Ecuador- babies, runny noses, and mas agua,

6-7

Today was all about assessments at the Nigeria daycare. We set up stations and it ran somewhat like an assembly line.I started out the line with weighing the children, asking about general health, checking for low weight,and getting immunization histories.

This also doubled as an opportunity for me to practice my Spanish with the children. I then passed the beautiful children to Manaal and Sheri who checked ears, nose throat, and did general checks. 

Then the child's information was passed to Jen who made sure they had up to date records. 

  This method occupied our time until lunch. For lunch, we took one of the motor-buggies to the market. All 6 of us squeezed into the tiny buggie that hardly holds 4 people comfortably. 

We ate at the market in the dining area. We were served a meat, a plate of beans and rice and some meat. Andres and I opted for the chicken, Manaal, Jen and Sheri went with the fish, and Eric got cow stomach. It was terribly filling and the total bill came to 9 dollars.

After lunch we squeezed back into the tiny buggie and bumped down the road into Nigeria and to the daycare.

After lunch I switched stations with Sheri and got to work with Manaal, listening to lung sou

nds, taking temps, and hugging MANY babies.
LOVED IT!!!

 We finished with the daycare around 3:30. Our poor translators were exhausted at this point but we had more houses to visit.
We had many of the usual "You need to drink mas agua" house or the "just keep giving this medicine and it should clear up on its own"families. I worked as the tech. I took many blood pressures and was there to help Jen with whatever task she needed help with. She got a kick out of how excited I got whenever she would ask me to take a BP.
I am now more determined than ever to work on my Spanish skills. I hate the reality of having to go back to the states in the future.