My camera started acting up on me while I was in the jungle this time (this time for four days), so I was unable to take many very many pictures, so most of these are taken from my co-workers.
Bian Tai Ririn, the new nursery in the jungle! |
In addition to going to the Yuquis village with Elijo la Vida, we also went to a women's jail to do Pap tests, and I got to do a couple for the first time! We got a new volunteer from the United States, a girl called Karen who is currently in med school, and she guided me through it. It wasn't very hard, and we got to have some fresh pineapple juice after (as irrelevant as that is. It was good pineapple juice). It took us about 2 hours to see nineteen patients. I was really excited to be able to go into the jail, because we had been trying to go in for a couple of weeks, and I'd heard a lot about it. The jails in Bolivia are so different from Canada, as it almost resembles a small city. It's an enclosed square, where the prisoners can roam around in it, and it has a store, chairs, and an open roof. Everyone can wear regular clothes, unlike the traditional bright orange clothes (which I'm actually not sure if people have to wear in Canada). As well, family can visit and go directly into the jail if they want to, and a lot of mothers actually have their children living in the jail with them, because there isn't a foster care system in Bolivia.
About the Yuquis: So much happened that I am going to divide into 4 sections:
1) The project
2) Spare time
3) Food
4) What God taught me
5) What sort of insect bites I got (...just kidding. But it could take up a section)
1) The project
On Wednesday, we left for the Yuquis village again, this time to renovate the church and convert it into a nursery. Over four days, we swept the inside, smoked out all the hornets, gave the whole church a fresh coat of white, painted the tables and shelves, and decorated the whole inside. I was actually really impressed with how it turned out, and am really excited to see how the nursery will run. As I mentioned before, one of the things that I like the best about this initiative is how the goal is to make a self sustainable nursery. Dinah (the girl who I met last time who is my age) is going to be the teacher, and the mothers are going to alternate cooking for the children. As wonderful as this would be if it works out, it will also be a challenge for the women to commit to helping out with the nursery, so they definitely still need a lot of prayer and support.
Kids putting handprints on the sign |
Karen working on nailing balloons and posters to the church |
The play area |
The reading area |
Another view of the back of the nursery |
The inauguration meeting; almost everyone in the village showed up! |
Two of the new enrolled nursery kids at the inauguration! |
A really cute kid at the inauguration |
Marilyn teaching the mothers about the feeding schedule |
My bow and arrows. |
The riverbank (mostly the sand though) |
Kids playing in the sand some more |
Miguel also led a Bible study for the kids afterwards, and he shared the story of the Good Samaritan with them. It was so cute seeing all the kids know the actions to all of the songs, and that even the eleven year old boys participated! We played '4 corners' afterwards, which I learned from Carachipampa Christian School, although I didn't explain the game all that well.
One of the great things about the jungle is that you can pretty much get everything from the jungle, including bowls and plates. There's an inedible fruit called the 'Tutuma' that you can hollow out and use the shell as a bowl, once it has been dried in the sun, so Karen and I spent some time hacking them with machetes and hollowing them out (with the kids help). Sadly, we used them to hold oil paint to paint the church, so I'm not really sure if they are still usable as bowls, but we'll see.
Jocelyn, Jocelyn (the baby) and Vicky |
Remember how I said that you can pretty much get everything you need directly from the jungle? Well, this includes food, so I have decided to perform a critical analysis of everything we ate. I'm probably going to get horribly sick (the doctor's aren't going to like me very much when I get back), but I think it was worth it.
Catfish: The catfish was so amazing! Some of Miguel's friends caught some, so they gave us two over the four days as gifts, as we deep fried them and ate them. Miguel knew a great recipe for a sort of catfish fry (I think he made it up actually), and I am definitely trying it on whatever fish I can get my hands on when I go back home.
Miguel and one of the catfish |
Papaya: Dinah's husband took one down for me, and we waited three whole days for it to ripen, but when it did, it was SO delicious! I think that was my favourite fruit that I ate while in the jungle, it was so much better than any papaya I've ever had before.
Grapefruit: I had to climb a grapefruit tree to get at that one, and the one I picked unfortunately had a termite nest in it, which only clicked in my head as a bad idea when I started to get bitten. But I got four down anyways, and another boy got another four down for me (he didn't mind the termite bites, apparently), and I took away one of them. It was good, but grapefruit isn't really my thing.
Banana: Miguel and Karen cleared an area in front of the church, made a pile of leaves and garbage, and tried to burn it. While one of the village girls was fanning the flame, she pointed out a gigantic stack of bananas lying behind the pile of leaves, so I went and grabbed it. I swear, there must have been over 50 bananas there (is it called a stack? Or a stock? Or a grove?). The kids were so sweet, they all asked me if they could have one before taking them, and the bananas were amazing. They were smaller than normal ones though (about 5 inches long). When I called the boys playing soccer to have some, there was a bit of a pile up as they all literally fought for them, and would trot away sheepishly holding ten or so. It was hilarious.
This is what a grove of bananas looks like |
Mandarins: I wouldn't have liked them if it wasn't for the fact that they were picked off a tree, because they were really sour. But it was fun anyways.
Oranges: Close to the port as we were leaving, Marilyn noticed a grove of orange trees, so I went off with one of the village girls (Vicky) to grab some. She ended up picking nine or ten (after the termite incident, I wasn't too eager to climb the tree myself), and they were amazing. So sweet!
A sideways picture of Vicky in the orange tree |
Cacao fruit: In retrospect, I would have liked to try and make chocolate with it actually, what a pity that I didnt. The fruit was alright, although a bit slimey.
4) What God taught me
The average hut |
I also was really inspired spending time with Karen, the new addition to our team. Because she is actually in medical school, she still remembers all of what she has been learning, and for the first time in my entire life, I was actually fascinated by diseases, hormones and parasites (although I've learned it all before). I think when two people are discussing the likelihood of developing hookworms from the fact that they walked barefoot in dirt and swam in the jungle, it becomes so much more practical and relevant. Anyways, I hope I can actually remember that what I learn in nursing school next year will actually have practical application, and can be more motivated to study more and pay attention in lecture.
Anyways, there are a ton more things that happened to me these four days, but it would take forever to recount them all, and I covered the biggest parts, I think. Overall, it was just a huge blessing to be a part of this project, and I am SO unbelievably fortunate.
Prayer requests:
-The nursery (it's called 'Bian tai ririn') and that the mothers would stay motivated to continue it.
-Spiritual and emotional strength for Dinah (she's also about 7 months pregnant with her third child, so I'm really impressed with her commitment)
-Focus on things above and not things on earth.
Thanks a lot!
Jocelyn
P.S. This is a side note that I am writing two days after I typed up the rest of this post, but Dinah is not 7 months pregnant. She is now negative two days pregnant. She gave birth the first day the nursery opened, which I find hilarious. She's apparently still going to start teaching next week...