We’ve been here a week now and I am feeling very settled in – we’re already seeing volunteers come and go, and I am so amazed by Miss Peggy’s hospitality for the amazing number of volunteers she takes care of throughout the years.
The highlight of this week was being busy in the afternoons, as we finally got a project for the week. One of Shelli’s friends was visiting for the week to teach an SAT preparation class at a bilingual school in French Harbour. The class had 9-12 graders in it, some of whom wanted to take the SAT and some of whom didn’t want to have double homework the next week (the other option). They were a great class though – always paying attention and very respectful. The class was after school for two hours a day, and I helped out for the five days they had class. I didn’t really know what to expect, but soon discovered how hard it was to teach an SAT prep class to a class of people with such different levels (9th graders who hadn’t seen algebra before to 12th graders who had seen it a few years before) and who didn’t know a lot of the obscure vocabulary the SAT tends to put in the verbal section of the test, as well as all the cultural references that the word problems have. I quickly noticed that the kids were overwhelmed by the test, as they had never taken it before and were not used to the types of questions they asked.
We spent the week giving them practice problems to do alone or in groups, and then went over the answers as a class or in small groups. I soon changed my expectations for how much I could do in the week, and began focusing less on the individual problems we went over and more on just emphasizing the idea of going to college, whether in the US or elsewhere, and in the need to study for the SAT if they were going to take it. They’re going to start individualized tutoring with kids soon, which I think will be much more effective than the larger group.
Clinic has been going really well. I’d been helping out in the pharmacy, but we had two doctors last week who don’t speak Spanish, so I got to do a lot of interpreting, which was really interesting. I loved getting to see the visits with the doctors and see all the steps they take to diagnose different diseases. And I enjoyed getting to chat with the patients as we waited for the doctor to check tests or consult with other doctors. One thing that I found frustrating was the lack of advanced medical care and equipment available on the island, as a lot of patients who need more specialized care have to be referred to the mainland, which is an expensive trip to make. For example, one woman I interpreted for probably had kidney stones, but without an ultrasound, there wasn’t any way to really tell.
We got to meet the Grubers this week, and it was great to spend time with them and hear about the beginnings of the pediatric clinic and how it runs, etc.
This coming week I’ll be in Miss Peggy’s clinic in the morning and have yet to fill my afternoons, so we’ll see what kinds of projects are needed – hopefully I’ll be busy!
