¿Trabajo?

I have been in Cabañas for over a month now, and things have gotten to a bit of a slow start. My counterpart agency is a local women´s group that does support and leadership activities, some of which include health education seminars. Unfortunately the group is totally inactive right now, meaning there is little work for me to do… Last week I spent some time in Copan Ruinas assisting with a vector control program for Malaria, Dengue Fever and Chagas Disease. I spent the day with the director of the program, surveying the sanitary conditions of houses in the community, mostly searching for the presence of the Aedes Aegypti mosquito, the vector for Dengue Fever. Among the houses surveyed, about 60% had the presence of the mosquito. There is no cure or treatment for Dengue. Needless to say, this made me very nervous. I guess the bright side is that if I get Dengue Fever, I probably get to come home for a couple days, right? Lately I have been hanging out at the Centro de Salud, observing and getting to know the nurses. Next week I am giving a ´´charla´´ (a talk) on tuberculosis prevention, which is ironic because I have developed a mild upper respiratory infection. (How funny is that?) Other than that, things are going ok. My community is fantastic and I have made friends with a few families, and I spend most of my time hanging out with them... One month down, twenty-four to go!

The Aedes Aegypti, which is going to kill me