Changes

Hi Everyone!

Sorry its been so long since I made a post - I have been doing a bit of travelling and when I do get internet it´s usually only for about 3 seconds. I am currently in Nicaragua with 3 friends that I met volunteering in Guatemala. After my 8 weeks at Mi Escualita and the Orphanage, I decided to take a month of from volunteering and explore central america a bit! So far we have been to Belize, Honduras, El Salvador, and now Nicaragua. It´s been an absolute blast, meeting so many interesting people and getting to experience so many amazing things. Yesterday I tobagganed down a Volcano at 50 mph, and a few weeks ago I got my PADI Certification for Scuba Diving in Honduras.

I think next week will be my final week of travelling, and from here I will head back to Guatemala to collect my things and drop off some stuff for the kids, and from there I am planning on heading to Belmopan, Belize, where I hope to be able to volunteer at an Orphanage called the Kings Childrens home. I absolutely fell in love with Belize while I was there, and Im so greatful that I had the oppourtunity to do a bit of travel so I could find out what wonderful countries Belize, Honduras, and Nicargua are.

Anyway, while I was in Belize I remembered my mom telling me about friends who ran a home for children in Belmopan. And as much as I loved the places I worked at in Guatemala, I think it would be a great experience to try living in Belize and working at the childrens home for the rest of my time here. SO thats what I am planning to do, just have to sort out the details and finish exploring Nicaragua and then I will be on my way there!

On a sad note - if you look back a few posts you will see a post I made about the babies at the Orphanage in Guatemala. There is a paragraph about a little guy named Angel and what a perfect little sweetheart he was. Well a few weeks after that post, I went in to the orphanage on a Monday to see that his crib had been removed from the nursery. Angel had passed away that morning from an infection. Apparently he had fallen ill with a chest infection as well as some gastrointestinal issues that friday, and they had brought him to the hospital on Sunday. In talking to the nuns and the nurse who worked with the babies, I have gathered that his death was due to a few factors. Firstly, his weakened immune system made it extra hard for him to fight off the infections. Secondly, the hospitals in the area are really not good at all and there wasnt a whole lot that they could do. A baby in a first world country with a chest infection and gastro would have been treated properly by a doctor and the chance of death would have been quite slim, but in a country where the best medications arent available and the doctors arent able to do all the necessary tests, his death was awful and heartbreaking, but very common occurence, especially for a child with HIV.

Anyways, I have to go now as I am at an internet cafe and my minutes are about to run out, but hopefully my next post will be from the Kings Childrens Home in Belmopan, Belize!

lots of love!
Kate