National Vaccination Week

This past week in Guyana was National Vaccination Week and maternal and child health departments in every region across the country had events, seminars, and rallys to promote vaccination, safe motherhood, and HIV/AIDS awareness. On Thursday April 29th, the maternal and child health department in my region, region 3, held a walk-a-thon and rally in my village that I was lucky enough to be a part of.


It started at 9am when nurses, medex's, community health workers and volunteers from every health center in the region gathered together to walk 2 miles along the main road in Vreed-en-Hoop. Carrying banners and signs and chanting "Immunize your family, protect your community", we marched along, hoping to engage the community in the fight to get a 95% complete vaccination rate for all of region 3. It was inspiring to see so many health workers take time off from their jobs and their lives to help promote such an important message, one that is so vital to ensuring that people are as healthy as possible.

After the march, we made our way to the central market area in the village, right next to the dock where all the boats to and from town are. There, we set up a tent with tables that had posters, pamphlets, and displays with information about vaccinations, safe motherhood and breast feeding, as well as HIV/AIDS and family planning. Under the tent was an area where several nurses were giving out free vaccines for yellow fever, MMR (measles, mumps, and rubella) and tetanus, for anyone who needed one. All health care in Guyana is normally free of charge but often times people are unable to get to a health center to receive care and, since there is no law requiring children to be fully vaccinated before attending school, many people have not gotten vaccinated as children.

As the nurses and medex's set up the vaccination area, myself and a few other volunteers set out to recruit passersby to stop and get vaccinated. In the crowded area of the market, there were many people walking past, on their way to and from the boats and most of them were curious as to the huge white tent set up and all the people milling around. And of course, it only added to their curiosity that strange white people were stopping them and asking if they had all their vaccinations up to date :)

I was amazed at the number of people who not only stopped to see what was going on, but looked at the posters and asked questions, not only about vaccinations but about health in general. People were honestly curious about why vaccinations are important, what they do, and who should get them. It felt really good to be out there, talking to people and feeling like I was actually making a difference, even if it was a small one. By the end of the 1st hour, standing out in the hot midday sun, I had gotten 6 people to go get vaccinated, convinced half a dozen others to come back later in the afternoon, and given an impromptu health talk on malaria prevention.

The thing about Peace Corps work, and development work in general, is that the majority of the time, you don't feel like you're actually making a difference. The problems, especially health problems, are so massive and daunting, and you are just one, tiny person that it feels impossible to actually make any sort of lasting change. You have to constantly keep reminding yourself that if you can change one life, one person, one family, to live a healthier life then you've made a difference.Yesterday, I think I really felt that for the first time since I've been here. After hours in the hot sun, I was dehydrated and sunburned, but happy. A few hours of my time spent and I had convinced a young mother to get her yellow fever shot and an older gentleman to get tetanus. Another couple wasn't sure if they had ever gotten MMR and, after talking with another man, he realized that he had gotten a yellow fever vaccine so long ago and never remembered to get another one, until today. It was so encouraging to see people genuinely concerned about their health and willing to take a few minutes out of their day to go get vaccinated and be an example to their family and community. It was definitely one of my better days here in Guyana :)

Love and miss you all,

Lindsay

April 22nd, 2011

So I have officially been a Peace Corps volunteer for over a week now. I've moved and settled into my new apartment, complete with 2 hammocks and an adopted pet kitten named Nala. I started my new job at the hospital on Monday and they already have given me another project to add to my workload but I'm excited to get started. I feel like I've been here for years and I feel like I just got off the plane yesterday, all at the same time.

While this has been an exciting whirlwind of a week for me and my fellow Guy 23er's, it was a bittersweet week I'm sure for another batch of volunteers who had their COS on the 13th (close of service, which means their 2 years are up and they have to return to the states). I ran into many of them at the Peace Corps office in town as they wrapped up few last minute items and I had a brief, fleeting thought that in 2 short years, I was going to be exactly where they are. It dawned on me how short of a time period 2 years actually is and that, befoe I know it, I'll be back in the states, not as a Peace Corps volunteer but a Returned Peace Corps volunteer. I know that I'll be so busy with projects over the next 2 years that their is no way time won't just fly by. That notion made me pause for a minute. When you finally accomplish a dream you've had for years, serving in the Peace Corps, the only thing crazier to imagine that actually doing it is imagining it being over. It makes me even more determined to make the most out of these next 2 years and to get everything I possbly can out of this expeience.

One of the major reasons I know I will be so busy over the next 2 years is my job at the hospial. My supervisior has so many ideas and projects he wants me to get started on that it is almost a little bit overwhelming. The first project is the most daunting but also the one I'm most excited about. Currently in Guyana, there is almost no treatment/prevention/rehibilitation services avaliable for mental health. Even though suicide, alcoholism, and domestic abuse are major issues throughout the country, the social stigma surronding them is so strong that there is almost no way for a person to seek help or get information. The current minister of health has made it a personal crusade to change the status of mental health in this country by implemting new policies, new training programs, and new prevention and treatment services. My job is to tell him what those should be. I am pretty sure that my supervisor and I
are the only people actively working on this. No pressure. And that is just the first project they want me to do. Like I said, overwhelming and daunting and super exciting all at the same time. I'm definitely gonna need that vacation in December :)

I promise I will write more soon. It's Easter weekend so I have the next 4 days off, plenty of time to lay in my hammock and update everyone on my life :) Miss you all, hope everyone back home is well. Can't wait to start getting letters from everyone!!!

Love,
Lindsay

Officially a Peace Corps Volunteer :)

It has finally happened. After all these years, all the applications, all the waiting and paperwork, all the uncertainty and nervousness I offcially swore in as a Peace Corps volunteer, part of the 23rd group of Americans to serve in Guyana, on April 13th 2011.

There really are no words to describe how I am feeling right now. I happy and excited and nervous and scared and a million other things all at the same time. Tomorrow I move into my new apartment and on Monday I start my job at the hospital. For the next 2 years I will be a community health development worker in the beautiful country of Guyana. It it so crazy to think that it now my life, I feel like just yesterday I was in DC, working doubles at the bar and trying to stay awake in class :)

I am so excited to start this new adventure and the next chapter of my life. Of course, knowing that my family and friends back home support me and encourage me unconditionally makes living and working in a foreign country for 2 years that much easier. I miss and love you all and I can't wait to see you all in December, with plenty of pictures and stories to share.

Love

Lindsay

New Address :)

Hello all,

I have a new, permanent address for everyone. Any letters, packages, birthday presents (hint, hint) can be sent to the following address:

Lindsay Perlman
25 New Road
Vreed-en-Hoop
West Coast Demerara
Guyana, South America.

Anything currently in the mail that is going to the other address at the Embassy will still get to me so no worries there, I just have to go pick it up at the Peace Corps office so it may take a little longer than normal.