first three pictures are from a trip to a nearby village to weigh and measure the children (with World Vision). It is a process that has been going on for about three weeks, and has taken us to almost all of the villages in the areas surrounding Gracias. With the data from these trips, we will be able to make better work plans based on need. If a certain area has a very high rate of malnutrition, we will know to focus more education attention there. Of course, it's also fun because I get to spend time playing with kids :)

These are all pictures of the trip to DC and inauguration. So much fun....but so cold!

Happy Anniversary!

So much has happened since my last blog entry, I hardly know where to start! So, first I want to wish everyone a very Happy Valentine's Day, and also wish myself and my fellow Hondu12 group a Happy Anniversary (We've officially been here 1 year, WOW!). Its amazing how time is flying by down here, it feels like only yesterday I was boarding that plane in Kalamazoo at 4:30am to meet the people I would be spending the next two years with... And let me say, that after a year of being here, no matter how hard it was to say goodbye to everyone and wave to my parents as I walked through the security line, joining Peace Corps is still one of the best decisions I have ever made. Life here is a bizarrely satisfying blend of complete frustration and unabounded happiness, and I love it.
I recently discovered a new zest for Peace Corps life after I made my first trip back to the good old USA. It was a super exciting, fast paced trip to Washington DC to watch as our 44th president took his (albeit misspoken) oath of office. The entire trip was amazing, and totally overwhelming.
I was lucky enough to recieve a ticket to the inauguration from Rep. Fred Upton, which was truly amazing, and very much appreciated. I got to attend a little reception the day before the inauguration to pick up my ticket and found that all the great food and drink was nothing compaired to the support I got from that room full of complete strangers. Everyone was incredibly kind and supportive of me being in the Peace Corps, a number of people came up to me to tell me how much they appreciated what I was doing here in Honduras, and it was a really great feeling. I can't really explain how helpful it is to know that even strangers appreciate what we do as PC volunteers. It is something that I definitely brought back with me.
The day of the inauguration was amazing. It was freezing cold, we got lost a number of times on our way to the mall, we almost didn't get let in, and the crowds were unreal....but it was the most incredible experience. I can't believe how lucky I was to get to experience the entire thing first hand. I cheered, jumped up and down, cried and clapped with a million other people while President Obama took his oath, and spoke to us about the future of our country. There was so much hope in that moment, I will never forget it.
The few remaining days I had in DC after the inauguration were filled with me running around town, trying to take everything in and attempting to catch up with friends and family who were also in town. Amongst the crowds, food and traffic...I realized how much of an outsider I feel like in the hustle and bustle of US life. I would go into a restaurant ready to devour a large animal...and would completely lose my appetite in the rush of ordering. My goodness we move fast! Here, I'm lucky if the food comes out even made the way I asked...let alone in a timely fashion. I, literally, backed into a corner at Cosi because the woman behind the counter was scolding me for not ordering faster...There were just so many choices! Ay dios mio. I also got yelled at by a flight attendent on our way in to DC because I put a can in the trash instead of recyclying bag. It was completely disconcerting, I consider myself a concerned citizen...I dont want to add to the global warming crisis....but I hadn't seen a recycling bin in a year! And since when is it ok for the flight attendents to scold people? I felt like a reprimanded kid, and it was not a feeling that I enjoyed.
Let's just say that it is a very humbling experience to feel like you don't belong in the place you have lived your entire life. I spend everyday in Honduras sticking out like a sore thumb, I complain about many things here....but I didn't realize how much I had adjusted to life here until I tried to fit in back home. It was such a relief for me to get off the plane in San Pedro Sula, I know how things work here.... and as I stood in the customs line for 20 minutes with Sarah and Matt, waiting for the agent to stop talking on her cell phone with her friend so she would help us, all I could think was "ah, its good to be home".

Happy Holidays!

Tomorrow I will be on my way out to Ocotepeque to celebrate Christmas with some friends. People keep asking me if I´m sad not to be at home, and the honest answer is that right now I can´t even believe it´s already December! It´s defenitely sad when I think about people at home celebrating together and getting to see eachother, however, it is very hard for me to truly think of it as Christmas here because it is about 70 degrees and sunny...I´ve never lived in a place where there is no snow during December! I´ve tried to get some spirit in my apartment with lots of xmas music, a mini tree and lots of cookies, but it still feels a bit false. Maybe we will do some caroling in Ocotepeque? :)

I hope everyone at home is having a great holiday season! I miss everyone....
Happy Holidays!!
love,
me

Some pictures of life as a PCV

What!? Another blog post already? This must be a new record for me! Well, people have been requesting more updates and pictures...So here are some pictures of random things I have been involved in over the last few months. Enjoy!

1. The Copan ruins. We were there for a big (unofficial) PC Halloween party. It was great fun, and the ruins are beautiful!

2. The Abstinence Team. This is us at the workshop we organized and facilitated earlier in the fall. It was very fun and an overall success!

3. At the workshop, giving the anatomy lesson.

4. Just a picture of beautiful Tela on the north coast. I've been there twice in the last two months...and can't wait to go back!

5. This is Matt and the midwife from Gracias at the Midwives workshop we had. It was put on by the women's health team, of which I am a part.

6. The midwife who Matt brought to the workshop...she was the sweetest, most amazing woman!

7. Women's Health Team (minus Laura) at the workshop...taking a break between sessions!!

8. Sarah and I sorting beans to cook :)

Thanksgiving and Visitors

I realize that is has been an abnormally long time since my last blog post...but the last few months have been incredibly busy. I would try to catch everyone up on everything that has happened in the last two months, but it would take too long. Instead, I want to summarize the two weeks of wild and crazy adventures my parents had here with me (by "wild and crazy" I mean pretty average by Honduras standards) :)
They flew in the week of Thanksgiving, and we spent the first few days of their visit up on the North Coast (yes, Honduras has a north coast, look at a map) trying to enjoy some sun and snorkeling…unfortunately it rained the entire time so what we really ended up enjoying was our hotel room. I am still really dissapointed that we didn't get to do the wildlife tours and things, but I think my parents were just so excited to be here, and overwhelmed by all the new sites that it didn't really make any difference to them what we did.
After the days of rain, we came back to Gracias to celebrate Thanksgiving, and prepare for World Aids Day. Our Thanksgiving celebration involved mashed potatoes, chicken and pumpkin pie….it was delicious, and my parents were very great and patient with me as I had to be running around town preparing stuff for World Aids Day (which was December 1st). They also tried very hard to use Spanish and improve their vocabulary (I will refrain from making any jokes about this…they did good). They got to see me do a number of different projects and presentations, and participated in our World Aids Day activities; which included a march around town and a testimonial given by a women living with HIV. In a side note, I must say that I was generally impressed by how well everything turned out for the Aids Day activities, it never ceases to amaze me how things can get planned in what can only be described as veryvery last minute preparations…and yet turn out spectacularly well.
As for the rest of my parents visit, we tried to see all the important sights around town here, and took a trip up to a town in the mountain where they make traditional pottery. Although I didn't take them to many places around the country, I really enjoyed being able to show them my life here. It’s very weird having a life here that people at home have never seen, having visitors come down creates a cool bridge between two very distinct parts of my life. (That being said, I should also add a quick thank you to Maureen for making the trip down a month ago, I can’t begin to explain how much it means to have people from home come here.) It was sad to see each of them leave, but very satisfying trips all together.
If you want more details, or want to hear about the trip from my parents' point of view, I'm sure they would have some interesting thoughts! Hopefully they feel like they got a good feel for life down here...and I don't think they were just teasing me when they said that they hope to come back!

Other Important News in my life:
I will be in DC in January! Sarah, Matt and I decided that the inauguration was just too exciting an event in our country’s history to miss. We are flying in for four days to celebrate with the 4 million other people who will be in DC. If anyone is planning on being there, let me know! Im going to try to have a prepay cell phone or something that I can be reached at. Yea!!

Christmas/birthday wish list: Granola, granola bars, chocolate, art supplies, dried fruit, movies, magazines, books, candles, lotion, nail polish…. (stay tuned for more updates)
My address (as a reminder) is as follows:

Anna Herdeck

Voluntaria de Cuerpo de Paz

Gracias, Lempira

Honduras, Centro America

Women's Health and Midwives

A few weeks ago we had the annual Midwife workshop focused on Obstetric Emergencies. As a new member of the Women's Health and Midwife Team I was able to be apart of planning and facilitating the workshop along with representatives from the Ministry of Health, Catholic Relief Services and 3 other PCVs. In order to understand the reason for this workshop, you have to know a little bit about midwives here. There is not midwifery certification and education here like in the states; they are simply women who care very much about their communities, are well-respected within them, and have alot of experience with births (often their own). There has been a big push throughout the country to increase the number of women who give birth in hospitals, this has (to an extent) alienated the midwife community and made them feel unwelcome within the health system. They work very hard within their communities and want to be respected. Of course, the other side of this is that the health professionals are simply pushing institutional care because it is safer and there is immediate access to emergency care should there be any complications during a birth. Both groups just want the best for their communities.
The workshop we helped organize was an opportunity to bring people from different sides of this issue together to work towards the common goal of improving care for pregnant women. Participants in the workshop were community teams made up of a Peace Corps Volunteer, a midwife and an institutional health worker (ie. doctors, nurses..). During the workshop we discussed ways that people can work together within their communities to improve health outcomes, and also trained everyone on specific skills designed to decrease the number of maternal deaths. We talked about proper handwashing, sterilization of equipment, pregnancy risk factors, and warning signs of problems during pregnancy, birth and postpartum. The number one cause of death in pregnant women here is hemorrhage, so we talked alot about calculating blood loss during the birth, and immediately post-partum, and the technique of bimanual compression. Midwives can use this technique in their communities in the event of an emergency, it will buy time which can be used to transport the patient to a hospital. The hope of this workshop is that the teams will return to their communties with new information, and (in a classic training of trainers style ) teach the information to other midwives in the area. People seemed to really enjoy the workshop, and I have high hopes for implementing more training programs within the Gracias area with the two women from here who came to the workshop. It was alot of fun for me to be a part of the workshop and I'm excited to continue work with this team.

So there you go; another update on what I'm doing here in the land of mountains and mangos :) Stay tuned for more updates :)
I still miss everyone from home... please keep emailing and writing, I love to hear from people!

Fame...

Before coming down here, I wrote an essay for Peace Corps about dealing with unwanted attention. We also disscussed the topic countless times throughout our three months of training. My frame of reference for this type of attention was always the time I spent in Peru. I have very clear memories of being in rooms and having (literally) ALL EYES on me. This certainly happens here as well...However the difference is that my time in Peru only totalled 3 months. I have now been living in Honduras for more than 7 months and can assure you that the attention has neither lessoned, nor gotten easier to deal with. I have much more sympathy for how celebrities feel in the States, I've caught people here taking pictures of me (and other volunteers) with their cellphone camaras! So I just want to say, I'm sorry Angelina and Brad, I will never again buy an US Weekly without thinking about what the paparazzi put you through to get those photographs. It's truly exhausting.
I don't ever feel in danger or threatened by the attention. It's simply overwhelming. When we were in training in Yarumela, everyone in the small town knew everything that was happening with the trainees. One morning I woke up to my host mom telling me how one of the other trainees had gone to the hospital during the night because she was sick. I still have no idea how she found out so early in the morning... perhaps a phone tree for stories about the americans? :) There was also constant attention in relation to our bodies...height, weight...etc. I don't want to constantly have my stomach (or other body parts) touched and/or commented on: It can be very difficult. So how do we deal with it? Well, the reality is that I am in a different culture from my own, and I stand out. I can't ask them to stop noticing...so I have to figure out ways that I can adjust and deal with the attention. Sometimes I don't leave my apartment for a day, just to take a break. Sometimes I walk around with headphones on so I can drown out the catcalls and dirty lines. And, sometimes, I just walk around knowing that life is too short to get caught up in all the silly little things.... and if a man yells at me and says I am a "beautiful woman" I can't help it if I smile back.