Parties and stitches and kittens - oh my!

Hmm, where to start?

The past few days have been very strange indeed. And not in a good way, for the most part. It all started last Friday when I had a house warming party here in San Vicente for the house I have been living in since June (better late than never). My Mom sent me some curry powder in a care package earlier, so we decided to have curry.

About 8 people were at my house, the food was AMAZING, and we were having a great time playing cards on my kitchen table. Most people were in the kitchen except for two who were smoking cigarettes on the roof. We were wondering that they'd been up there for a while when one of them came running down frantically, saying the other had fallen off my roof...

That's right, she fell off my roof. Thank goodness my house is "only" one story, but it was still awful- I'd guess like 12-14ft high. - Luckily the party in question will be fine (over 40 stitches to the head, and pins in her broken toes later)...

We called the San Vicente Ambulance (driven by my neighbor, so it came in record time) and she was taken to the hospital immediately.

That Sunday, I come home from visiting the hospital, to find Kitten in labor. In fine Kitten form, she is the worst mother ever, and once the baby is born she runs outside and refuses to care for it. The next morning, sleep deprived as ever (but Kitten's kitten is still alive), I try to close my window to stop annoying children from yelling at me while I'm napping and accidentally put my left hand through the glass and cut open my wrist in two places.

Back to the hospital!

Luckily my site mate Caitlin took very, very good care of me, and wrapped my wrist very well and took me to Xela with her. We got to the hospital and I had to get 10 stitches in my wrist.

We head back to site that day, and I try to lay low, however Tuesday afternoon, what happens? Kitten goes into labor... again.

I had NO idea that could happen. I sort of thought, once a cat goes into labor, it sort of has the kittens in one go, not two days apart. But guess what, I was wrong. Kitten goes into labor (again) and during this labor, she (being the GREAT mother she is) smothers kitten number one, and it dies (can you say picking favorites?).

So, Kitten's first kitten is dead, but kitten number two is going strong (and looks less like a sea-monkey more like a rat see image below), and she's actually letting it feed off of her. (if the three of us sit on the bed together and I get her to lie down, but if I get up, she gets up...)



So that's my life, a few stitches and kittens later, and still going strong. I'm currently in the Health Center waiting for my counterpart to read through the new SPA papers we have to finish, and then we'll start looking at prices of materials for the projects.

Until next time, please, no more stitches.

US apologizing for medical experiments on Guatemalans

Sorry I haven't updated in so long. Things have been pretty hectic here, and also kind of rainy, very muddy and depressing, so while I've been working hard on HIV workshops, my SPA (Small Project Assistant) grant from USAID and of course university applications, I haven't felt very inspired to write about any of it.

However recently some very disturbing news has come out, it turns out that in the 1940's American researchers working with the government in Guatemala infected about 700 Guatemalans, without their knowledge or consent, with gonorrhea and syphilis.

It seems that the people infected were those most vulnerable, including prostitutes, inmates and patients in mental institutions. The point of the experiment was to see how effective penicillin can be in preventing syphilis infections. While the Sec. of State has issued an apology, saying, "the research conducted in Guatemala between 1946 and 1948 was clearly unethical...Although these events occurred more than 64 years ago, we are outraged that such reprehensible research could have occurred under the guise of public health." It doesn't seem like enough.

Who is going to stand up for the rights of these people who were so inhumanly treated? The Guatemalan government says it will try to see that the families of those infected will be compensated, but by whom, and when?

It seems that this is just another example of those who have, taking advantage of those who don't have, and while yes, the incident was exposed. It took almost 70 years to do so, and those with the most guilt, did get away with what they did, and remember, this occurred at a time, when the United States was reprimanding Germany for medically experimenting on their POWs, how is this any different?

To read the BBC news article on the incident, click here.