Eye for an Eye

I am saving the world one eye at a time…

Not really. I know it seems like we have gotten lazy about posting, I guess yesterday I was feeling pretty lazy but I had a long day saving eyes! Two days completed in my volunteer trip and I feel like I just started school again. During school, I’m not sure if its because I’m always practicing on the same people, but I have had an artificial confidence boost. When I came here I had a rude awakening on all the skills I need to really work on. On top of my rusty skills, we are working with really basic equipment, nothing like the high tech things we have in a normal office so it makes everything a bit harder. Also, I have been fighting a head cold, so that was even more working against myself having a clear mind.

Anyhow, we have contacts that we made in Belize through a non-profit company BCVI and they have been setting up clinics for us in different cities each day. Yesterday, we went to a town called Hopkins and we did exams on about 200 people in a  small church. The clinic was about an hour drive in our “charter bus,” down some bumpy roads, but it was set on a beautiful beach that we got to enjoy during our lunch break. The clinic itself was a bit hectic but we made it work. We rotated different positions, doing everything from checking visual acuity, checking ocular health, and dispensing glasses and eye drops. One thing that made me sad was that we usually had to lower our standard of care, because we either didn’t have the equipment or resources to help. Makes me feel lucky to live in America. But the more I thought about it, I figured that if someone has seen awfully for a long time, even a pair of glasses that is not exactly the right prescription will be better than nothing.

 

Today, we stayed in the city of Dangriga for our clinic. It was nice because it was only a 5 minute ride from our lodge, but it was a tight squeeze! I started feeling a little more comfortable with my skills today and started to actually enjoy it! My first patient today was a younger girl who couldn’t see anything far or near and had never worn glasses before – not sure how she got by – and after I told her she could go pick out glasses she gave me a big hug. Also, I had a sweet old man who was over 80, who only could see out of one eye. He told me his whole story and gave me a very sweet goodbye went I sent him off to the referral table. I could go on, but in the long two days were well worth it! We have two more days of clinic set up for Monday and Tuesday so hopefully its only up from here.

Our glasses selection lined up

You may be wondering what in the world Patrick was doing during these days, and I wondered that question myself! But anyone who knows him, knows he doesn’t take much to amuse him. He claims he played soccer with the locals, did yoga on the beach, told childhood stories with the old men at the lodge, got tons of work done, learned to speak creole, founded world peace, etc. Okay… not really the last few, but you get the picture.

Last night when I got back, since I was feeling sick I went straight to bed without dinner, but tonight we got to celebrate a little bit. The BCVI coordinator took us to the local community center and they had a local group, POWA, perform for us! It was really fun and interesting to watch, and we got pretty into it. They were singing in their local language and doing their traditional dances – which included some serious booty shaking. After their performances, they decided to get the crowd involved with my (least) favorite activity… Karaoke. We had both our group and the Belizians singing together in a plethora of songs. Naturally though, Patrick finished up the evening with the crowd pleaser, “Busta Move.”

Patrick swing dancing with a POWA lady

We are about to go to bed, with an exciting day lined up tomorrow: A doctor and his son are joining us in attempts to go diving tomorrow! Most of our group is going to see some cultural sides of Belize, but since Patrick and I have been knee deep in culture for the past week and a half we decided to journey back to the islands instead. Also, since Patrick and I left Caye Caulker in the form of lobsters due to an unfortunate napping incident, we need to even up our tans. 🙂 Fingers crossed the weather stays lovely for us!

-Roya