Week 14: Translating Graphs and Singing in Café's

*Note: Sorry, no pictures this week - camera got stolen :-(

On Monday, I went to ECOSUR and finished writing the ‘results’ section of my thesis. I analyzed the section of my survey that I had administered to pregnant women. Unfortunately, because my research study was a population-based study with a relatively small sample size, there were only five pregnant women in my sample. However, I still found some helpful information. I learned that all of the pregnant women wanted a partera (traditional midwife) to assist them during the birth and that they wanted to give birth at home. The women said that they wanted to give birth at home instead of at a clinic/hospital were “custom”, it is not necessary to give birth in a clinic/hospital”, “the health worker is a man”, and “the clinic/hospital is far away / there is no money for the transport”. Although all five women had attended prenatal care, only two of the women said they had received information about obstetric complications from health personnel, and only one woman said that she had understood the information because the information was delivered in Spanish instead of the local language (tseltal). After I returned from ECOSUR, I went to salsa class and then my friend Romeo came with me to go hear Oliver play guitar in the café. When Oliver had finished playing, we went to go get some empanadas and arroz con leche with Oliver’s cousins.

On Tuesday, I started working on my ECOSUR presentation of my research project. I mainly worked on translating into Spanish all the bar graphs and pie charts I had made depicting my data. That night, I met up with my friend Romeo from my salsa class and we went to go buy a Christmas tree for my apartment. We also bought colored paper and I taught Romeo how to make paper snowflakes so we could decorate my tree. After salsa class, we stayed late at Zirko and practiced the moves we had learned.

On Wednesday, I went to ECOSUR and worked more on my presentation for Monday. I created slides for background information, study objectives, study population, and study instruments. In the afternoon, I went to a café and started working on the discussion section of my thesis. I heard a siren and when I looked out the window of the café, I saw an ambulance, police cars, and a procession of cabs decorated with red, white, and green balloons. At first, I thought it was a funeral procession. Then, I considered it might be a wedding. Finally, I thought “maybe someone important/famous is in town.

Later that night, my friend Romeo explained to me that all of the festivities were in honor of the Virgen de Guadalupe. Despite the continuous rain on Wednesday night, Romeo and I marched with other people from ECOSUR to the top of a hill where the Iglesia de Guadalupe was located. We carried balloons, red poinsettia plants, and a large painted frame of the Virgen. As we processed up the hill, a band played behind us and I saw carnival rides, stands selling churros, and a bunch of foosball tables in front of the church. After entering the church and listening to the service, we were invited to celebrate at the home of one of the people who works at ECOSUR. It was encouraging to see a lot of familiar faces from ECOSUR at the gathering, and I listened as a guitarist sang to the Virgen de Guadalupe and the people around me prayed. Even though I am not a particularly religious person, it was a beautiful event and I was happy to be so accepted.

On Thursday, I worked more on the discussion section of my thesis and started the ‘limitations’ section. I am hoping that by the time I go home, I will have finished a draft of my thesis so that when I go home, I can just edit. In the afternoon, I went to go watch two of my friends from the salsa class play in a volleyball tournament at ECOSUR. It's nice how people here get together after work (at their workplace) and play a game of volleyball. I also met a really nice girl from Mexico City and we talked about how we are both going to miss Chiapas and San Cristóbal when we leave.

On Friday, I went to ECOSUR and met with Rosario. She asked me to write a summary of my research project and the final results in Spanish. That afternoon, I worked on translating part of my thesis into Spanish for the summary. At the end of the day, I went back to the volleyball court to watch one of my friends play in the finale. That night, I went to go hear my friend Oliver play guitar in a café and he convinced me to sing while he played guitar. Somehow, I ended up singing “Rayando el sol” (Mana) in Spanish in front of a café filled with people! That night, we went to eat dinner at a restaurant where a tango group was performing and then went out salsa dancing.

Unfortunately, my purse got stolen on Friday night L When I woke up on Saturday morning, I had to figure out a place where I could change my traveler’s checks (very hard to find), as well as a place to make a copy of Rahul’s keys. When I had finished my errands, I met up with Rahul at one of our favorite café’s. I ate some chilaquiles (tortilla chips with tomato sauce) and worked on the discussion section of my thesis and the summary of my project in Spanish for the rest of the afternoon. That night, I went to go hear Oliver play guitar at the café and was convinced (again) to sing while he played guitar. After he had finished playing, we went to go meet up with a few of our friends from the salsa class to go to karaoke and then for some more salsa dancing.

On Sunday, I woke up early and went to go meet my friend Oliver in the main square to go to the Lagos de Colón near the border of Guatemala. We took a combi to the city of Comitán (about an hour and a half from San Cristóbal) and then another combi to the municipality of La Trinitaria (another hour) and then a taxi to the lakes. It was definitely worth the journey: the lakes were blue and crystal clear. We were able to swim and because the climate was much warmer in La Trinitaria, the water was warm. We headed back in the afternoon and on the ride back, we saw people running and carrying torches, while others were waiting in trucks along the road for the torch to be passed to them so they could run and celebrate the Virgen de Guadalupe.

Week 14

On Monday, I went to ECOSUR and finished writing the ‘results’ section of my thesis. I analyzed the section of my survey that I had administered to pregnant women. Unfortunately, because my research study was a population-based study with a relatively small sample size, there were only five pregnant women in my sample. However, I still found some helpful information. I learned that all of the pregnant women wanted a partera (traditional midwife) to assist them during the birth and that they wanted to give birth at home. The women said that they wanted to give birth at home instead of at a clinic/hospital were “custom”, it is not necessary to give birth in a clinic/hospital”, “the health worker is a man”, and “the clinic/hospital is far away / there is no money for the transport”. Although all five women had attended prenatal care, only two of the women said they had received information about obstetric complications from health personnel, and only one woman said that she had understood the information because the information was delivered in Spanish instead of the local language (tseltal). After I returned from ECOSUR, I went to salsa class and then my friend Romeo came with me to go hear Oliver play guitar in the café. When Oliver had finished playing, we went to go get some empanadas and arroz con leche with Oliver’s cousins.

On Tuesday, I started working on my ECOSUR presentation of my research project. I mainly worked on translating into Spanish all the bar graphs and pie charts I had made depicting my data. That night, I met up with my friend Romeo from my salsa class and we went to go buy a Christmas tree for my apartment. We also bought colored paper and I taught Romeo how to make paper snowflakes so we could decorate my tree. After salsa class, we stayed late at Zirko and practiced the moves we had learned.

On Wednesday, I went to ECOSUR and worked more on my presentation for Monday. I created slides for background information, study objectives, study population, and study instruments. In the afternoon, I went to a café and started working on the discussion section of my thesis. I heard a siren and when I looked out the window of the café, I saw an ambulance, police cars, and a procession of cabs decorated with red, white, and green balloons. At first, I thought it was a funeral procession. Then, I considered it might be a wedding. Finally, I thought “maybe someone important/famous is in town.

Later that night, my friend Romeo explained to me that all of the festivities were in honor of the Virgen de Guadalupe. Despite the continuous rain on Wednesday night, Romeo and I marched with other people from ECOSUR to the top of a hill where the Iglesia de Guadalupe was located. We carried balloons, red poinsettia plants, and a large painted frame of the Virgen. As we processed up the hill, a band played behind us and I saw carnival rides, stands selling churros, and a bunch of foosball tables in front of the church. After entering the church and listening to the service, we were invited to celebrate at the home of one of the people who works at ECOSUR. It was encouraging to see a lot of familiar faces from ECOSUR at the gathering, and I listened as a guitarist sang to the Virgen de Guadalupe and the people around me prayed. Even though I am not a particularly religious person, it was a beautiful event and I was happy to be so accepted.

On Thursday, I worked more on the discussion section of my thesis and started the ‘limitations’ section. I am hoping that by the time I go home, I will have finished a draft of my thesis so that when I go home, I can just edit. In the afternoon, I went to go watch two of my friends from the salsa class play in a volleyball tournament at ECOSUR. It's nice how people here get together after work (at their workplace) and play a game of volleyball. I also met a really nice girl from Mexico City and we talked about how we are both going to miss Chiapas and San Cristóbal when we leave.

On Friday, I went to ECOSUR and met with Rosario. She asked me to write a summary of my research project and the final results in Spanish. That afternoon, I worked on translating part of my thesis into Spanish for the summary. At the end of the day, I went back to the volleyball court to watch one of my friends play in the finale. That night, I went to go hear my friend Oliver play guitar in a café and he convinced me to sing while he played guitar. Somehow, I ended up singing “Rayando el sol” (Mana) in Spanish in front of a café filled with people! That night, we went to eat dinner at a restaurant where a tango group was performing and then went out salsa dancing.

Unfortunately, my purse got stolen on Friday night L When I woke up on Saturday morning, I had to figure out a place where I could change my traveler’s checks (very hard to find), as well as a place to make a copy of Rahul’s keys. When I had finished my errands, I met up with Rahul at one of our favorite café’s. I ate some chilaquiles (tortilla chips with tomato sauce) and worked on the discussion section of my thesis and the summary of my project in Spanish for the rest of the afternoon. That night, I went to go hear Oliver play guitar at the café and was convinced (again) to sing while he played guitar. After he had finished playing, we went to go meet up with a few of our friends from the salsa class to go to karaoke and then for some more salsa dancing.

On Sunday, I woke up early and went to go meet my friend Oliver in the main square to go to the Lagos de Colón near the border of Guatemala. We took a combi to the city of Comitán (about an hour and a half from San Cristóbal) and then another combi to the municipality of La Trinitaria (another hour) and then a taxi to the lakes. It was definitely worth the journey: the lakes were blue and crystal clear. We were able to swim and because the climate was much warmer in La Trinitaria, the water was warm. We headed back in the afternoon and on the ride back, we saw people running and carrying torches, while others were waiting in trucks along the road for the torch to be passed to them so they could run and celebrate the Virgen de Guadalupe.

Week 13: Data Results Are In! ...and some scooter-riding :-)

Last Monday, I finished entering the data from all of my quantitative surveys. While I was entering my data from my surveys into SPSS, I recoded the way that I had entered a few variables and I had to go back and re-enter some information from the surveys from the first community I worked in (Mesbilja). However, I was able to finish entering in all the data by the end of the day. After a full day of work, Katy Tucker joined me at salsa class, where we learned how to do some fun ‘dips’. We also saw a person dressed up as the cookie monster while walking down the street. Random!

Me and Katy with the Cookie Monster outside of Zirko

Katy, Rahul and I met with Dr. Enrique Eroza (a medical anthropologist from ECOSUR) for dinner on Monday night. It was freezing outside, so we decided to warm up by getting some pizza. At dinner, Dr. Eroza asked me and Rahul how our projects were going and said that he was excited to see our final presentations. Katy also told us about Mexico City – apparently the city has been trying to cut down on the air pollution by limiting the number of cars that can drive in the city according to the car’s model year.

Katy dancing with her friend "primo"

On Tuesday, I went to ECOSUR and met with Roberto Solís to start my data analysis. He taught me how to use SPSS to view frequencies, create contingency tables, and use the Chi-Squared test and T-test to see if there were any statistically significant relationships in my data. I worked on analyzing the household survey, which included information on demographics, level of education, and living characteristics. I made pretty pie charts for my thesis relating to women and men’s level of education in the two communities (men were more likely to have a higher level of education, as well as those living in Mesbilja). I also found that a greater percentage of men could understand and speak Spanish compared to women in the study, and that literacy was higher among men.

Tuesday night we celebrated Katy’s last night in San Cristóbal by going out salsa dancing (what else would we do?). After the salsa class, we got tacos and quesadillas with some of our friends from the salsa class and then went to practice our new moves. Unfortunately, my dance partner got a splinter deep in his finger when we were spinning, so when we got back to the apartment, Katy and I had to perform some minor surgery.

Paco on his scooter outside of ECOSUR

On Wednesday, I went to ECOSUR in the morning to work more on my data analysis and started analyzing the section on obstetric history. In the afternoon, I accompanied Katy to a ‘Casa Materna’ (Maternal House), which is next to the Hospital de Las Culturas in San Cristóbal. The ‘Casa Materna’ is a place where pregnant women can go to give birth with a partera (traditional midwife). However, if any complication should arise, skilled birth attendants are right next door. Last year, Katy wrote her thesis on the feasibility and acceptability of a ‘casa materna’ in a community outside of San Cristóbal and she found that there were lots of problems with the ‘casa materna’ (for example, the ‘temazcal’ that the indigenous women use was not properly constructed).

Katy and the partera we met at the 'Casa Materna'

looking at the bulletin board with pictures of all the births

When we went to visit the ‘casa materna’ in San Cristóbal, we learned that in the past year, only 20 women have come to give birth there. All of the signs in the ‘casa materna’ are written in Spanish, tsotsil and tseltal (two indigenous languages). The ‘casa materna’ has elements that are used in the indigenous culture during the birthing process (including a temazcal and a botanical garden where herbs are grown). However, it still feels like a hospital. Everything is white and it feels very sterile. One of the biggest problems is that the parterasthat work there are not paid. The partera who was there told us that she loses money by volunteering at the ‘casa materna’: she has to pay 50 pesos for her transport to the hospital and she loses time and money not being able to sell tortillas. Although in principle, the ‘casa materna’ is a good idea and a possible for solution for lowering maternal mortality in Chiapas, there are clearly changes that need to be made in order to make it acceptable and sustainable. After we returned from the 'Casa Materna', Rahul and I bid farewell to Katy before she got on her bus back to Mexico City. It was fun to have her stay with us for a week and we both miss her. Hopefully our paths will cross again soon.

Katy and Paco on his scooter outside of ECOSUR

Me and Katy on Paco's scooter (yeah...we had a fun photo shoot :-))

Me and Paco outside of ECOSUR

On Thursday, I went to ECOSUR and worked on analyzing the section on obstetric history. I found that the mean age of first pregnancy among the women was 18 years and that the majority of women who had been pregnant in the last two years had attended prenatal care at least five times. Of those women who had not attended all of their prenatal care visits, the main reason for not attending was because the doctor was not there or the Centro de Salud was closed. The majority of births (65.2%) to these women were attended by apartera and occurred at home. I made more charts for my thesis (including women’s gravidity, the reasons women gave for not attending all of their prenatal care visits and for giving birth at home instead of in a clinic or hospital). I also found that on average, it is more expensive for women and their families to give birth in a health care facility than at home with a partera (mainly because the transport costs to go to a hospital are so expensive). My data also revealed that one in five women in my study reported experiencing at least one problem or complication during their last birth. When asked what they had done about the problem or complication, the majority of women reported that they had sought and received medical attention.

Horseback riding at the park on Saturday

On Friday, I spent most of my day in the ECOSUR library working on analyzing the section on knowledge of pre-conception risk factors, healthy behavior during pregnancy, and signs and symptoms of danger signs during pregnancy. I made a chart for the most frequent ‘danger signs’ during pregnancy that were mentioned by women in the study. I found that a statistically significant relationship existed between women’s ability to name a ‘danger sign’ during pregnancy and their community of residence (Mesbilja vs. Tzopilja), as well as whether the woman received benefits from the Oportunidades poverty alleviation program. There was also a statistically significant relationship between women’s ability to recognize all the ‘danger signs’ during pregnancy and how many children they had. I also found that women were more likely to be able to recognize all of the signs and symptoms of obstetric complications during birth compared with men. Overall, I was very excited to find p-values that were less than .05!

Paco during our Saturday-afternoon scooter ride

On Saturday, I worked on analyzing the section on ‘attitudes’ towards the quality of obstetric care and the section on ‘practices’ in the event of an obstetric complication. In the afternoon, my friend Paco from ECOSUR came to meet me and we went for a ride around San Cristóbal on his scooter. It was a beautiful day and we drove through a lot of places I had never seen in the city. This city continues to amaze me.

My friend Desiree sliding down the moon bounce at the park on Sunday

On Sunday, I went to get breakfast with Rahul at one of our favorite restaurants. In the afternoon, I met with two of my friends from my salsa class and we went to a park. The parks in Mexico are incredible. My friend and I went for a horseback ride around the park and then went to go jump in a bouncy-house. I also love how there are always see-saws in Mexican parks – I don’t think I have ever seen a see-saw in an American park. It was fun to watch families playing in the park with their kids. Mexicans definitely know how to enjoy themselves and those who are around them :-)

My friends Romeo and Desiree from the salsa class