volunteers rock

dangriga is a part of belice where mainly garifuna people live. (it's a three hour bus ride away) it also has one of the highest rates of hiv/aids in the country. on friday, unicef and city officials declared dangriga the first hiv friendly town to helped end stigma of hiv positive people. i went to dangriga with a few other volunteers to pass out info and do activities with the youth at the event. same health education stuff i would do in the states.

and today i volunteered at a local family planning clinic and did pap smear, breast exam and contraceptive presentations including a condom demo for the women in the waiting rooms. AND i did them in spanish! well as much spanish as i could manage with the help of some women who translated words i didn't know. pecho is breast. tezo is nipple, matriz is uterus and la boca de la matriz is the cervix! and i had to remember to say sida y vih instead of aids and hiv.

oh, i'm paying a local woman to teach me spanish a few hours a week, so i'm starting to learn to conjugate in the PAST tense and future tense!! woo hoo.

oh, more about belize- i'm getting eaten alive by mosquitos!!!!! like all over. i'm so itchy and scratching ALL the time. it's terrible!!! and it's so HOT here!