Chikungunya Update

As soon as I finished the previous post I realized that I haven't given you a Chikungunya update in a while.

I try not to talk about it too much. My friends who have it don't say anything. I don't want to be a whiner but it still hurts a little almost every day.

While I was in NY I had my first two pain free days. That was pretty awesome. I was excited to know that I could have days without pain. That was at the eleven week point.

Since then the pain has continued to lessen. I don't have many days that are completely pain free, but the pain is much more tolerable. It's usually more of an annoyance and does not keep me from my regular activities anymore.

I don't have the constant aching in my knuckles anymore. The worst pain is most focused on my spine right between my shoulders (where it can feel like a burning knife) and my neck. Looking to the left or upward can be painful. Some days I have sharp pains in my ankles, toes and knees. Occasionally it's still in my elbows and right shoulder. But those days are fewer.

I still feel weak and wobbly walking downhill. My knees ache on the way home from the literacy class. Climbing up out of the valley is fine but going back down the front side of the mountain after teaching the class is always a gentle reminder that I am not the same as I used to be.

Right now I am grateful to feel better. I'm doing more each week. If I am like everyone else, I will have a flare up at the eleven month point (April) which will keep me in bed for about a week.

Thank you to those who kept me and my health in your prayers. Chikungunya is almost as difficult to handle emotionally as it is physically. There are so many ups and downs. I have never been this mad at God before. But I also realize it could be worse. God and I are now on the mend.

Festival of Corn

This is my favorite season. I always forget how much I love it until it's here. All day it's sunny and hot. The sun is really, really strong. But then around 4 pm the clouds roll in, it starts thundering in the distance and rain follows. Sometimes there are huge thunder storms. It's excellent weather for sleeping. It rains until midnight, then lets up so by morning it's not too wet outside.

As I was cooking dinner today I was thinking about Erika. A year ago at this time we celebrated her birthday. Soon afterward I noticed she was no longer excited about the idea of completing high school and then she told me she was pregnant. This afternoon I was sad that we hadn't talked in two months. An hour later I got a collect call from her!

She said everything is the same. She turned 18 two weeks ago, but they didn't celebrate because they didn't have $5 for a cake. (People here always buy cakes. They don't bake at home. Erika doesn't even have an oven.)

Her mother is taking a beauty class through my program, Impacto Juvenil, because Lorenzo is in one of our clubs in Los Pinos. That makes his family eligible for the services we offer.

Marjory was going to the breakfast program at the church for a while. Ana had told me that. I was surprised when Erika said she is no longer sending Marjory since one of the church members sent Marjory home for crying. Erika said that the person in charge of the program has encouraged Erika to send Marjory again, but Erika is wary. I assured Erika that if the person who is in charge wants Marjory there, then she should send Marjory to the church. It seemed like Erika may send Marjory tomorrow.

I might see them. I have to pick some of my coworkers up at the church in Los Pinos and take them to meet with another pastor in Los Pinos. They are looking for a different locale as a home base for Impacto Juvenil in Los Pinos.

I played my violin for the dance class at my church on Saturday. It went pretty well. I have some photos of the class that I'll upload tonight, but no photos of me playing.

Saturday afternoon Fany, Laura and I went to visit her in-laws. The annual corn festival was Saturday night in their little village. Fany's husband is the organizer. All of the people of his ting village get together and make corn products which they donate for the event. Unlike other Honduran corn festivals, all of the food at this one is free!

There is a traditional band with 3 guitars which look like banjos, two violins that the people play pressed against their chest perpendicularly, a bass, a drum set, bongos and a special set of keys they play with a "hammer". The band plays from 7 pm until 4 am! I was physically tired just playing for two hours in the church, I wondered how in the world they played for so long.

All of the food was free!

There was both boiled and fire roasted corn

Atol, which is corn pudding

Corn Bread

"Fritas" or fried corn patties

Me with elotes and atol

The drive there was pretty

Laura loves her car seat in my car

The little village where Fany's husband grew up is really small. In the middle of town there is a one church and a one room school with one teacher for all of the kids. Houses are scattered out from there. Her parents have a two room house with an additional room they added for Fany's husband. Basically everyone sleeps in one room, but that is not so strange in Honduras.

Fany said at first his family thought I would not be comfortable in their house. I've visited a few times before. They asked Fany why she wanted to bring me there. Their village is way out in the country. They have an outhouse and no indoor place to bathe.

This time Fany said his parents have officially accepted me. His father gave me a huge bag of red kidney beans he grew himself. I learned a new appreciation for beans. I never thought about how precious each individual bean is before. They have to be shelled, then sorted, then dried in the sun, then cleaned. It's a meticulous and time consuming process which I got to witness for the first time Saturday and Sunday.

His mom called me "daughter" which Fany said is a big deal. She made all sorts of food, just for me. Fany said it took two years before she treated Fany that way.

Fany, Santos, his Mom, and I all stayed up until four a.m. Saturday night. Then Laura woke us up at 8 a.m., so we spent Sunday sitting on the porch, enjoying the breeze and eating when we were hungry. Fany, Laura and I drove back into the city on Sunday evening, still exhausted but happy, with a trunk full of food.