A Do-Gooder's Lesson

My husband & I sponsor 2 girls, Dalia & Angelica at Safe Passage, the education reinforcement center where Shared Beat works. Today I took a break from counting pills and reviewing medical charts to take them to lunch. We took a taxi from the Guatemala City dump neighborhood to the new Walmart. What an amazing contrast in realities only 10 minutes down the street.

Sometimes it's difficult being a sponsor. You see children with very little and you want to give them everything. You walk a fine line- they need things but if you gave them everything is that the right thing to do? The children living in the areas around the dump need so many things. With the help of the sponsorship coordinator,I decided to give each of the girls a certain amount of money and told them they could choose to use it for food, clothing, hygiene products or school supplies.

At first they were overwhelmed. But after the initial WOW they headed straight for the grocery section! We kept track along the way and before long both girls had spent 2/3 of their money on food for their families. We then went straight to hygiene produts. Dalia needed a backpack and Angelica needed socks and underwear and we were done. The last bit of our time together we ate lunch, got an ice cream and headed back to the school.

The girls were so pleased with themselves. They could've chosen to buy clothing, school supplies, something just for them. Both girls chose to share. They love their families and appreciate the struggles putting food on the table presents.

This happens everytime, we well meaning do gooders think we're saving the world and it turns out- they save us!

Thanks Dalia & Angelica for sharing your day and your life with me!
Feliz Dia!
Jenny

New Again

Hola Friends,
This morning I headed for Guatemala again with a brand new passport. This was my first passport renewal. Much to my dismay, they replaced my simple, already memorized number with a new, much more difficult one. This may seem like no big deal but instead of dashing through my customs forms, I fumbled around for my passport & readers and LOOKED like I didn't know what I was doing. Was I ever bummed- not bad. I like to change my clothes, what I eat... just not my numbers.
I sat beside an 18 year old girl from Michigan named Kylie. She was headed to the Guatemalan coast to do medical volunteer work. This was her 2nd trip since February and she was beside herself with excitement. We talked for over 2 hours about my Guatemalan experiences and her new found passion. Upon landing I found myself rejuvinated. Don't get me wrong, I always get that twinge, like going to see a dear friend or favorite relative, this was different. Kylie's enthusiasm added new wood to my fire. Arriving at customs I handed over my "brand new" passport and got my first stamp. It was very exciting! Thanks Kylie!
Now I'm sitting on the porch of my hotel drinking wonderful Guatemalan coffee and looking at a 2 inch tall hummingbird taking a rest about 4 feet from my face. The world here is green and the rain just started. I'm not trying to make you all jealous. I wish you could all be here to share it with me.
I'm looking forward to the Shared Beat Medical Team joining me next Sunday. We have 6 seasoned volunteers (That does not necessarily mean old) and 12 first time volunteers. How wonderful it will be to share this with our "new" volunteers as they share their excitement with us.
Stay tuned, share this with your friends and remember- Everything can be new again!

Feliz Dia
Jenny

See You Tonight!

Day 3: Crawfish Boil of 2010

Day 2: Crawfish Boil of 2010

Scroll down to today's earlier post to see another cute puppy photo.
Who can resist a puppy?

Puppy on Motorcycle- as Promised

I'm finally able to share the puppy on motorcycle photo!
We do have a lab puppy in our Crawfish Boil Auction Saturday night.
She can't ride a motorcycle yet.
Hope to see you Saturday!

Crawfish Boil of 2010

Shared Beat's annual Crawfish Boil fundraiser is this Saturday evening. Over the next couple of days, we will be posting photos from last year's event. The Crawfish Boil of 2010 was a wonderful success thanks to our donors, volunteers, friends and family. Shared Beat would like to thank you again for all of your help. See you Saturday!

Congratulations Marie!

Congratulations Marie Berkenkamp, Shared Beat Board President
on receiving the Graceann Durr Humanitarian Award sponsored by
Methodist Healthcare Systems!
Thanks for all of your Hard Work!
Your Friends at Shared Beat

Shared Beat Hill Country Crawfish Boil

We're getting ready for our 4th annual Crawfish Boil with live music by Zydeco Blanco, yummy crawfish, salads, gourmet cupcakes and live and silent auctions. Wanted to share a few of the items we have available at our auctions in hopes you will join us!


Live Auction
Lab Puppy
Condo in St Augustine Florida
Condo in Steamboat Springs Colorado
Tapas cocktail Party for 20
Native Texas Landscape
Chagall Print- "The Bible"

Silent Auction
Guatemalan Items
Gift Basket for all occassions
I-Touch
Camera
Personal Shredding by Ranger Shredding
Massages, Mani/Pedi, Home decor and more!

Restaurant Raffle- $10 for a chance to win $900+ restaurant gift certificates!

We always have great fun! Visit our website or e-mail us info@sharedbeat.org to join us!

Feliz Dia!
Jenny

Guatemalan Thoughts from February

After a most fulfilling trip to Guatemala this February with a great team from all over the place…Maine, Texas, points East, West and North..what could be more striking in the contrasts you experience upon coming home than, for us Mainers, the 24++ inches of snow on the ground and the temps that differ dramatically from there in Antigua! Much as we like to brag about how “tough” you have to be to live in a Northern clime (or just plain crazy??), the contrasts really pale in comparison to our lives at home compared to our friends in Guatemala.

Friends at home here say to me how sad the for the folks there…the Guatemala City dump, lack of health care, malnutrition, and the list goes on.  But the people you meet in Guatemala are by and large a pretty friendly bunch!  They cope and they make do…they work very hard and endure much for their loved ones, and desire much of what we desire.  Yes,  there is sadness, but I’m not sure if you asked someone there if they’re sad if they would respond that way.  There is a desire to get ahead, but a system that makes this very, very hard.  Someone this trip said to me “…so much unrealized  talent in Guatemala”  which I thought summed it up.  We can’t really impact much on the socio-political climate…but if a place like Safe Passage can raise even just a few kids to become Nurses, Doctors, Accountants..and they come back to contribute to their community, and if more and more women learn to read, in a generation or two maybe we visiting teams will have worked ourselves out of a job.  I think that’s called sustainability.

Until then, I look forward working with my friend and fellow vision specialist Don Bisett, and the aspiring Nurse student Astrid (in her second year of study!) to see faces light up after many “mas major” or ‘mas menor” as we fit a new pair of glasses to a Mom who just learned to read the newspaper she fished out of the dump!  Now that’s contrast!

Mark, South Freeport, Maine

Volunteers

We've been home now one week in our comfy beds, without fleas or bedbugs. Our clean water comes from the tap and our healthy food does not require a clorox bath before consuming. There's so much extra time when you don't have to worry about cleanliness or safety. Who in there right mind would want to leave the security of their own environments.
I am always in awe of the volunteers who venture on these trips from the "seasoned veterans" like Wright & Marie who've been on every trip; those who are working on making it a habit like Don, Sarah, Kathy & Sonia; the few who've had a taste like Mark, Laura, Jim & Rick and then all of those first timers like Lisa, Gayle, Bev, Bunny, Nancy and Linda. It takes a special person to use vacation to serve others, to go out on a limb to make a difference.
I'd like to thank all of the volunteers who share themselves without thought of their own personal comforts. Your time, compassion and special talents are greatly appreciated!
Feliz Dia
Jenny

Lost in Translation

Little late in posting, but nonetheless I'll leave a few thoughts.

2 weeks and 4 days ago I left for Guatemala...for two weeks rather than 1 week. The extra week was inserted for a long overdue Medical Spanish course at one the numerous Spanish Language schools, La Union near the Iglesia San Francisco in Antigua, Guatemala. Per Rick, Mark, and Beverly (all from the cold climes of Maine), I had more fun than they as I drew stick figures and labelled body parts on them. Beverly, I really was learning (yo hablo espanol por example). I also jogged on the cobblestones in the mornings and that presented its own unique challeges as well as dodging the chicken buses and more to the point the fumes they generate. All said though, waking surrounded by the landscape of lush green on the backdrop of 3 volcanoes is by itself a reason to make the trip.

The second week was a work week with daily trips to Guatemala City or San Miguel Milapas Alta. The kids in the dump area and more rural area are no different than other children, excepting the clothing they wear. They seem just as happy and all have plans to be nurses, teachers, doctors, accountants, chefs, or lawyers. That question was my favorite one to ask while obtaining the "social history". The week of the medical mission was busy....the oldest peron was 85, the youngest I evaluated was 3 months. We rode in a van, a bus, and the back of a pick-up truck (the latter was the most fun particularly if you stand up as its moving along less than straight, hilly Guatemalan highways/roads). All patients and their families were appreciative. I learned that even an excellent dermatologist ("Dr Nancy") can be flummoxed by skin disorders. I also learned the meaning of a firm bed(cama) is more like a box (caja). Days were long but the team gathered made the work seem fun. I'm looking forward to the next trip in July. Buenas tarde. Yo gusta Guatemala.

Home

What an incredible, busy, productive week our team had in Guatemala! It's always amazing how quickly time flies and what wonderful new friends we've all made by the end of the week. Sorry we didn't post much during our trip. At the end of the day exhaustion and complete blankness took over. After they get settled in, our team members should be posting some of their weeks highlights.
It's good to be home! Back to a place where I don't worry about the whether the water or food is clean, I can put toilet paper in the toilet, healthcare is accessable and where I live, there's no pollution.
Feliz Dia!
Jenny

San Miguel

What a day we all had in San Miguel Milpas Alta!
I'll have to tell you about it later my computer is runing out of power.
Feliz Dia!
Jenny

New Adventures

Riding in the back of a pickup truck to San Miguel Milpas Alta this morning was the beginning of an adventurous day. We arrived with a few patients waiting and ended clinic seeing over 125 people.
Our main objective in this pueblo of 4000, is to provide school physicals for 450+ students in conjunction with Common Hope.
The morning was filled with students from 4th, 5th and 6th grades. They were amazingly well behaved. While they were waiting we sang, they did their version of the chiken dance and I did mine. We learned colors, numbers and a few nouns in English and listened to each others hearts with a stethescope. For me, it was a great morning. The docs may have a differnet version.
The afternoon was a mix of students, babies, children and everything inbetween. Two patients were sick enough for us to send to the hospital. Well we actually said they should go to the hospital but the next thing we knew, they were calling an ambulance! All-in-all a very exciting afternoon.
In the city, at Safe Passage, the rest of the team continued the weeks work finishing up physical exams and having an all day community clinic. I have to say, they were pretty beat when they got back to the hotel.
Tomorrow the whole team will head to San Miguel because of unforseen strikes in the city. This should be a new adventure for manana!
Feliz Dia
Jenny
Thanks for reading!

First Days of Clinic & Working Ourselves Out Of A Job

The team arrived Sunday and we began our week with 2 days of physical & eye exams on the school children ages 2-24. So far we've seen over 350 students, with only a few bumps in the road. Most of the children are used to the routine. There are still a few who are afraid we are giving shots but all-in-all a smooth couple of days.
I love seeing the children but one of the highlights for me is having the healthcare scholarship students help in the clinic. One of the requirements is that the students volunteer for 2 hours with each clinic. Bright and early Monday morning Astrid, one of the scholarship students, was waiting on us to volunteer. Astrid has worked all day for the past 2 days and is coming back today! She's an amazing woman.
In the morning we had one of our new nursing scholarship moms, Rosaura, volunteer for 3 hours. She learned to take blood pressures, do eye exams and how to fill prescriptions. She's also coming back today to help.
In the afternoon our first student aspiring to be a doctor, Andersen, volunteered. He assisted the eye team with visual screens. When Dr Marie asked why he wanted to be a doctor he said, "there is so much need here."

We are hopefully slowly but surely working ourselves out of a job!

Stay tuned tonight for our adventures today at Safe Passage and in San Miguel!

Feliz Dia
Jenny

Perfect

There is something perfect about Antigua early in the morning. Walking down the quiet cobblestone streets in the cool air, surrounded by beautiful buildings and majestic volcanoes and the smell of Guatemalan coffee from La Condesa's coffee shop! My idea of perfect. I had another perfect experience this week while visiting the Adult Literacy class at Safe Passage.

Shared Beat has been doing clinics at Safe Passage for the past 5 years. The last week of February will be our 10th community clinic! The very first clinic I remember a lady in traditional Guatemalan dress with a baby. She wouldn't look at you, and would barely speak. She has come to the clinic every year, now with 2 young children but her demeanor remained the same. Thursday when I saw her working in the women's co-op adjacent to her adult classroom, she absolutely glowed! She smiled, joked and made conversation, what could be more perfect! Education transformed her. This reinforces my committment to supporting education through health. I wish I could take that picture in my head of this woman's smile and share it with you. Guess you'll have to take my word for it- Perfect!
Feliz Dia
Jenny

Daycare Oasis

Today was a wonderful day! The morning went as usual but in the afternoon, I did heights and weights on 70 daycare children, what a treat!
The daycare oasis is part of Safe Passage, right across the street from the dump. You can loose your self in the tranquil setting until the wind shifts and you remember where you are.
The drive in takes you past filth most of us couldn't image. Not to mention the bodies lying on the side of the street who've been huffing glue or spraypaint. It's all in a day for these children, 2 to 7 years of age, to step over the bodies and trash into the place they get to call home 7 hours a day, 5 days a week.
There they are fed 2 nutritious meals a day. The food is purchased and delivered by one of the board members. They receive vitamins each day donated by Shared Beat and have a full day of "Montesori like" instruction, including English and dance. This program and all of the furniture in the building were furnished by Oneness. The former Director of Oneness is now the new director of Safe Passage.
There is an amazing playground, international volunteers and teachers who adore every inch of each child. There is love oozing over the 10 foot perimeter security walls. I wish you all could vsit, you'd love it!

Feliz Dia
Jenny

Fast Food Mentality

I have been working in Guatemala for 10 years and still have difficulty with everything happening "Manana" - tomorrow. There is no rush for anything.
This is good in many ways, teaches you to slow down, you always have time to rethink things ... But my "fast food" mentality still wants things to happen now.

I was thinking about this today while doing heights and weights and seeing "sick" patients inbetween. An 8 year old came in right before a group of 5 came in for heights and weights. They needed to get to sports so she let them go ahead. Instead of being upset, she helped me by calling out the numbers while I recorded. Then she got her turn.

So, the rest of the day I worked with a different attitude because of a lesson from a wise 8 year old. Manana, I will hopefully remember my lesson.

Manana
Jenny

Pint Size Hypochondriacs

Todays Blog will be short. I saw over 50 people in 6 hours and am having trouble thinking in English or Spanish.
Everyday I am amazed at the resilence of the people who live here. Everyday there are things that make me a little sad and lots of things to make me laugh.

For instance, did you know that hypochondriacs come in all sizes? This one child comes to clinic almost everyday. It's like watching a Saturday Night Live skit everytime she comes in. I say, what's the problem, she says, um well I have pain in my elbow, yeah my elbow. Then I go on to ask if she hurts anywhere else, every part confirmed, even the eyelashes! Her medicine always includes a hug. In return, I always get a smile.

Hope the weather has warmed up where you are!
Feliz Dia
Jenny

Home Remedies & Blindness

The last 2 weeks have flown! There were over 100 patients in the clinic the past 5 days. Most things were very minor but a few had me scratching my head and calling the states or saying, “go to the hospital!”
There are 2 viruses going around the school right now, one a cold, the other a stomach bug. I’ve been trying very hard to encourage hygiene efforts and home remedies. Working in a place where people make $3 a day you have to think about what you are teaching when you give a pill. Say you aren’t there and they get sick. Do they buy that medicine you gave them for the cold or do they feed their family? The other problem, taking medications is the culture. So when I tell the kids and parents to drink hot tea with honey (shown in many studies to be as effective as cough syrup) for cough, they just look at me like I’m nuts.
I’ve been telling all the kids to drink lots of clean water and juices, get plenty of rest and drink hot tea with honey, which I’ve been giving them to take home. So Friday, this precious 8 year old rushes into the clinic, gets right in my face and says, “I’ve been drinking clean water for 2 days just like you said, and I’m not better!” Nothing I could say would make her believe that her cold just had to run its course. She wanted a pill to fix it!
Then came an 11 year old who said he was blind in his left eye. He was completely believable until I asked when this started and he said “twenty four days ago.” OK what kid or adult for that matter would say 24 days? Most would say “three weeks”, “a little over three weeks…” So I called my husband, he explained how to examine his eyes and the kid honestly failed. But before I could do anything more he ran out to go to sports. Long story short, I requested to see his social worker but before the social worker came by, the boy comes in with yet a different problem. When I ask how his left eye is he says, “just this morning I started to see a little bit, I think it’s going to be OK.” This kid should be an actor!

Looking forward to starting again tomorrow! Have a good week!
Jenny

Hombre Dulce

I heard sad news yesterday. The man who sold candy outside of the Safe Passage building in Guatemala City died last week- Hombre Dulce.
Every morning he would stand outside of the building selling “penny” candy to the neighborhood. Every morning he would clap his hands and cheerlead as the Safe Passage volunteers entered work. Some days I would drag off the bus, a little tired and less than eager. What a difference it made to round the corner and see his shining face, my day was made!
I am ashamed to say, I don’t know his name. We would swap small talk but I never told him how much his enthusiasm encouraged me. For several years I remember wanting to trade his candy for pencils or fruit, something healthy. Last Tuesday he was sitting on the corner with his head hung low. I stopped to chat and he was sad that he couldn’t sell his candy any longer. I left a little despondent not realizing what he was really selling was his passion.
I know Candy Man doesn’t literally translate as hombre dulce but to me and everyone who saw him, he was a sweet man! A loving cheerleader for life!

I arrived back in Guatemala last Monday for 5 weeks. My longest trip of 30 to this country in over 10 years and I have to say, I’m pretty excited. Why am I so enthusiastic this trip? My purpose is to work in the Safe Passage school clinic for 4 weeks, and the last week to lead a medical team of 17 from Maine, Massachusetts and Texas in 2 areas of Guatemala. The latter I’ve done over 15 times but working as a school nurse I’ve only done for 1 week.
Guatemala always welcomes you with that noxious smell of diesel! Sounds a little crazy but that familiar smell is as comforting to me as the smell of pound cake coming from my grandmother’s kitchen. I know I’m back when that airplane door opens and it hits me in the face. What that smell means? Soon I’ll be surrounded by the smiling faces of 500+ children from the Guatemala City dump community. And hugs, millions of hugs! That smell feels like home.
On Tuesday the 25th, I started my 1st week of 4 working in the clinic. I saw lots of “boo boo’s”, half the school had a stomach bug and the other half had colds. Like any typical school clinic. Not so bad. Add in the children from daycare. They can’t exactly tell you what’s wrong but you know something’s wrong. It definitely takes a little extra patience and maybe a colorful sticker to finally win them over. Now throw in their parents and community members. Pregnancy, hypertension, diabetes, burns… you get the picture. They have so much going on. Many of them work in the dump, are single parents and live in makeshift homes with leaky roofs.
Did I mention the employees? You have to make them better. They cook, clean, teach and keep the place running. They get every illness the kids bring to school but they still have to keep going. And let’s not forget the volunteers! They are awesome and most of them thousands of miles from their birthplace. Many are in their late teens, seriously away from home for the 1st time. They’re in a foreign country traveling, eating strange foods, and who knows what else! If you know, please don’t tell me! Do they have traveler’s diarrhea, malaria, a hangover -Oh My! So many things to consider in this community quilt.
This is my first time to blog and I will try to keep you posted on my adventures as the weeks go by. Some days I’m just too tired to think. On those days if I decide to blog please forgive the Spanglish, run-ons and things that just don’t make sense!
Feliz Dia
Jenny