Days 8 - 9: Los Pipitos

I don't know if I'm getting lazy or if I just needed a day off, but yesterday was definitely a total day OFF! I let Christine and Lily know I was skipping all activities, including the evening of dancing, and I just hung out in my room with the air conditioner running all day! I had my feet up and my ankles finally got down to where I could see the bone again (they've been totally swollen since I arrived from the heat!)! I did watch some television - La ley y el orden (Law and Order!) - with Spanish subtitles, so the day wasn't totally wasted! The only time I went out was to walk to the supermarket, which took about an hour, and I bought some snacks and cream cheese for breakfast. I wasn't able to eat dinner in the hotel because they don't serve dinner on Sundays, so Nohemy (at the reception desk) ordered Chinese food delivered for me. It was fine!

Lily and Susan at Work on Fil

Today, we met at 9:30 a.m. to walk to the Los Pipitos school. The weather was hot, as usual, and it was sunny. It's been pretty consistently in the 90's since we've been here. We decided to focus on organizing the files today, so Lily and I went to the office supply store and purchased some files, several health related posters for the walls, and some other badly needed supplies to help us get organized. We ate lunch in a cafe, where 3 guys tried to engage us in conversation. They had all been drinking beers, obviously many, and one of them spoke pretty good English. They weren't aggressive, so it was fine.

One of the projects we had at the school was to assess the children for wheelchairs. There were 5 wheelchairs donated and the ambassador is coming to Los Pipitos on Thursday to have some sort of ceremonial handing over of the wheelchairs. So, we opened the boxes and 2 of the chairs were provided to students who were in great need. This little boy is 7 years old, and he just returned to Los Pipitos today after 3 months in the hospital. His muscles are atrophied and he is unable to walk or sit well. We tried to have him sit in the chair, but he kept arching his back, making sitting impossible. Finally, we were able to have him sit on his knees in the chair and he was happy.

Child in Wheelchair

Later, he relaxed a bit and staff were able to get him to sit properly in the chair with his legs dangling. I think it will take a long time for him to loosen up. 

Christine Examines Manuelo

Another child needing a wheelchair is Manuelo. He doesn't attend the school, but is part of the Los Pipitos organization. His mother brought him in today because he had a cough. He had a lack of oxygen when he was born, so today he is 8 years old, non-verbal and suffers from gross tremors and random movements of his extremities and his head. He also has severe nystagmus. It was difficult for us to examine him because while he was in the clinic, the children were dancing to loud music right outside the door. One of the concerns at the school is overstimulation for some of these children. Manuelo was agitated and he moaned continuously. (Note: Names of children have been changed)

Painting the Bathrooms

One of the areas in which we are having some impact is in cleanliness of the school. We have been educating staff about the need for clean air for the children's healthy respiratory status. We saw that the fans were not cleaned and they blew dirt into the air, so we educated staff regarding cleaning the fans regularly to prevent breathing problems for the children. We also noted the very dirty walls in the bathrooms, and today, at the end of the day, the children were gone and staff were painting the bathrooms with glossy, washable paint. Little by little, we are making a difference!

Every Monday night, Hotel con Corazon has free salsa dance lessons, so we decided to participate tonight. We met in the bar at 6:30 p.m. and the teacher had us dancing with partners. I danced with Nancy and we were pretty well matched - both a bit clumsy! Thankfully, I didn't have the camera set up to take pictures or videos this time - I do plan on it for next week, though!

We met a nice guy and his family who are here in Nicaragua on vacation. Todd is an E.R. nurse in Oakland and his wife does something with air pollution. When we mentioned that we'll be going on a tour of the Japanese hospital tomorrow, Todd asked if he might join us, so we arranged for him to go. Tomorrow will be an interesting day! A physician is supposed to be at Los Pipitos in the morning, so Christine, Lily and I are planning to get there early to talk with her. Then Bill will be bringing a pharmacist to have lunch at Los Pipitos as a P.R. activity to encourage her to get donations of medications for the children. We'll be headed to the hospital in the afternoon. Hopefully, I will have some good pictures tomorrow!