And the surveying begins!

Today is my third day in Nicaragua and I have been busy. We went out into the village, Audilio Blanco, where we will be doing the needs assessment and the follow-up surveys from the diarrhea intervention. Project HOPE’s doctor, Melba, introduced us to the Community Health Educators (CHEs) in Audilio Blanco and they agreed to help us with our surveying. When they go before us and explain why we are there, the families respect us more and it goes smoothly. Audilio Blanco has one dirt road that has sewage running down the middle of it. The houses on one side of the street were built by Project HOPE, and are cinder block to the waist, then wood, with a metal roof and cement floor. Many of the other houses (on the other side of the street) are pieced together from whatever could be found and have dirt floors. The first surveys went ok, but the 2 year-olds screamed bloody murder when we tried to weigh them. We have decided that tomorrow we will weigh the mother holding the child and subtract the mother’s weight. Hopefully that will work better! We will go out to the village again and survey all day tomorrow.

I am staying at Project HOPE’s base, and it is beautiful. It includes dorms, offices, a clinic, a dining room, library, and houses where missionaries and some staff live. The buildings form a square, and we have a lovely courtyard in the middle. I took some pictures: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.599727061776.2055933.177502257&type=1&l=8f8da2e880