Crossroads

I find this to be amazing: in the community where i live there are no
paved roads, currently no running water, no electricity, yet the
technology exists and is available here for me to post this entry from
my cell phone for a penny.

A journal entry from Friday 28 December 2007

Something's running around in my room. I check my clock and it's midnight. A plastic bag crackles on the floor, then another on the shelf. I shine my flashlight around, generating more quick sounds of movement and then silence. It's probably a rat. Yesterday Dr. Lourdes sent out an email about a Hanta Virus death in the Province of Veraguas. I live in Coclé. Coclé borders Veraguas. My throat is dry. I turn off my light and get comfortable in bed. What are the symptoms of Hanta Virus? I can't remember exactly what they said. . . I think vomiting was one. My stomach doesn't feel right. . . . And it has something to do with dry areas, right? Something seems to fall off the wall not a foot frommy head, followed by a squeak and quick movement. I get the flashlight again and find a rat tail. No that's an umbrella cord. Why can't I sleep? I don't have to go to the bathroom, there really isn't much noise . . . my stomach is a little queasy and my throat a bit dry. . . am I dying of Hanta Virus? If I vomit then definitely yes. . . Hanta onsets quickly, if I remember medical training correctly . . . something about 15 minutes? Should I call the office now? "I think I'm dying of Hanta Virus," I could say . . . But then what? It's a three hour hike to the hospital. Maybe they could chopper me out more quickly. Where would it land, though. . . . maybe the open land near the school, but that's not very flat. . . probably the pasture and corn field next door. That would be a great story for the locals, "We had a helicopter land on our property to rescue the gringo dieing of the plague." Forget it. I'm going to sleep. I put in my ear plugs so I can't hear whatever it is infecting my room with whatever deadly disease there may be. I hope I don't die of Hanta Virus.

Progress

The house is still in progress, unfortunately. We're making progress, though. We had a great time making the walls - creating a huge pool of mud, adding straw, stomping on it, and then laying it over the walls - a few more iterations of this are still needed. Hopefully this week it will be done, I say for the seventh time.

A nearby community has no water system and is strongly motivated to work for one. To meet their water needs, the locals carry water form water holes. The government office in charge of rural water systems has been unwilling to work much with this community because the identified source provided insufficient flow for the entire community. That is how it has stood for years. On Monday, I went with the community, around 20 men volunteered their time to participate, and we located and measured the flow from all of the sources of which the locals knew. We found more than enough water, and this is the dry season. It was an amazing experience, trekking through thick forest at times, roughly 700 meters up, while working to provide access to safe drinking water for about 200 people.

Meanwhile, I'm helping the local health worker with a vaccination campaign against mumps, and learning that it is quite a logistical challenge to deal with vaccinations in rural areas with no electricity, considering that they need to be refrigerated. Solar panels were recently brought, on loan, to run a refrigerator in the local health center, but that's where it stands - brought. Unfortunately the not-to-be-named did no install it nor advise anyone on its installation. I imagine they will be returning presently to install it.

Pictures: My house (under construction), my hen and chicks, my friends with my motete, my friends.