Josepha

…Is one of the girls here that I have become close with. She has one of the most complicated, horrible and presently-happening series of family issues than anyone I have heard here, but you would never suspect it. She is one of those people who comes into a room with a vibrant smile and a never-ending supply of energy. There is never a shortage of laughter when she is around, she loves making jokes, running around, just one of those say anything do anything sort of people.

I have been doing an anti-parasite campaign for the last week, and Josepha, Katherine (another fun, fiery teenager) and I headed out apart from the nurses to go door – to – door together distributing the medicine for the campaign. Since its nothing but hills and forest here, we traipsed through it together and it turned out to be one of my funnest mornings here yet. On the way to a house her friend told us we could pick whatever we wanted on his farm. So we filled my backpack to the brim with nearly 30 Chinolas and took tons of pictures. They found this long sugar plant (the plant I’m holding in the picture), I don’t remember what it is called, but the girls had a guy cut off the sides of it with a machete and we just bit into it, sucked on it to retrieve the sugar, and spit it out. So strange and delicious!

Josepha and I made juice later and went running. She is training for a marathon that will take place in the community in a few weeks. I’m so happy she has a positive outlet that might lead to success for her. At the track, I met a national champion who apparently lives in a nearby town and is offering his time to train the kids from this community who are participating in the marathon. Josepha has been in a lot of marathons in the past and has done amazingly well. He said she has plenty of potential to make it here, but she lacks ambition at times. I noticed it that night. She seemed like she had something on her mind and wasn’t running nearly as fast as I have seen before on our jogs together. She mentioned to someone that her mom was returning home that day from a trip to Haiti, so that could very well be the reason…

Another friend of mine here is having a really hard time. His cousin was hit by a motorcycle on Sunday night, a big party night here. He is in intensive care right now and he explained to me what had happened. They took him to the hospital after the incident, and there were no beds and not enough space, so he held his cousin on the floor for nearly 5 hours before he could get help. Now they are having a huge campaign in the street, with a string blocking the road and posters pleading for donations. When accidents like this happen families have to pay directly out of pocket, and unless it’s an operation that needs to be done immediately they refuse treatment until the doctors can see the money in front of their eyes. As much as I have lashed out against the health care policies in the U.S., its nothing like it is here…