I woke up bright and early today - at 5:30 a.m. This is only a half hour earlier than normal, but I was going to meeting someone between 7:30 and 7:45, so I needed to be ready by then. And, since I have been doing yoga every morning, it takes me two hours to get ready - something I never thought I would say (about the yoga and the taking two hours to get ready!).
So, why was I getting up early? The thirteenth of every month marks the start of the week of AIN-C weighings. AIN-C is the organization here in Honduras that monitors the growth and malnourishment of children under two years old. The monitor for my municipality is Grosbin, and comes from a nearby town and goes to all the aldeas around my site to help the volunteer-promoters in each community. The eight aldeas around my site have varying numbers of children, so some take a few hours to weigh and measure all the kids, but some can be done much quicker. One aldea only has two kids under the age of two, so that can be done in a matter of minutes. Today was my first time going to an AIN-C weighing. I learned about it in training, but everything is always very different when you see it in person.
We arrived in the aldea before 8 a.m., and the weighing was supposed to start at 8:30. Grosbin was the last one to show up the previous month, so he didn’t want that to happen again. He is not your typical Honduran who is late to everything; he prefers to be early! We waited in the shade talking until we saw one mother with her baby. I wouldn’t really call him a baby - he was huge, but he was only 13 months old, so he was still basically a baby, but he had the girth of a two-year-old. I’m sure this is due to the fact that he was eating candy (there were so many things wrong with that. 1 - he is only 13 months old, he shouldn’t be eating candy, and 2 - it was not even 8:30 in the morning, nobody should be eating candy that early). I would be willing to bed a lot of money that the mother also gives him Coke! Everyone here in Honduras drinks Coke and coffee, even little kids.
So, after waiting for about a half hour, Grosbin and I re-located to a spot with more shade. The weighing was going to take place in the school yard, so we went and sat in front of one of the class rooms. Finally another mother showed up. However, after another 15 minutes a woman came and told us that the promoter needed to change the meeting to this afternoon at 1:30 p.m. That would have been nice to know before we went all the way there and then waited for 45 minutes, but this is Honduras! I felt bad for Grosbin because he had travel more than a half hour from his town! But, it was still early enough that we could each go back home for the morning and get things done before returning for the afternoon.
A little before 1:30 p.m., I was waiting for Grosbin on the corner of the road that I live on. Standing on the corner, I could see the oncoming traffic from both directions of the main road. On my right, a motorcycle was approaching very rapidly! There are even speed bumps on this part of the highway so people will go slow, but this motorcycle just cruised right around them. The guy cut across the parking lot to my right and was going to attempt to make the left turn onto my road, but at the speed he was going, that in no way was going to happen. And it didn’t. The motorcycle passed in front of my, missing me by about three feet, crashed into a stump and the guy went tumbling off the bike and smacked into a cement block that was part of a fence on the side of the road. The guy jumped right up, so I didn’t bother checking if he was OK. I know I probably should of, but the crash drew a lot of attention. A bunch of guys from the auto shop ran over as well as a few people from down the road. I didn’t really want to get into the middle of all of their talking. I couldn’t understand most of what they were saying, and I don’t have the vocabulary to describe what I saw happen, so I just stayed where I was next to the light post.
A few minutes later Grosbin arrived, and we repeated our morning journey to the school, but nobody was there - again.. We happened to bump into one of the AIN-C promoters walking past on her way to the meeting, and she informed us that the meeting was actually at her house. I don’t understand why nobody tells Grosbin anything. He is the one “in charge,” yet they are always keeping him out of the loop. Grosbin and I went with this woman to her house, and almost all the mothers were already there, and two babies had already been weighed. So, Grosbin jumped right in with his tape measurer and began measuring each kid after he or she was weighed. I was right at his side to assist whenever needed.
It is so funny how different all the kids are. Some infants that are only two-month-olds don’t mind getting weighed at all, but then you put them on the table to get measured and they start wailing to the point that it is almost impossible to get an accurate height. But, some don’t mind either; of course there are also the ones that don’t like either and just cry the entire time. You would think the older kids would be more used to it and know what is going on, but so many of them start screaming the second you try to put them in the sling. You would think they remember that it hurts or something, but nothing about it would hurt! I understand when kids come in to the health center and go into the vaccine room and immediately start crying because I sure would remember the place that stabs me every couple months! But, getting weighed - what is there to cry about - it is like a swing, you would think kids would like it.
Sad babies!
The first 18 kids went really fast, but then that was all of the kids that were there. The promoters made a few phone calls and after a little while a few more mothers showed up. But then we were still missing about 5 kids. We were supposed to stay there until all the kids were weighed, but at 4pm when we were still missing three kids, Grosbin decided we could go. If they were already two and a half hours late, the chances that they were actually going to come were slim to none.
I enjoyed being able to accompany Grosbin, and I will be going to another aldea on Wednesday and then others on Saturday and Sunday. I will know the drill by the end of the week. This month I just wanted to meet the promoters and the mothers - even though there is no way I will be remembering hardly anyone’s names. But, I want them to know who I am and to feel comfortable with me around. Next month, I hope to start giving charlas to the mothers while their kids are getting weighed and measures. Charlas about nutrition to start with, I think. Trying to get them to stop giving their kids a ton of sugar and Coke is going to be my first goal. Maybe after my two years here I will succeed in convince at least handful of women to stop?
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