The one with the Medical Evacuation

What is Med-Evac? Peace Corps loves it’s abbreviations… this one is much more obvious though, not like APCD, COS, VRF, PCMO…..a Medical Evacuation is when a volunteer is sent out of his or her host country for medical care that cannot be provided at post. Sometimes the evacuation is to another country within the volunteer’s region, and sometimes it is to Peace Corps headquarters in Washington DC, depending completely on the issue at hand. A med-evac can last up to 45 days; at that point if the issue cannot be resolved or stabilized the volunteer goes through a med-sep (medical separation) from Peace Corps (an honorable discharge due to a medical condition that prevents the volunteer from being able to successfully complete his or her service).

Why am I on med-evac? The decision was made between the PCMO’s (Peace Corps Medical Officers) in Honduras and OMS (Office of Medical Services) in Washington. I have developed a condition that they want to monitor and stabilize, and make sure I am healthy enough to go back to Honduras. My chances are good for getting approved to go back to country, but I will probably be here for the majority of the 45-day span.

What does med-evac in Washington DC entail? I am put up at an apartment-style hotel in one of six rooms that Peace Corps leases out for med-evac’d volunteers. I am given a stipend for food (along with a complementary continental breakfast provided at the hotel). I have daily/semi-daily appointments with medical staff at the Peace Corps office. I can meet other evacuated volunteers serving around the world. My time without appointments is my own free time (yesterday I found the White House!). Once I am more settled and less flustered, I will hopefully start working on my manual.

How do I feel about the process thus far? I am impressed. Peace Corps really has made a commitment to its volunteers and I have be treated with nothing but the utmost respect from staff here in Washington. They even sent someone to the airport to bring me to the hotel because my flight came in late and they didn’t want me to have to worry about getting a taxi (even though staff in Honduras had already given me a sufficient amount of dollars to cover the cab fare). The people I am working with are wonderful- empathetic, concerned, and determined to fix the situation. I was given an extra sweater my first day because my case nurse thought I looked cold (she was right). Just walking by the office, seeing large photographs of volunteers serving with quotes from JFK, I am proud to be part of such a passionate organization.

When I first arrived at the office, someone working in the reception room (a former volunteer in Guatemala) said he wanted to guess where I was coming from based solely on my presentation. He guessed Ghana, Africa- he said I looked “too clean” to be coming from Latin America. Hahahaaha. I told him I had already taken 2 (awesome) showers in the 10 hours since my arrival. He understood, and we shared a moment of solidarity based on our service in neighboring countries.

The difference a year makes....

The teachers at my kinder once again threw a birthday celebration in my honor, just as they did last year, complete with a pinata, cake and lots of hugs.

Last year I turned 23 just a few weeks after getting to site. Though I hadn't quite found my spot in Gracias yet, I was well on my way to making new friends:


Last week, I turned 24 after having been here for over a year:


You can't see all of the changes that have taken place over this past year in these pictures, but they're there.... Also, please take note that this year, the kids are waving at the camera (wonder who they picked that up from.....)

Peace Corps Pounds

In everything I read pre-Peace Corps, it all said the same about weight: Girls tend to gain it, guys tend to lose it. After being in Peace Corps for over a year, I can confirm to this statement. From talking with frustrated female volunteers, and seeing a few male volunteers waste away…. It’s true! But WHY? Honestly, it probably has more to do with the person than the sex, but it is awfully intriguing to see the truth in that statement, and wonder if it has more to due with the trend of pre-Peace Corps lifestyles among men and women or if it is an actual difference in the physical reaction to Peace Corps countries/new foods/different climates, etc.

Why have I gained weight? I blame this mostly on how a different lifestyle coincides with a different exercise routine. I don’t think it has to do with food anymore. It certainly did during the first three months when my host families were feeding me lard-saturated grease balls three times a day (they use copious amounts of oil and lard in almost all dishes here). But I have been living on my own for almost a year…. I rarely have snacks. I eat less than I did living in states due to more complicated preparation processes and sometimes the heat affects my appetite. When I do eat, I eat mainly vegetables! Veggies mixed with scrambled eggs, veggies inside a tortilla, raw veggies, veggies mixed with pasta or rice if I’m feeling ambitious! I don’t think the way I eat here would cause me to gain weight, if anything you’d think it would do the opposite.

Before coming to Honduras, I went to the gym 4-6 days a week, not for that long, maybe an hour, and I certainly didn’t stray much from the basic elliptical or treadmill (or sometimes those fun rowing machines!). But I’ve realized that those machines burn more calories than walking or jogging outside. I exercise in site, but it’s complicated. If I go walking, it has to be before it gets dark. Sometimes my schedule allows for that, and sometimes it requires me to wake up super-dooper-early and go before work (which usually results in snoozing through my alarm). In rainy season it is even more difficult to plan and stick to a routine because the sky could open up at any minute. Rainy season is half of the year. Also, exercising outside at times makes me more stressed out when it use to help me relax, due mainly to excessive and rude male attention. My mom has sent me a few workout DVDs, and I do them in my room sometimes to hide from the cat-calls, but it’s just not cutting it. Depending on the week, I usually do some sort of exercise minimal 3 times a week, maximum 5 which sounds normal, but I think compared to my life before Honduras, it’s not enough to keep the weight off.

I come from a larger family, we’ve got it in our genes. You have to work really hard to maintain a healthy weight. That’s easy to do when you’ve got the resources, but just eating well isn’t enough. I’m not complaining (though it’s frustrating). I wanted to share this well-circulated statement of how women tend to put on weight during service while men tend to lose weight, and share my personal experience in regards to weight changes. I've accepted the fact that I can do everything in my power given the circumstances, but this just might have to get put on the back-burner until I become a member at a gym after my service. I know there are far more important things in life, and it’s not like I’ve gained one hundred pounds. I just thought it was an interesting topic!

The one with the graduation, policy changes and flying months

Getting back into the grove in Gracias… First I want to share the mural we painted at the Youth Center just a few days before my trip home. I had seen this quote, “Demuestre su educacion y ponga la basura en su lugar” which translates more or less to “Show your education and put the trash in it’s place.” For a while now I’ve wanted to get that up on the wall outside the YC and we finally did it- I was slightly nervous about how it would turn out, because as far as painting, it was a free-for-all. We all decided that we would draw things related to nature and someone using a trashcan. In the end it came out pretty well! Kids came and went through the morning to help us but a core of about 8 held strong and the mural’s been turning quite a few heads! Next step, get a new/large trashcan donated to put outside the center.

My TEAM teachers graduated the first level of the course this week and the ceremony was lovely. They wanted to have it at a restaurant so we did. I was the m.c., I congratulated everyone, showed a video I had made of our class (first part in class with me and the second part is all of them teaching English), gave a special award to one teacher who had perfect attendance and to three who earned final grades of 100% or above, and of course, diplomas (Hondurans go nuts over diplomas!). The teachers all decided to wear fuchsia, which looked great, especially when they gave their concert! They practiced so hard and successfully sang to everyone the ABC’s, Days of the Week, Head Shoulders Knees and Toes, and a song about colors. I was so proud of them!!

The best moment of the entire night was when two of them were up at the podium saying a few words at the end. One of them said that they’ve all learned so much, but really, the people who have benefited most from the class are the kids. She said how much the kids love English and respond so well to the dynamic methodology. THAT is every youth development volunteer’s dream to hear when they are doing the TEAM project…



I’ve also been busy with my other English class at the youth center, with pre-school at IHNFA (they had 2 days of strikes and are still waiting to be paid), brushing teeth, and with the Jovenes Revolucionarias (the girls group my site mate and I started). The girls have been coming with me to IHNFA and doing story hour- it’s great! And we are about to have a bake sale so we can raise money to paint a world map at their school. This group is so great for developing leadership qualities. We have 5 girls who have been with us since the beginning, and we are trying to involve more before we start the Yo Merezco program with them. In the meantime I will start Yo Merezco next week with the girls from the church group I work with. Also, my cousin Michelle started sending the supplies she's been collecting for her Girl Scout project- the kids here have gotten to make bead necklaces and bracelets, and once more supplies come in I'll bring them out to some of the rural schools.

Needless to say, work is going pretty well. I am almost always busy with something, even if it’s not a project I am doing, just being involved with activities we have at the Youth Center and helping out where I can. Peace Corps Honduras however, is facing some changes. With budget cuts, the new group of volunteers who just swore in yesterday is only 15, and all from the Youth Development project. The other two projects I came in with last year were both cut. They are re-programming the other three, and the Youth project it staying as is (which means it’s always changing too, but as a project, it’s staying). I also no longer have my special Emergency-Zone phone… they cut that phone plan and now coordinators must use their personal phones (with a small amount of money deposited in our accounts in advance). The new volunteers now have to stay with their host families for the entire 2 years, a challenge I wish them all luck with. I had a mix of host families, but I still think it would be incredibly difficult having stayed with even the BEST host family for 2 years. But safety comes first! Volunteers are also no longer allowed to have “large, overnight, alcohol-friendly” non-PC related gatherings due to an increase risk in security when a lot of foreigners are together. This new policy was welcomed with mixed reviews from volunteers. Personally, I understand. It’s a shame the annual Halloween party was canceled, and now goodbye and welcome parties must be approved, but we knew that when we accepted our invitations, we were accepting the challenge of being a volunteer 24 hours a day, seven days a week. I am more upset about why these changes had to happen rather than that they actually happened.

Anyways……… I had a parasite last week, but it seems to have died by now....Not a fun experience for sure, but it was bound to happen. I'm surprised it took 15 months! Speaking of months, they seem to be flying, even though sometimes the days drag on forever. I can’t believe it was a month ago when I came back from the states, and it’s almost October. I will turn 24 next week, we have our mid-service medical evaluations a week or two after that… Thanksgiving will be here soon and then CHRISTMAS!!!

Dirty Politics

*Before reading please take note of the disclaimer I have on my blog, stating that these are my thoughts, and mine alone, and do not represent the views of the Peace Coprs of the United States government*

Since I arrived in Honduras last year, I haven’t seen an improvement in the political situation, other than the fact that there hasn’t been a nation-wide teacher strike for 6 months. People either support the party in power, or are still furious about the coup where the previous president from the other party was thrown out of the country.

I work at IHNFA, which is run by the government, serving families in extreme poverty all over the country. The entire staff hasn’t been paid for almost two months. The nanny I work with says that the government hopes that everyone will just quit if they’re not paid so then they can be replaced by people from the other political party. This might just be gossip, of course, but to be honest, I wouldn’t be shocked if that were the case. It’s not fair, but that’s life here. The nanny is also worried that under this government they’ll shut down the organization as a whole. That thought breaks my heart- if these kids, not just the kids at my center, but all over the country, didn’t have this place to go, they literally might not eat. For a lot of them, too, it’s an escape from a scary home life. All centers I am sure operate differently, so I can only speak for mine, which is not perfect, but considering the alternative, vale la pena. Our kids are fed, bathed, de-liced, given clothes/shoes when we have them, hugged, and now participate in classes, games, story hour, and brush their teeth! Some of these kids can’t afford to lose what IHNFA gives them. I hope the government realizes that.

On another political note….

I’ve also met so many recent high school graduates who are teachers (there is a “special” high school you can go to and graduate as a teacher) that can’t get jobs, partly because there aren’t any, and partly because they are from the wrong political party. I was talking to two young people, both graduated two years ago and haven’t had any luck. They both said the same thing, that their families are known for representing the other party, so when someone sees their family name, that’s it, they don’t even look at their resumes.

One of the biggest obstacles for the development of a country is corruption in the government. So long as people abuse power and think only for their own party rather than the people as a whole, there isn’t much that can be done.

The One With The Wedding in the United States of AMERICA :)

Greetings friends! I am finally here to post an update about my trip home a few weeks ago! I was home for two weeks in mid-August for my sister’s wedding- It was a lovely trip, a beautiful wedding, and a perfect way to re-charge my batteries for the next year. When I got back to Honduras, I jumped right back into work so I haven’t had much time to gather my thoughts since then!

Anyways… I arrived in my beloved Boston late in the afternoon and was greeted by Mom, G, and Dad with a “Merry Christmas Lisa!” sign he made. In my family, whenever something good happens, we say it’s like Christmas. I got home to find the Christmas tree up in the living room. A perfect start to a whirlwind trip home!

My landlady sent tortillas home with me so everyone could try them…. They were… uh…. A hit! Eh…..

Gina’s wedding was beautiful! Everything went smoothly, I got through my maid of honor speech, there was a tribute Chicken Dance in Uncle Fishy’s memory, and everyone had an awesome time.

I was able to see my best friends, karaoke with my family, go to a Red Sox game, go to the beach, get interviewed with my cousin for our local paper, eat eat eat, chat with my 96 year old Nana who hung in there so I could see her again (we thought when I left for Peace Corps that that would be the last time, but she’s still with us!), interview for a graduate program….. I couldn’t have asked for a better two weeks! Thank you to everyone who made an effort to see me!

Before my trip home I wasn’t sure how I was going to feel coming back to Honduras for another year…. I thought maybe it would be hard and that I’d feel like a year was going to be an eternity…. It’s been a hard year for me to be away, with a sudden family loss, missing out on planning my sister’s wedding with her, and a Grandmother on borrowed time. Bad timing to be out-of-country for two years. But being home made me realize that I am exactly where I need to be right now. Life happens and you can’t stop it. You can’t plan your life around other people’s schedules because then you’d never accomplish anything. My service is half over, and I trust that this second half will go much faster than the first. I am happy with my work, and it will be invaluable experience for the next phase of my life.

Since I got back I’ve been busy finishing up projects and starting new ones…. It looks like I’m booked right through Christmas! My teachers are about to graduate and then we will continue with the second level of the class. In a few weeks I am starting a Yo Merezco class with the girls from the church group, and my site-mate and I will start the same class with our girls group soon too…. And then of course, my IHNFA kids!

Here is the link to the article about my cousin Michelle doing her Girl Scout project for Honduran children! She's been collecting art supplies to send down!
http://www.wickedlocal.com/natick/features/x678155841/Lisa-Lavezzo-s-Peace-Corps-work-inspires-her-young-cousin#axzz1XKRqeDuf

"You got it dude!"- Michelle Tanner

Hello! It’s been a busy few weeks filled with a forth of July party at the lake, observing my teachers, planning new projects, hanging out with Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, and celebrating Dia de Lempira (Honduras’s big national identity festival). And before I know it (17 days!!) I will be heading home for a visit that will be filled with family, ice cream, weddings, beach, Red Sox, grad school interview, etc. And then back to Gracias to power through the second half of my service!

Observing my TEAM teachers: As part of the class, I am suppose to observe each teacher twice through the duration of the course during their weekly English class at their school Some of my teachers work right here in Gracias, and some work in small, rural communities outside of the “city.” I’ve been doing the first round of observations and I am so proud of all of my teachers! Even the ones who struggle in the class are doing a great job teaching their own students! They keep it basic of course, but they’re using more dynamic methodology and singing the songs we sing in our class. And living in a “bigger” community, it’s fun for me to go out to these smaller places where the kids literally stare uncomfortably because they’ve never seen a foreigner. Well, fun and sometimes really awkward. The schools in Gracias have separate classes for each grade because there are a lot of students, but in these other places, the schools will have 2 classrooms, one for 1st, 3rd and 5th grade, and the other for 2nd, 4th and 6th grade. If the kids want to continue after 6th grade they need to travel daily or move to the closest place with a high school (for a lot of these communities, that place is Gracias).

I just started a second English class with a group of youth- I really wasn’t sure about the idea since it’s really not sustainable unless they apply themselves and study every day to learn. But they were asking, and I feel a sense of loyalty to the Youth Center, as it has been a great counterpart. What I decided to do, to please them and make it easier on myself, is essentially replicate the course I have with teachers with the youth since I am already preparing all the materials. And to add a piece to make the course a little bit more meaningful I am mandating that the youth teach to any group of people (friends, family, kids, my kids at IHNFA, their church group) three times- then at least they are being productive members of their community.

Our school spelling bee will take place this week! I set it up with the 4th, 5th and 6th graders from the elementary school. Thursday, each class will do their own rounds, and the winners will compete on August 4th in a school-wide bee. A few volunteers are working on getting funds to hold a national spelling bee in October, where all of the winners from each community who’ve participated will get to travel and compete against each other. Hopefully we’ll get funds! If it falls through, I am going to see if I can do it with a few more schools in surrounding towns and they can have a local spelling bee together. It’s a really good way to promote study habits, and get kids to realize the importance of spelling things correctly. And some of them are PUMPED! Since I visited all their classes last month, so many kids have ran up to me in the street telling me they’ve been studying the words, and then continue to give me some examples.

Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen! For real! Let me start from the beginning. One of my teachers works at a school in a small community called Consolaca, about 15 minutes outside of Gracias. I was there observing her, and she told me about this big shoe donation that was coming that weekend. She was explaining the organization that was coming, and I put together that it was TOMS shoes (for each pair you buy they donate a pair to a child in need). She invited me to come to the event, and I said sure! I know of TOMS shoes and thought it would be really cool to see them in action! Unbeknownst to me, MK and Ashley recently started collaborating with the company (designing patterns for the shoes I think), and happened to come along for this donation! They didn’t invite any press, and I was the only person at the event who knew who they were. They were nice, down to earth, and seemed to genuinely appreciate the dances and songs that the kids preformed for them. I really wanted to get my picture with them but I was so nervous that I told them that my 7 year old friend Suani wanted us to take a picture with them. They were so nice, they said “Of course!”- I mean, who would say no to a little Honduran girl? Still when I think about it now I freak out a little…. Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen in the middle of No-wheres-ville, Honduras?! What are the chances!?

Dia de Lempira, July 20th, every year- It’s the celebration and honoring of Lempira’s death (the national hero, an Indian leader who fought the Spanish during colonization). And Gracias is where it all happened, so it’s quite the event! People spend the entire month of July preparing for reenactments, parades, concerts, and India Bonita contests (the girl who has the “best” traditional outfit- they resemble child beauty contests and make me slightly uncomfortable). People come from all over the country to Gracias to take part in the festivities, I have never seen so many people here! I got to march with my kids from the kinder at IHNFA! Some dressed as Indians, others as the Spanish- it was adorable. Normally the parents work hours and hours to make their child’s costume perfect so I was expecting the kids from the most impoverished families to come without a costume, but thankfully the kinder has extras. The celebration overall was great- it was nice to see Honduras take so much pride in their indigenous identity after so many years of being ashamed. There were still a few bizarre things, like seeing cotton candy stands and cheap "circus" prizes for sale (I am pretty sure they didn't sell cotton candy when the Spanish invaded Honduras), the child beauty pageants (they remind me of those shows at home!), and chicha, a fermeted pineapple drink that is the traditional drink of all festivals in Honduras.

With the preparations for Dia de Lempira, a lot of my work has been slow, with few people showing up to classes or meetings. A lot of the girls in our group, Las Jovenes Revolucionaries (The Revolutionary Youth) haven’t been able to come because they’ve had parade rehearsals. But now that it’s over, I think things will go back to normal. And next year, I will not plan much for July.

After my trip I should be starting another Yo Merezco (abstinence/self-esteem) class with a group of girls from a church group I’ve been working with. I just did two trainings on Job Orientation and Preparation for the Workplace with the older kids, and the religious education director seemed excited for Yo Merezco. I’ll bring the manual by to go through it with her, and we’ll decide logistics. The complication is they only meet on Saturday mornings, but we can make it work, it just might take longer to finish, but that’s certainly not an issue, I’ve got another 12 months!