Saturday Post -- 02/03/13

Craig and I have switched Saturday morning duties this week… and we’re both quite chuffed about it. Instead of having to do all the grocery shopping at various locations all over town, I am still in bed in my pyjamas typing an interesting and enthused blog post… at least I hope it’s interesting and enthused. Craig is currently running all over town…and he has also intentionally added other jobs on top of the normal groceries that he is going to do as well. I think he is mostly excited because he gets an extended period of time to listen to his podcasts without my disapproving glares. I don’t have a problem with podcasts in general – I have a problem with him listening to them in the house where I have to shout at the top of my lungs for him to hear me when I want his attention. He responds, “Its not the podcasts’ fault, Amanda, the headphones are just that good.” But as it has just started to rain, I still think I am getting the most out of this deal.

This week has been a bit stressful in terms of the house. It’s so close to being finished, yet so far away. We really wanted to move in this weekend, but that is not going to happen. Now we have our eyes set on Wednesday, but it depends on so much. We think the main problem is that the site manager does not quite understand the urgency with which we’ve set the deadline (which is now three months past the promised completion date – the culture here is very laid back) and on the whole we were fine to go along with that, but as Shona is going to be here in seven days, well, we have no time to be relaxed any more. Craig feels like he’s turning into an old woman with all his nagging and part of me just can’t get upset about it, because I don’t really believe that there is a chance it is going to be ready in time. The balcony railings were put in yesterday and I think still need to be painted, there are still some glass panels missing, the mosquito netting still needs to get installed, but most importantly, the house is not electrically live. The house is completely wired, but it has not been hooked up to the city grid yet and without electricity we don’t have water and without water I am not moving. I can live without the kitchen cabinets (which haven’t even arrived from Santa Cruz yet), but I need water.

On the other hand, there has been a lot of progress this week. The inside of the house is all painted (and the pink looks great!), all the curtain rods have been hung, the outside is almost painted, the balcony railings actually arrived and the big mound of earth in front of house has been distributed all over the land. Whatever happens, we just have to be flexible, be ready to drop everything and move if we have to, or arrange for a bed for Shona in the apartment downstairs. Don’t worry, Shona, we won’t make you sleep on the floor.

But I am really getting excited about Shona’s visit; obviously on a personal level, as we haven’t seen each other since August 2011, but also on a professional one. Shona is coming down to run speech therapy training sessions with my colleague Odalys and myself. We offer speech therapy at the Foundation, which Odalys oversees, but she feels really under-qualified and would rather not be doing it. To be fair, in a city where no one else is offering such services, the little training Odalys has is better than nothing, but to encourage Odalys and to better equip her, Shona kindly agreed to spend her March Break with us, demonstrating techniques and constructing treatment plans for specific patients. The patients themselves are really excited because we’re really hyping it up to try and impress the importance of actually turning up for their appointments; and also because we’re not charging. As the therapy sessions are being coupled with staff training we felt it would be better to not charge for these initial evaluations and treatment plans. Who does not love free medical care from an overseas specialist?!?! If only I were so lucky with my medical woes...

I also spent a lot of time this week preparing a professional development course on patient interaction and inter-staff relationships. I have been working in health care for almost six years, both in admin and as a heath professional, with another three years of studying health care and their systems, and thinking about that made me feel old. But then I realised I was still under 30 and felt better about myself.

Customer service in Bolivia is relatively non-existent. Craig once found hair in his food at a restaurant and asked me what he should do about it. I said if he was hungry he should just eat it, because he is not getting replacement food or a refund. He mentioned it to the guy as he was paying and the guy shouted into the kitchen, “And we all know whose hair that was!” and laughed it off. Ya, no refund.  Unfortunately, this attitude can make its way into health care as well and this is not the type of atmosphere we’re trying to cultivate at the Foundation where we’re trying to show the love of Christ to everyone we meet. Also, as is quite common in many health systems, an atmosphere of competition or blame can develop between the admin and health staff, so we’re trying to develop a complete team attitude. I enjoyed putting the course together and I would like to give a big shout out to Westmuir Medical Centre, Parkhead, Glasgow, Scotland for teaching me the majority of what I know about patient interaction!!!!

The board of directors approved the course this past Thursday morning and the course is planned for this coming Friday afternoon…

Today is a big day… the Club de Exploradores de la Biblia (Bible Explorers Club) starts again today. KC and I will be leading the same class as last year, i.e., girls of twelve years and older. Today we’re starting with some games and Bible trivia to start nice and easy before we push the girls to work really hard. Seriously, last year, when no one was volunteering answers, KC made the girls do exercises to wake their brains up (sometimes the exercises were laps). I was so glad that I was a leader and not a participant, although I would possibly be thinner than I am now if I had to participate. When I refer to working hard, I really mean thinking outside the box; forcing them to think about what they are reading and trying to understand it. Sometimes I think we must come across as mean people because of how hard we push them to think comprehensively and critically, but they keep coming back, so maybe they know that the tough love is really full of genuine love.

I will leave it there… and I (if Craig does the grocery shopping again next week), or Craig will fill you in on the housing developments over the next week.

Prayer

• That we would be able to move into our new house this week, so Shona can stay with us in it.
• Shona as she travels down here in one week’s time and for the speech therapy training sessions that are being organised.
• The beginning of a new year of many activities in the church and the Foundation – that God would be working through these activities to reach many people. 

Praise

• Craig’s stellar talk to the youth group last Saturday on the Prodigal Son – it was very clear and very fun as well (they got to play Who Wants to be a Millionaire to illustrate the concept of walking away with what you have instead waiting until the game is over – kind of like the prodigal son, get it?).
• Productivity on this professional development course that I was able to prepare this week – it really was a blessing to me to work on it. 

       ¡Que Dios les bendiga!

       Craig & Amanda

      PS Craig here, got some pictures of the work in the house, taken today. Hopefully these will be the last such images we post here before moving in.