Tuesday, January 23, 2007

la enfermera

A nurse (enfermera) from Austin named Jen came down for a week. She taught a hygiene lesson in each of my classes, which included the importance of wearing clothes and shoes, bathing and washing hands, brushing teeth, and eating fruits and vegetables, all of which had to be altered to some degree because of the living conditions (ie- many do not have shoes or much clothing and many cannot afford fruits or vegetables nor have much access to clean water).

Jen also spent some time in Chichigua seeing if there were any health needs. She was able to help teach mothers how to properly care for their babies and children. There was one family of five kids who attend my class. The youngest has a ringworm, staff infection, and scabies. His little body is completely covered with them. These infections have also spread to the other kids. Thanks to Jen, we were able to give the family antibiotics to take. Tomorrow I will see if there has been any improvement, if not, they will need to be taken to the hospital. Needless to say, we were very grateful to have her here.

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