Yesterday I witnessed something that shook me to my core, I am still reeling from this experience and it may sound corny but I think it changed my life a little.
Yesterday we spent the day at my aunts house,there was 15 of us total all crammed into one little air conditioned room. My 6 year old cousin has a reputation for being annoying and a pest, he likes to defy his mother and be a nuisance in general, but yesterday he was actually being very good. He was going from one point to another when he was knocked over by his brother pushing out his chair to get up, this resulted in him falling and knocking over a table. Immediately everyone was getting mad at him and he was apologetic but because no one (other than me) witnessed him being knocked over, they all thought that he did it on purpose so they started getting mad at him and did not give him a chance to explain himself. Josue is 6 so he started getting weepy and sad that everyone was being mad and not giving him a chance to speak, he refused to go to his room because he wanted to explain that it was not his fault that he knocked over the table, but no one would hear it and all they would do is yell at him and try to drag him off into his room. This went on for about 5 min unit his grandmother came out with a plastic stick and started beating the crap out of him, even when he was screaming on the floor in pain not even able to get up and go to his room like they asked because she was relentlessly wailing on him with this stick.
His screams will haunt me for a long time to come, it was one of those moments where my stomach just dropped in utter horror and disgust, the worst part is that I was the only one who reacted to this in any way. While he was on the ground screaming, I was yelling (in English because my brain was in shock) for them to stop it. It was one of those moments where after it had stopped, Josue was on the ground sobbing, I was almost in tears and everyone was just staring at me. My reaction totally surprised them, it was like for them this was normal and it didn't matter what they were mercilessly beating a child who was only 6 years old.
Josue went to his room sobbing and scared, I got the chance to explain to my family that I had never seen something like that and that it has scared me and disgusted me. It was my host sister who took me aside and thanked me for saying something that really sent me for a loop, but at the same time made me feel better. She said that because it was her relatives who where "disciplining" their child, she was out of line to say anything but the fact that I finally did meant alot to her.
I dont think I will ever be able to look at my great Aunt the same way again, I have lost all respect for her, the fact that she could do that to her own grandson and who did nothing wrong...it disgusts me. When I told her and everyone else that Josue was knocked over and that it actually wasnt his fault that he knocked the table over, my aunt didnt do anything, she just blew it off saying that he probably deserved it anyway, his mother and my family became a little more repent-full at this point too but the fact that this is a norm for them is something that I will never be able to understand.
Those screams keep replaying over in my head and every time it makes my stomach drop, It makes me proud to know that I stuck up for Josue but it disgusted me that I was the only one.
Thursday 5 January 2012
Wednesday 4 January 2012
Kicking off 2012 with dengue....sick...literally.
I have a confession to make...the last blog I wrote, I was alot less fine than I led on.In fact the 29th was the first day in a long time that I was even able to walk around and sit up for long periods of time. From the 26th of December to the 2nd of January, I was officially sick with Dengue fever. It is essentially a disease that is transmitted by mosquitoes and it gives you a fever, full body aches, headaches, joint pain, nausea, loss of appetite, faintness, weakness, and sleepyness. Lucky me, I got every one of those symptoms and then some....
It all started on the 26th, we went to dinner at a really fancy restaurant for my sisters birthday and it was all I could do not to put my head on the table and cry. My mother noticed that I hardly ate anything and that I was not very talkative/ active. That night she took me to the hospital where I was poked and prodded, they took some tests and some blood and gave me a prescription for heat exhaustion (because all my tests came out normal) and sent me on my way. The next day, after sleeping pretty much all day, fainting on my floor and turning pretty much yellow, my mom took me back to the hospital demanding they do more tests because there was obviously something wrong with me! By this point I couldn't eat anything nor could I spend very much time sitting up nor standing. They ran more tests and found out that my white blood cell count (it could have been red, i don't remember) had taken a dive, and I had become extremely dehydrated, I spent the night in the Hospital hooked up to an IV and every couple of hours people took more blood samples to see how I was faring. The diagnosis came back as Dengue fever and it is safe to say that my host mom was not impressed with the miss diagnosis. By the time I got home from the hospital the next day, I had 6 new needle pokes, I was no longer yellow and I was on a bunch of different medication. One of which is to get rid of the parasite that they found out that I have. That one I am still working on getting rid of :)
8 days of being house/ bed ridden, tons of sleep, lots of pills, mass amounts of water and Gatorade and 2 trips to the hospital later, I am finally better! This was one Bolivian experience that I would have been happy to skip out on, But on the plus side Dengue is like the chicken pox, once you get it, there is a very very very small chance that you will ever get it again...THANK GOSH!
Due to being sick, I was unable to go out and do anything too terribly exciting for New Years, but I was ok with that. I spent the New Years at home with my family, we had a party at my house for our church, there was food and music and lots of people and celebrations. When it came to the fireworks and cheering...I thought that my brain was going to explode but other than that, I was feeling a lot better than previous days but still not 100%.
Bolivians celebrate the new years with four main traditions. 1. blow up the sky with as many fireworks as humanly possible. 2.At midnight you need to go to an upper level of a house, building,etc...stand on a chair and eat grapes. It is supposed to bring you good luck for the new years. 3. Everyone throws fake money around...it is supposed to bring you riches in the year to come. 4. at the new years parties, when dawn breaks everyone eats soup ( like at 5 am, because ALL the parties are still going on) it is cleansing and helps with good health for the year to come. I dont know if any of these traditions work but i did them all, so lets see how this year goes. Despite still being on the way back to good health, I stayed up until 7:30 AM with my amazing host sister Goldy, we had silly string wars, lit off fireworks, ate food, watched movies, laughed...ALOT, and wore crazy hats, glasses,wigs etc. It was a great way to start the New Year. Happy 2012 to everyone!!!!!!! Cant believe I have passed my 4 month mark!
Final words of wisdom...BEWARE OF DEMON MOSQUITOES!
Oh, P.S...I am officially a red head.
It all started on the 26th, we went to dinner at a really fancy restaurant for my sisters birthday and it was all I could do not to put my head on the table and cry. My mother noticed that I hardly ate anything and that I was not very talkative/ active. That night she took me to the hospital where I was poked and prodded, they took some tests and some blood and gave me a prescription for heat exhaustion (because all my tests came out normal) and sent me on my way. The next day, after sleeping pretty much all day, fainting on my floor and turning pretty much yellow, my mom took me back to the hospital demanding they do more tests because there was obviously something wrong with me! By this point I couldn't eat anything nor could I spend very much time sitting up nor standing. They ran more tests and found out that my white blood cell count (it could have been red, i don't remember) had taken a dive, and I had become extremely dehydrated, I spent the night in the Hospital hooked up to an IV and every couple of hours people took more blood samples to see how I was faring. The diagnosis came back as Dengue fever and it is safe to say that my host mom was not impressed with the miss diagnosis. By the time I got home from the hospital the next day, I had 6 new needle pokes, I was no longer yellow and I was on a bunch of different medication. One of which is to get rid of the parasite that they found out that I have. That one I am still working on getting rid of :)
8 days of being house/ bed ridden, tons of sleep, lots of pills, mass amounts of water and Gatorade and 2 trips to the hospital later, I am finally better! This was one Bolivian experience that I would have been happy to skip out on, But on the plus side Dengue is like the chicken pox, once you get it, there is a very very very small chance that you will ever get it again...THANK GOSH!
Due to being sick, I was unable to go out and do anything too terribly exciting for New Years, but I was ok with that. I spent the New Years at home with my family, we had a party at my house for our church, there was food and music and lots of people and celebrations. When it came to the fireworks and cheering...I thought that my brain was going to explode but other than that, I was feeling a lot better than previous days but still not 100%.
Bolivians celebrate the new years with four main traditions. 1. blow up the sky with as many fireworks as humanly possible. 2.At midnight you need to go to an upper level of a house, building,etc...stand on a chair and eat grapes. It is supposed to bring you good luck for the new years. 3. Everyone throws fake money around...it is supposed to bring you riches in the year to come. 4. at the new years parties, when dawn breaks everyone eats soup ( like at 5 am, because ALL the parties are still going on) it is cleansing and helps with good health for the year to come. I dont know if any of these traditions work but i did them all, so lets see how this year goes. Despite still being on the way back to good health, I stayed up until 7:30 AM with my amazing host sister Goldy, we had silly string wars, lit off fireworks, ate food, watched movies, laughed...ALOT, and wore crazy hats, glasses,wigs etc. It was a great way to start the New Year. Happy 2012 to everyone!!!!!!! Cant believe I have passed my 4 month mark!
Final words of wisdom...BEWARE OF DEMON MOSQUITOES!
Oh, P.S...I am officially a red head.
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