Ended up editing the first final draft of our report. OMG. It sucks. So bad. There were paragraphs, there were non-paragraphs, there were even non-sentences. And worse, wrong trends and analyses! Shit! At least for the first third. The rest, which is the part the prof would most likely read, is cleaner and is better written. Of course there is still that issue of overlapping topics among paragraphs. I think I can remove at least 5 pages from our report after editing.

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I still have plenty of Laiya pics and some more San Juan pics (that I haven't finished processing yet). After that will be tons of Japan pics. JAPAN BAYBEH!

This photo screams: Texturize me!
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Summer finally begins as we submitted the last graded report. We do need to submit a hardbound copy but that can be dumped unto other groupmates. =p
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Finally managed to clean my desktop. I had to deal with this autorun virus which has a zhengbo folder inside. Manual deletion via cmd prompt didn't work but did help reveal its location. I had to google hard to find a solution. In case, somebody else is infected, you can do the following:

1. Go to command prompt.
2. Go to the infected drive. (Type D:, G:, etc)
3. Type attrib -h -r -s
4. Install unlocker.
5. Right click the now unhidden autorun.inf folder and hit the unlock command.
6. Choose to delete it.
7. Smile!
Tip: Turn off deep freeze if you have it in your computer.

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Then again I already had my first taste of summer when we went to Laiya. The beach is not so bad. You float more easily, nights are really cool, one could finally use faster shutter speeds, and taking sand off the feet feels good.

I miraculously got well when we arrived.

In celebration of women's month.

 

Finally got back from San Juan and that ends my 5-week stay in Batangas.

Ended it with a weekend in Laiya.

Planned to work when everyone else is busy getting drunk but I ended up getting no sleep.

I got to talk with very interesting people present in the picture.

Surprisingly, only the four of us stayed up all night long.

The picture is noisy and blurry because I'm using my not so smart point-and-shoot that time. I was too tired to fiddle around with my slr.

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Sadness... I have the autorun virus but I couldn't locate it in the laptop. I only feel it when I insert a USB.

Eight more days in San Juan, Batangas left. Two of those days will be spent relaxing in a beach in Hugom (the barangay after Laiya Aplaiya).

And I got into UP Med! Woooh! I guess the red note complaining about their rotten system didn't ruin my chances of getting in. Unfortunately, only five other PH batchmates got into UPCM. Compared to the 12 PH students accepted last year this sucks but compared to the  1-2 average pre-university, it's good.

What more is that I don't have any close friends who got into UPCM. I should just view this as a chance to form new bonds and look for more close friends. I'm in going to med school and I still worry about interacting with other people and finding friends. Really...

In retrospect, I find my interview answers laughable. I could have answered poor access to healthcare and weak health education and promotion programs. I could have answered Immanuel Kant who has changed my thought process in so many ways. I could have explained how hard being Agnostic is. I could have told about how I've been helping out in my grandfather's clinic since elementary. I could have explained how much public health means to me. I could have told how I find epidemiology a very interesting field of study.

I find it hard to believe that our top two girls weren't accepted. One cried during the interview but I don't think that's reason enough to not accept her. She is very capable and very responsible; it's just that one topic is very close to her heart and she still hasn't fully recovered from it. Like how I remember my grandmother's death and how unreactive I've been to the news.

Community life is fun. I wish the internship would be longer since I know I haven't made contact with as many people as I'd like. In addition, we could still do more to ensure the sustainability of our program. I don't trust the CHDP enough to continue on with our program. I do hope that the barangay comply with the MOA. Maybe if we set schedules, it'll be better.

Looking at our programs, we seem to be failing in meeting all of our objectives. Not all BHWs attended the seminar and not all BHWs passed our test. We need to do extra work because of the ladder-type objectives we have. And I have to do so many things before this day ends: design and finish a poster and a flyer, create a minus one version of two songs, finish the written test and design an evaluation tool. Fortunately, I'm not the head organizer for this component of the program; if I am, I'd go crazy. One program is enough thank you very much.

 Us and our guides

Week 2 in San Juan. Still no internet but we now have laptops. We have a new groupmate. We also identified the core problem we should be targetting.

I find the community work to be more toxic than anything I've ever encountered in college, including the thesis. My sleeping time has moved beyond 12 pm which sucks because I have to wake up at quarter to 6 (I'm the first to wake and prepare). More importantly, we are responsible not only to ourselves but also to the people of the community. These people have placed their trust in us. They trust that we'd be helping them improve their lives.

Of course, what they define as help is different from ours. They seem to think we are there to give people material stuff. No we aren't. We are trying to empower them (by modifying attitudes and giving them the necessary skills and knowledge) so they can get what they want. Oo, grassroots movement na ito. The biggest concern for me right now is that the people are resisting this idea. We are fortunate that we are working in a very participative barangay. The captain is supportive and the midwife is very bibo.

Another concern is that we seem to be working on a problem that is way beyond our capabilities: Hypertension. See as public health persons, we have to please two masters: the community's needs and the community's wants. Sometimes, these two don't agree. In our prioritization matrix, we identified a core problem of something we think they need, we could help solve and we think is feasible given the resources. Then we asked to community members. Aarrgh... why must our approach be participative?!

We agree that the problem needs attention but we vehemently disagree that is it feasible with current state of resources especially with the time span. Also the strategy we are planning to use has a very high chance of failing and largely depends on our ability to convince certain key leaders in the community. And the strategy's output will not be readily felt by the community if we act too slowly.

Fortunately, we know that last year a PH group implemented almost the same strategy and we can use their case to help us make our plan more feasible. Unfortunately, their program failed miserably. The skills weren't practiced and the system they set-up crashed due to non-participation.

*sigh

Hypertension... kung hindi ngayon, kailan? kung hindi kami, sino?


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The LFA is a good tool. The problem I find is that it demands that you already know the answer to everything before you start using it or you'll encounter a LOT of problems. It's fun and reliable though. Makes you think about everything.

I'm surprised though that med interns haven't heard of the LFA given that it is a vital tool employed by many community organizers.

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Which should we target? Mothers who cook the food? Or children who are essentially blank slates and could be molded to have a healthy lifestyle?

I'm back from my 1st week in San Juan, Batangas. The week was hectic but passed by quickly. Met loads of people who are all very nice. I still feel a bit lost what our project for the community will be. The fact that there are very few major problems in the community that can be solved in 6 weeks is not helping. It is helpful that the BHWs are very motivated, the midwife is very dedicated and they have UPDATED HEALTH STATISTICS! OMG! A public health person's dream! Of course, we now have the issue of what to leave for the next batch of students who will be doing their field work in our barangay.

Just so you know, in San Juan, I reside in a 2-storey wood-cement house and have to pump water from the artesian well every time I use the bathroom. Privacy in the bathroom and bedrooms is protected by curtains.
We also have a flea and tick ridden dog.

Going to San Juan Batangas. Will be living and working with four other people for the next six weeks. Hoping we don't stumble and fall flat on our faces. Or worse, break the strings that bind us together.