pharmacist for the day

Today we had mobile clinic in Barranco, a Garifuna community south of P.G. I was feeling better this morning but not completely up to par, but decided to go because I can only lie around being sick for so long. Since all five of us were able to go today, I opted to be the mobile clinic pharmacist, which basically involved slicing pills in half and counting them. I am so glad for pharmacists back home. We had a traditional Garifuna meal for lunch which involved a lot of plantain and fish. It was good, but I avoided large portions in respect of my stomach. I think one of the more interesting things I found out today was that at least some of our patients go to the various health clinics with the same complaint in order to get "stockpiles" of medication. Our intake nurse, for lack of a better word as he does much more than that around here, told me that a family I saw yesterday had gone to the P.G. clinic before coming to see us at Hillside for the same complaint of scabies. He also said that years ago one of the doctors at Hillside would go on home visits and look at everyone's medications. Supposedly he found enough medications in peoples' homes to run the clinic for 5 years. I know that is an exaggeration, but it is an interesting phenomenon. Everything we give out is free and so is the medication at the P.G. clinic, and virtually all patients walk out of the clinic with at least Tylenol, which if you believe this information they might not even need because they have stores of it at home. Tylenol is pretty benign but it is a little scary to think that they have stockpiles of other medications, such as the scabies cream lindane which can be neurotoxic lying around their houses to use at their convenience.

Anything interesting phenomenon is the market produce here. A lot of it is not from Belize at all. In fact yesterday morning we saw bags of produce from Guatemala being dropped off. Its a little strange as one expects markets to have local produce and the grocery stores to carry the imports. Although the Minneapolis Farmer's Market also has the same phenomenon. I think the issue is more on my radar right now as I just finished Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbabra Kingsolver and The Ominvore's Delimna before coming here, both of which talked about the environmental impact of shipping food across long distances. Granted shipping food to Belize from Mexico and Guatemala is not the same as shipping produce to the US from New Zealand and Argentina, but it is the same concept. I find myself wondering if it would be possible to be a local-vore in Belize. I think it would be quite hard. As for the above books, I highly recommend them as reads. They are fascinating and make you re-think your particular eating habits whatever they may be.

I also want to put a plug in for A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah and They poured Fire on Us From the Sky by Deng, Deng, and Ajak. Both are true stories out of Africa. Beah talks about the war in Sierra Leone, and how he was sucked into becoming a boy soldier. It makes you realize you never know what you may become under difficult circumstance. It also shows how vulnerable children are to war and violence. The second book is about the lost boys of Sudan and again another touching story about children torn apart by war.

Anyway, enough typing for now. I have a little over a week left before returning to the cold of Minnesota. That is definitely going to be a shock to my system.