Just a short post, after a little over 20 hrs of travel we are here! We will post this afternoon when we get back from exploring
Andy + Rebecca
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Wednesday, March 05, 2008
Heading Home
The final Mexico blog
The closer to the end of the trip the busier things became. When I last signed off we were headed to the BBQ. It was a very nice late night gathering attended by a number of dignitaries from El Grullo, the deer appeared to be about the size of a medium sized dog, very small by our standards. It was cooked in a pot with spices and didn’t taste too bad.
Monday: I did all the classroom lectures for my extraction class, in the morning. The afternoon was the Graduation ceremony. We held it a day early due to the Mayors from the towns represented not being available on Tuesday. We had a total of 30+ students throughout the class and gave 23 certificates of completion out, mostly based on attendance. After the graduation the Mayor of El Grullo took all the students, from all the towns, instructors, and all the students families that were in attendance, out to a very nice dinner, well over 40 people.
After the dinner four of us went to Autlan to a small orphanage and saw the kids there. Kyle had brought some small toys for all the kids, they were thrilled. The orphanage was very small with 17 children from ages 4 or 5 to 17, both boys and girls. Two years ago there were 11 children and they thought they were over crowded. They do have a new building that they are waiting to move into. Just like the USA they are waiting for the occupancy permit. It’s hard to believe it is an issue compared to where they are now. Any way I managed to get out, without totally breaking into tears. The kids did seem very well cared for, happy, and very well behaved.
Tuesday morning came before class the former mayor took us out to a great breakfast in a neighboring village. Then it was time to go kill cars, otherwise known and auto extraction. The plan was to start at 09:00 sharp, as I told the students, 09:00, Not 09:05, not 09:15, not 09:30, not 10:00, but 09:00 ready to go. Some how most all the students made it on time. That is were the plan ended. At 10:00 we still did not have an interpreter, tools, know were the cars we were going to cut up were, or know when we would know. At 10:30 I decided to teach a forcible entry class off the cuff. We walked the neighborhood looking at locks, bars on windows, doors and gates making entry plans. I made the students pledge that they would only use the tricks I showed them for good and not evil! Finally about noon we got word were the cars were. We showed up at the junkyard and were met by a really scary looking older man, who showed us which cars we could work on. One was a van that a family had been killed in, on a head-on crash. I could see were they had worked on the doors without success. After being at the junkyard a while I finely gave up on getting the tools I was waiting for. Oh-well, make a new plan again. I was able to show some simple techniques with hand tools and we were able to get the vans doors open, rather off and out of the way in just a few minutes. We also cut up another older car. I think they did learn a lot. The day worked out ok but it was really hot out in the sun with no shade.
After class we checked out of the hotel that had been our home for the past week plus and boarded a van for a three hour ride through the mountains to the coast where we will fly out on Thursday afternoon.
Today we relaxed and wound down from our go full speed all day and night routine as well as did some debriefing and future planning. We also did a nice several mile hike down the beach and did some exploring as well as having a couple of good meals. Tomorrow we will have the morning and the head to the airport.
I want to thank everyone that has been following along with my adventure; left commits, and sent emails. I am planning on coming back to this area in the not too distant future to do more training and scout that river! In just two weeks I embark in an adventure with Rebecca to Vietnam, It will be a different type of trip; I’m really looking forward to seeing her and Cedar again.
Good Bye Mexico
Andy
The closer to the end of the trip the busier things became. When I last signed off we were headed to the BBQ. It was a very nice late night gathering attended by a number of dignitaries from El Grullo, the deer appeared to be about the size of a medium sized dog, very small by our standards. It was cooked in a pot with spices and didn’t taste too bad.
Monday: I did all the classroom lectures for my extraction class, in the morning. The afternoon was the Graduation ceremony. We held it a day early due to the Mayors from the towns represented not being available on Tuesday. We had a total of 30+ students throughout the class and gave 23 certificates of completion out, mostly based on attendance. After the graduation the Mayor of El Grullo took all the students, from all the towns, instructors, and all the students families that were in attendance, out to a very nice dinner, well over 40 people.
After the dinner four of us went to Autlan to a small orphanage and saw the kids there. Kyle had brought some small toys for all the kids, they were thrilled. The orphanage was very small with 17 children from ages 4 or 5 to 17, both boys and girls. Two years ago there were 11 children and they thought they were over crowded. They do have a new building that they are waiting to move into. Just like the USA they are waiting for the occupancy permit. It’s hard to believe it is an issue compared to where they are now. Any way I managed to get out, without totally breaking into tears. The kids did seem very well cared for, happy, and very well behaved.
Tuesday morning came before class the former mayor took us out to a great breakfast in a neighboring village. Then it was time to go kill cars, otherwise known and auto extraction. The plan was to start at 09:00 sharp, as I told the students, 09:00, Not 09:05, not 09:15, not 09:30, not 10:00, but 09:00 ready to go. Some how most all the students made it on time. That is were the plan ended. At 10:00 we still did not have an interpreter, tools, know were the cars we were going to cut up were, or know when we would know. At 10:30 I decided to teach a forcible entry class off the cuff. We walked the neighborhood looking at locks, bars on windows, doors and gates making entry plans. I made the students pledge that they would only use the tricks I showed them for good and not evil! Finally about noon we got word were the cars were. We showed up at the junkyard and were met by a really scary looking older man, who showed us which cars we could work on. One was a van that a family had been killed in, on a head-on crash. I could see were they had worked on the doors without success. After being at the junkyard a while I finely gave up on getting the tools I was waiting for. Oh-well, make a new plan again. I was able to show some simple techniques with hand tools and we were able to get the vans doors open, rather off and out of the way in just a few minutes. We also cut up another older car. I think they did learn a lot. The day worked out ok but it was really hot out in the sun with no shade.
After class we checked out of the hotel that had been our home for the past week plus and boarded a van for a three hour ride through the mountains to the coast where we will fly out on Thursday afternoon.
Today we relaxed and wound down from our go full speed all day and night routine as well as did some debriefing and future planning. We also did a nice several mile hike down the beach and did some exploring as well as having a couple of good meals. Tomorrow we will have the morning and the head to the airport.
I want to thank everyone that has been following along with my adventure; left commits, and sent emails. I am planning on coming back to this area in the not too distant future to do more training and scout that river! In just two weeks I embark in an adventure with Rebecca to Vietnam, It will be a different type of trip; I’m really looking forward to seeing her and Cedar again.
Good Bye Mexico
Andy
Sunday, March 02, 2008
Just got back from the Square, the city Square is like the hub of the town with a carnival type atmosphere on a very small scale. The square is encompassed by and ice cream shop on each side, the church, city building, a couple of banks and countless other small shops, in the square are lots of park benches, food venders and lots of trees, it seems to be the place the entire town cognates in the evenings. Beings that graduation in tomorrow after noon we all took our boots down and had them shined. Mine were in very bad shape due to them being my work / teaching boots, they have not seen any wax in a long time. The shoeshine dude spent nearly a half of an hour on them and made them look academy new. He only charged $1, I gave him $3 what a bargain. Last nigh the guys from the fire department killed two deer for a BBQ tonight. So I’m headed off for a late dinner. Hope it’s not to late of a night I’m doing the teaching in the morning.
Day of ropes and more
Yesterday was my day to lead the teaching. I had the job of doing a rope rescue class. Ordinarily that would be no problem, you know ropes and me. The challenge was the lack of equipment. To do rescue systems by the book it is very gear intensive. Here we are very limited by equipment. El Grullo had two ropes, two prussic cords, several pulleys, six locking carabineers, and four non-locking carabineers. Autlan had one rope, two figure eights and two carabineers, Ayutla had nothing! I had brought down thanks to “Firefighters Crossing Borders” two prussic cords and a couple pieces of webbing. I started out by teaching knots followed with ladder slides with a two to one system. After lunch we moved up to the skate board park known as “Kent Washington” and built several systems with the gear on hand. The students all seemed to learn a lot, I really received a lot of good feed back saying that my class gave them real skills they would be able to use with the limited gear on hand. At the end of the day I was both mentally and physically exhausted, but it was a great day!
So we get done with teaching and it was time to go to dinner. We were hosted by Tiemo a rancher that heads the public lands distribution for farmers in the area. Just that night he had finished his new courtyard and entertaining area at his home (very nice). Also there were many other “movers and shakers” in attendance, including the past mayor that started the fire department, most of his former administration, a police chief from the next town and several other people that I’m not sure who they were. We had a great meal and lots of laughs and even got some work done. Home around 23:00.
I had a great talk with Rebecca via IM Live through the Internet before heading to bed. This morning I embarked on a cultural adventure and left at 07:00 with Tiemo, to go “milk cows” something that I had not done since I was a kid. It’s a good thing I don’t need to make my living milking cows. I was very slow. We still managed to get back in time for breakfast and get to class on time.
It hard to believe I’ve been here a week already, in some ways it seems like we just got here it others it seems like we have been here a long time. At any rate we have done a lot in a short time, and will do even more in the next few days.
This is a nine-day class with no days off. We know this has been really tough for a lot of the students, most of which are volunteers that had to take time off work to be here. The students from Autlan and Ayutla travel over and hour each way to be here. One of our students Gissell comes to class all day, leaves class to work an evening shift as a nurse at the hospital, then some nights pulls her volunteer shift all night at the fire department, before coming back to class. All of the students have put a lot of effort into their training. Today (Sunday) we are doing strategy and tactics, Monday I’ll teach the classroom portion of my extrication class, with Graduation in the afternoon. Then back again on Tuesday for the hands on part of extrication. Hopefully we will have several cars to kill at the wrecking yard. The Graduation will be attended by the student’s families, as well as the mayors and officials from the towns represented.
The El Grullo fire department had a video made that is on the Internet at http://www.cheshvan.blip.tv and click on the second picture. The guy that made the video is a local filmmaker that is very talented. Watching the video you would think they don’t need much help, just keep in mind some things look a lot better with editing and a good script. Anyway check it out it does give a good view of the area and people we are working with.
Yesterday was my day to lead the teaching. I had the job of doing a rope rescue class. Ordinarily that would be no problem, you know ropes and me. The challenge was the lack of equipment. To do rescue systems by the book it is very gear intensive. Here we are very limited by equipment. El Grullo had two ropes, two prussic cords, several pulleys, six locking carabineers, and four non-locking carabineers. Autlan had one rope, two figure eights and two carabineers, Ayutla had nothing! I had brought down thanks to “Firefighters Crossing Borders” two prussic cords and a couple pieces of webbing. I started out by teaching knots followed with ladder slides with a two to one system. After lunch we moved up to the skate board park known as “Kent Washington” and built several systems with the gear on hand. The students all seemed to learn a lot, I really received a lot of good feed back saying that my class gave them real skills they would be able to use with the limited gear on hand. At the end of the day I was both mentally and physically exhausted, but it was a great day!
So we get done with teaching and it was time to go to dinner. We were hosted by Tiemo a rancher that heads the public lands distribution for farmers in the area. Just that night he had finished his new courtyard and entertaining area at his home (very nice). Also there were many other “movers and shakers” in attendance, including the past mayor that started the fire department, most of his former administration, a police chief from the next town and several other people that I’m not sure who they were. We had a great meal and lots of laughs and even got some work done. Home around 23:00.
I had a great talk with Rebecca via IM Live through the Internet before heading to bed. This morning I embarked on a cultural adventure and left at 07:00 with Tiemo, to go “milk cows” something that I had not done since I was a kid. It’s a good thing I don’t need to make my living milking cows. I was very slow. We still managed to get back in time for breakfast and get to class on time.
It hard to believe I’ve been here a week already, in some ways it seems like we just got here it others it seems like we have been here a long time. At any rate we have done a lot in a short time, and will do even more in the next few days.
This is a nine-day class with no days off. We know this has been really tough for a lot of the students, most of which are volunteers that had to take time off work to be here. The students from Autlan and Ayutla travel over and hour each way to be here. One of our students Gissell comes to class all day, leaves class to work an evening shift as a nurse at the hospital, then some nights pulls her volunteer shift all night at the fire department, before coming back to class. All of the students have put a lot of effort into their training. Today (Sunday) we are doing strategy and tactics, Monday I’ll teach the classroom portion of my extrication class, with Graduation in the afternoon. Then back again on Tuesday for the hands on part of extrication. Hopefully we will have several cars to kill at the wrecking yard. The Graduation will be attended by the student’s families, as well as the mayors and officials from the towns represented.
The El Grullo fire department had a video made that is on the Internet at http://www.cheshvan.blip.tv and click on the second picture. The guy that made the video is a local filmmaker that is very talented. Watching the video you would think they don’t need much help, just keep in mind some things look a lot better with editing and a good script. Anyway check it out it does give a good view of the area and people we are working with.
Friday, February 29, 2008
We started the day with our normal breakfast with lots of fresh OJ. YUMMMM! Each day we start the students with PT and a run. We head into the heart of town circling the square several time singing cadences while running. We sure get a lot of looks from the citizens. They know their fire department that is out training with the “Gringos”. It is a lot of fun doing the morning run this way and gives the community something to talk about.
Today I responded on my Mexican fire response in the engine. During this morning’s class the call came in for an unknown type fire on the outskirts of town. Now let me tell you how a fire response works here. The call somehow comes into “066” and get radioed to the fire fighters, Here in El Grullo “Oscar” the paid captain is the only one that can drive the engine. This is somewhat of a good plan because the streets are so narrow and choked with parked cars. More than once we had to do multipoint turns to get around parked cars, (I have trouble getting the mini van around here, none the less a large Fire engine) He is a very good driver! Oscar had to come from wherever he was, get the engine and respond while other firefighters responded via mopeds. It must have taken us 10 minutes to get less that two miles. One at the scene it turned out to only be a garbage fire that got into some tires. The bad part was, that the fire was at the water purification plant and may of damaged the utility lines that supply the plant.
Last night the beds that we bought for the firefighters were delivered, much to their surprise. They were very happy, something we all take for granite, a bed off the floor.
Today has been a full day of first aid and CPR training. (I think we need Cedar here to help. Last week at 3 ¾ years old, he taught his preschool classmates CPR, we are not sure if his teachers were ready for that or not)
Last night while both of the interpreters from our group (Gonzo and Jose) went to have a several hour meeting with the Mayor of Auytla. We went to at taco shop in the main square of town and were forced to order without help. We were all so happy that we managed to order in Spanish without any help. Of course when our food came we were let down, due to not getting what we thought we ordered. Despite that we all enjoyed our meal and finished to evening off by stopping at an ice cream shop. There is nearly no tourism in this region and very few people know any English.
I did learn the river in the gorge out of town runs year round and there is access on hour north into the gorge. (I’m thinking KAYAK run) I hope I can break free for a couple of hours before we leave and do some scouting. But I’m not going to hold my breath, our schedule is really tight. Tomorrow I will be spending all day leading the teaching of rope rescue, Sunday will be tactics, fire extinguishers and on Monday and Tuesday will be “Crunch Time Mexico” auto extraction.
We just finished a quick trip up to “Kent Washington”. “Kent Washington” is the name of a skateboard park up on the hill, paid for by one of the civic originations from Kent. The park unfortunately is just far enough out of town that it does not get used. ---Except by us, being that it is on the hillside it will be a great place to do our ropes class. The only down side it is on a south facing hillside with no shade. It will be a heavy sunscreen and lots of water day tomorrow.
It is so hard to get the experiences and paint a picture of these trips into just a few paragraphs. Please drop me a line ask any questions, give comments and let me know someone besides Rebecca is reading and following along.
Andy aka Kayakmedic
Today I responded on my Mexican fire response in the engine. During this morning’s class the call came in for an unknown type fire on the outskirts of town. Now let me tell you how a fire response works here. The call somehow comes into “066” and get radioed to the fire fighters, Here in El Grullo “Oscar” the paid captain is the only one that can drive the engine. This is somewhat of a good plan because the streets are so narrow and choked with parked cars. More than once we had to do multipoint turns to get around parked cars, (I have trouble getting the mini van around here, none the less a large Fire engine) He is a very good driver! Oscar had to come from wherever he was, get the engine and respond while other firefighters responded via mopeds. It must have taken us 10 minutes to get less that two miles. One at the scene it turned out to only be a garbage fire that got into some tires. The bad part was, that the fire was at the water purification plant and may of damaged the utility lines that supply the plant.
Last night the beds that we bought for the firefighters were delivered, much to their surprise. They were very happy, something we all take for granite, a bed off the floor.
Today has been a full day of first aid and CPR training. (I think we need Cedar here to help. Last week at 3 ¾ years old, he taught his preschool classmates CPR, we are not sure if his teachers were ready for that or not)
Last night while both of the interpreters from our group (Gonzo and Jose) went to have a several hour meeting with the Mayor of Auytla. We went to at taco shop in the main square of town and were forced to order without help. We were all so happy that we managed to order in Spanish without any help. Of course when our food came we were let down, due to not getting what we thought we ordered. Despite that we all enjoyed our meal and finished to evening off by stopping at an ice cream shop. There is nearly no tourism in this region and very few people know any English.
I did learn the river in the gorge out of town runs year round and there is access on hour north into the gorge. (I’m thinking KAYAK run) I hope I can break free for a couple of hours before we leave and do some scouting. But I’m not going to hold my breath, our schedule is really tight. Tomorrow I will be spending all day leading the teaching of rope rescue, Sunday will be tactics, fire extinguishers and on Monday and Tuesday will be “Crunch Time Mexico” auto extraction.
We just finished a quick trip up to “Kent Washington”. “Kent Washington” is the name of a skateboard park up on the hill, paid for by one of the civic originations from Kent. The park unfortunately is just far enough out of town that it does not get used. ---Except by us, being that it is on the hillside it will be a great place to do our ropes class. The only down side it is on a south facing hillside with no shade. It will be a heavy sunscreen and lots of water day tomorrow.
It is so hard to get the experiences and paint a picture of these trips into just a few paragraphs. Please drop me a line ask any questions, give comments and let me know someone besides Rebecca is reading and following along.
Andy aka Kayakmedic
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
dinner with the Mayor
So much of what happens on these trips gets done off the training ground. Having the right political connections is key to getting the whole system to work. Tonight we had dinner with “El Presidente” other wise known as the Mayor of El Grullo. The Mayor appears to have much more influence than even major US city mayors; it was a real honor to have dinner with him. We were picked up by the former Mayor, the only Female that has ever been elected in this area. We drove to the Mayor’s residence, a villa that looked like a drug cartel casa from the movies. He is a very well known businessman in the area and has made it possible to have five career firefighters to be hired since his election. He also was the one that allowed the training to take place in El Grullo. We were planning on training in Autla, but none of the equipment we were planning getting here including the engine, arrived in time for the training, so like most training we do, quickly a new plan was laid out and students are receiving great training. We were treated to some of the best enchiladas I have ever had, cooked by the Mayor himself. We also had the best-grilled prawns I have EVER had!! Some un-named members of our group did secure the continued need for Agave plants. (We’ll see if they show up for breakfast) Today at the fire station we did confirm the on duty crews are sleeping on mattresses on the floor. Noting the need for comfort all the instructors pulled cash together and bought them beds, they should be delivered in the morning.
Another great day of work. We started the day with PT that included a several kilometer run through the main square of the town. A few side aches, lots of sweat and even more smiles. Once PT was finished we split the group onto two teams and congealed the two groups b y having a team building exercise. Today the challenge was to move an egg from a starting point about 12’ and place it into a cup, only touching it with their personnel utility ropes. Neither of the eggs were broken and teams were solidified. Then it was off to the cultural center and fire station for advanced ladders and hose operations. Once again in near 100F heat, (just like at home) Tonight we have been invited to the Mayor’s home for dinner. I’ll try to write later tonight.
Andy
Andy
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Mexico 07
Oh to Mexico
Oh what a fast change of events, a week and a half ago our house was selling and we were going to be “homeless” this week. Well last weekend the house sale fell through and looking for the bright side I said “hey now I con go to Mexico on the teaching trip! And Rebecca agreed as long as I agreed to go to Vietnam next month. So just a few days later I was on the plane, catching up to the group already in Mexico.
We are doing training in southwest Mexico between Guadalajara and Manzanillo in the state of Jalisco. (an area Pancho Villa apparently spent much time in based on his picture hanging every where) This is an area “TAP-FIRE” (the organization I am down here with) has come for several years as well as having support from Firefighters Crossing Borders. Currently we are in the town of El Grullo, which is a sister city of Kent WA. Two years ago the city of Kent donated a very nice 1989 Pierce engine that they surplused to the city of El Grullo. The fire department is very well established and supported by the local Government quite the contrast from Cambodia, were we feel like we are starting from scratch with limited support. One thing in common is the enthusiasm and eagerness of the students.
My adventure started Sunday night after getting no sleep on shift Saturday / Saturday night. A 21:00 flight from SEA to LAX and then a 01:45 flight from LAX to Guadalajara getting in right at sunrise Monday morning, with nearly no sleep on the flights. After getting through immigration and customs, I was met by Gonzalo Tello, a volunteer firefighter from Gig Harbor that had arrived two days before. After a couple of stops in Guadalajara, including a great breakfast at a market that included a 32oz fresh squeezed mixed juice we were off on a three plus hour drive to the training site in El Grullo. After leaving the outskirts of Guadalajara heading into the Sierra Madera’s, the drive and scenery looked identical as the drive from Phnom Penh to Sinokville in Cambodia, with rolling mountains, cactus and sparse vegetation. Once in the mountains there was quite a contrast from Cambodia with the vegetation continuing to be sparse and the desert continuing. The most amazing thing in the mountains were the thousands of acres of agave plants. Agave plants are the principle ingredient for Tequila. (I have not seen where they grow the worms yet) Also along the way I saw numerous authentic cowboys outfitted on horses. Oh yes, the car that picked us up and hauled us to El Grullo also was part of the adventure. Typical of much of the world, the standard are not quite the same as the USA, we only had to push start it nearly every time we stopped and my door would want to fall off if I opened it too wide (about 10”) but it did get us to our destination safe and sound. We arrived at the Hotel around 13:00 met with the rest of the group that was at lunch. Rather that getting some much needed sleep, I elected to go to the training site and get a “feel” for the students and what we would be doing. Well once there my stand back and watch for today plan didn’t last long, So I ended up helping teach ladders the rest of the day, after walking back to the hotel to get boots, helmet and gloves. The day was rounded off with dinner and a quick phone call to Rebecca. After three days with nearly no sleep I am caught up today and feeling great.
A little about the town we are in. El Grullo has a population of 32,000 including the surrounding areas and is one of the cleanest places I have ever seen! There is no litter, the streets and sidewalks are all washed and swept, the buildings despite being older than dirt all sport fresh paint, there is no signs of poverty, the people are very friendly and appear to be happy and content. It is very obvious the citizens here take a lot of pride in thier community. (I really like this place!) We really are in the “real Mexico” no fuffy resorts here.
Today we started with breakfast at a local restaurant (fried bread with jelly and bacon, withy a very large glass of fresh squeezed OJ. Then more training with ladders and hose opps at the canal. Lunch was provided by another local restaurant, Spanish rice, a meatball and potato soup, and fresh tortes with a fresh fruit drink served in a 5 gal. Bucket. (Yummmmm) Well training for the day is complete and I am posting this before we head out to dinner and getting a shower after training in near 100F heat. Will post more ASAP
Andy
Oh what a fast change of events, a week and a half ago our house was selling and we were going to be “homeless” this week. Well last weekend the house sale fell through and looking for the bright side I said “hey now I con go to Mexico on the teaching trip! And Rebecca agreed as long as I agreed to go to Vietnam next month. So just a few days later I was on the plane, catching up to the group already in Mexico.
We are doing training in southwest Mexico between Guadalajara and Manzanillo in the state of Jalisco. (an area Pancho Villa apparently spent much time in based on his picture hanging every where) This is an area “TAP-FIRE” (the organization I am down here with) has come for several years as well as having support from Firefighters Crossing Borders. Currently we are in the town of El Grullo, which is a sister city of Kent WA. Two years ago the city of Kent donated a very nice 1989 Pierce engine that they surplused to the city of El Grullo. The fire department is very well established and supported by the local Government quite the contrast from Cambodia, were we feel like we are starting from scratch with limited support. One thing in common is the enthusiasm and eagerness of the students.
My adventure started Sunday night after getting no sleep on shift Saturday / Saturday night. A 21:00 flight from SEA to LAX and then a 01:45 flight from LAX to Guadalajara getting in right at sunrise Monday morning, with nearly no sleep on the flights. After getting through immigration and customs, I was met by Gonzalo Tello, a volunteer firefighter from Gig Harbor that had arrived two days before. After a couple of stops in Guadalajara, including a great breakfast at a market that included a 32oz fresh squeezed mixed juice we were off on a three plus hour drive to the training site in El Grullo. After leaving the outskirts of Guadalajara heading into the Sierra Madera’s, the drive and scenery looked identical as the drive from Phnom Penh to Sinokville in Cambodia, with rolling mountains, cactus and sparse vegetation. Once in the mountains there was quite a contrast from Cambodia with the vegetation continuing to be sparse and the desert continuing. The most amazing thing in the mountains were the thousands of acres of agave plants. Agave plants are the principle ingredient for Tequila. (I have not seen where they grow the worms yet) Also along the way I saw numerous authentic cowboys outfitted on horses. Oh yes, the car that picked us up and hauled us to El Grullo also was part of the adventure. Typical of much of the world, the standard are not quite the same as the USA, we only had to push start it nearly every time we stopped and my door would want to fall off if I opened it too wide (about 10”) but it did get us to our destination safe and sound. We arrived at the Hotel around 13:00 met with the rest of the group that was at lunch. Rather that getting some much needed sleep, I elected to go to the training site and get a “feel” for the students and what we would be doing. Well once there my stand back and watch for today plan didn’t last long, So I ended up helping teach ladders the rest of the day, after walking back to the hotel to get boots, helmet and gloves. The day was rounded off with dinner and a quick phone call to Rebecca. After three days with nearly no sleep I am caught up today and feeling great.
A little about the town we are in. El Grullo has a population of 32,000 including the surrounding areas and is one of the cleanest places I have ever seen! There is no litter, the streets and sidewalks are all washed and swept, the buildings despite being older than dirt all sport fresh paint, there is no signs of poverty, the people are very friendly and appear to be happy and content. It is very obvious the citizens here take a lot of pride in thier community. (I really like this place!) We really are in the “real Mexico” no fuffy resorts here.
Today we started with breakfast at a local restaurant (fried bread with jelly and bacon, withy a very large glass of fresh squeezed OJ. Then more training with ladders and hose opps at the canal. Lunch was provided by another local restaurant, Spanish rice, a meatball and potato soup, and fresh tortes with a fresh fruit drink served in a 5 gal. Bucket. (Yummmmm) Well training for the day is complete and I am posting this before we head out to dinner and getting a shower after training in near 100F heat. Will post more ASAP
Andy
Sunday, February 04, 2007
Still alive
Still alive
Sorry I’m so far behind! The last week of classes was really busy, with only mostly only Gary and I there for the EMS side. But moving to HOPE worked out very well, all of the Police students were very happy not to be at the academy. At the academy they were required to be at dress ready at 0700 for the singing of the national anthem, in uniform, with hair cut to the proper length. Let’s just say they were very happy to be out of that environment. The first Monday even our interpreter showed up at HOPE and did everything he could not to go back to the academy. We were able to use some of the tope returning students to teach some of the classes. Not personally being able to speak Khmer, I’m not totally sure were they were saying but watching body language and the reaction of the other students it sure seemed they were doing a good job. We ended the EMS classes with 44 EMT students many of which were first timers. We have made some good contacts for next year and will have new students from the trauma hospitals ambulance service that are currently untrained. This will be another big step. I’m not sure if the Police EMS system will ever get going or not, there are some big obstacles to get through first but we’ll keep training and not give up on that dream. We also took three more AEDs that we were able to give to HOPE hospital; they are already on the ambulances and in the ER. The fire classes went well as they could, we were constantly confronted with equipment that was breaking down, such at engines that could not draft from a water supply, and also the Ladder truck didn’t get running again until the last day of classes so the aerial training that Bruce had planned on never did come to be a reality. None the less we did manage to fill the days with good instruction by adapting and overcoming. Rebecca arrived Thursday night and was able to attend the final official ceremonies, complete with news coverage from four TV stations. I also was able to get Rebecca a full tour of HOPE Hospital the first morning she arrived complete with watching the 250 showing up for the morning lottery, hoping to be one of the lucky 5-10 new patients to be seen that day. We both had tears in out eyes after the first two picks, seeing the pure joy and excitement of the patient’s picked knowing they would finely receive some medical care. The tears we had also reflected us knowing that around 250 other people wound not see medical care that day. Friday night we had our annual party for the students. This year the Australian’s organized it so of course it was a big BBQ at the local Aussi bar. The student’s really had a blow out time even though half had to leave the party (beer in hand) in the fire truck (that was at the bar also) to go to a fire. (Yes there still are areas we haven’t approached yet)
Most of our group flew out Saturday morning. I was able to send most of my stuff back with them, including my laptop computer. (Partly explaining how I got so far behind on the blog) A few of us that were still there trekked back out to the villages taking more bread and saw the wells that we paid to have put in the first week we were there. It war so cool to see how excited they were over their new wells. Rebecca had extra room coming over so she brought a duffel bag off children’s clothing and some national flags of Belfair (large blue tarps to cover leaky roofs) we were able to give them to people that really needed them. The cloths were such a big hit. We had handed out a bunch at one village and were getting ready to leave when someone pointed out one little boy with no pants (this isn’t real uncommon the children commonly don’t were pants until they are potty trained. But this little boy was a little older and only had a single old shirt to claim as his own. We reached in the bag found a pair of pants to fit him, put them on him and he and his mother were so happy. I can’t express the look of proud ness he had over is new pants. (More tears) One of the last villages we visited we had spent a while at and were getting ready to leave when one of our members noticed a little girl with something on here arm and asked me about it. At first I thought she had paint or something on it, but as I watched her I noticed she was trying to hide it. We had been playing with her and the other children for sometime prior and not noticed anything wrong. As I looked closer I could see something indeed was wrong (note FYI, I have tears now as I’m writing this) As it turned out she had dunked her arm into boiling water the day before up to the elbow, causing deep seconded degree burns over most all of her hand and lower arm. They had tried to treat the injuries by covering them with tooth paste. I can’t tell you how my heart sank knowing or not knowing what the outcome would be. This is a child if we were at home I would have immediately called for a helicopter and sent her to the burn unit at Harborview Hospital without thinking twice. But there is no helicopter; there is no burn unit, only us. Art (a paramedic from Belleview) and I went to work breaking out our “crew first aid kit” (only to be used for us tram members) (that plan went right out the door), stetting up an IV for irrigation, digging out bandages and antibiotic ointment. The mother drug the very frightened girl over to us, as the entire village gathered (very closely) around. Soon as we started putting saline on the injuries she calmed right down, standing on her own holding her arm out not even flinching. I irrigated and scrubbed her entire arm and hand getting the tooth paste off and cleaning the burns. As I did this she didn’t even twitch or squirm, it had to be so painful, any of us would have needed enough morphine to kill a horse to be able to withstand what I did to her and she had no pain meds at all. It was absolutely all I could do not to just fully break out in full blown tears myself while I was treating her. After cleaning the burns we dressed them in sterile bandages, gave here mother $40 to take her to see the local doctor in the nearest town and overly impressed how important it was they follow through with getting care for her including antibiotics and fresh dressings. We have our doubts If they would seek medical intervention $40 would buy a lot of food for a really hungry family, we can only hope. The girl looked to be about 5 or 6 we were told she was really 9 years old. Augh! I needed a breath after that one. Rebecca and I paid for several more wells to be put in. (thanks for the contributions to make that possible)
Sunday Rebecca and I headed north to do some touring and see other parts of Cambodia including the temples of Anchor Wat, one of the wonders of the world, the floating village, we attend a wedding, were invited to spend a evening in a village (and did) and so much more. It was so nice to share some of my Cambodia experiences with her. We are now home again, my sleep patterns are all screwed up, and the good news with that is the blog is updated.
We hope to go back next year and do it again, I still believe it’s a very worth while mission and we are making a difference. The night before we left there was a fire that burned 55 families out of the homes (I of course had to go and “evaluate the firefighting efforts”) they employed skills we taught them this year to stop the fire before it got any worse, but there still is a lot of work to do.
Thanks for your support on this journey.
Andy
Sorry I’m so far behind! The last week of classes was really busy, with only mostly only Gary and I there for the EMS side. But moving to HOPE worked out very well, all of the Police students were very happy not to be at the academy. At the academy they were required to be at dress ready at 0700 for the singing of the national anthem, in uniform, with hair cut to the proper length. Let’s just say they were very happy to be out of that environment. The first Monday even our interpreter showed up at HOPE and did everything he could not to go back to the academy. We were able to use some of the tope returning students to teach some of the classes. Not personally being able to speak Khmer, I’m not totally sure were they were saying but watching body language and the reaction of the other students it sure seemed they were doing a good job. We ended the EMS classes with 44 EMT students many of which were first timers. We have made some good contacts for next year and will have new students from the trauma hospitals ambulance service that are currently untrained. This will be another big step. I’m not sure if the Police EMS system will ever get going or not, there are some big obstacles to get through first but we’ll keep training and not give up on that dream. We also took three more AEDs that we were able to give to HOPE hospital; they are already on the ambulances and in the ER. The fire classes went well as they could, we were constantly confronted with equipment that was breaking down, such at engines that could not draft from a water supply, and also the Ladder truck didn’t get running again until the last day of classes so the aerial training that Bruce had planned on never did come to be a reality. None the less we did manage to fill the days with good instruction by adapting and overcoming. Rebecca arrived Thursday night and was able to attend the final official ceremonies, complete with news coverage from four TV stations. I also was able to get Rebecca a full tour of HOPE Hospital the first morning she arrived complete with watching the 250 showing up for the morning lottery, hoping to be one of the lucky 5-10 new patients to be seen that day. We both had tears in out eyes after the first two picks, seeing the pure joy and excitement of the patient’s picked knowing they would finely receive some medical care. The tears we had also reflected us knowing that around 250 other people wound not see medical care that day. Friday night we had our annual party for the students. This year the Australian’s organized it so of course it was a big BBQ at the local Aussi bar. The student’s really had a blow out time even though half had to leave the party (beer in hand) in the fire truck (that was at the bar also) to go to a fire. (Yes there still are areas we haven’t approached yet)
Most of our group flew out Saturday morning. I was able to send most of my stuff back with them, including my laptop computer. (Partly explaining how I got so far behind on the blog) A few of us that were still there trekked back out to the villages taking more bread and saw the wells that we paid to have put in the first week we were there. It war so cool to see how excited they were over their new wells. Rebecca had extra room coming over so she brought a duffel bag off children’s clothing and some national flags of Belfair (large blue tarps to cover leaky roofs) we were able to give them to people that really needed them. The cloths were such a big hit. We had handed out a bunch at one village and were getting ready to leave when someone pointed out one little boy with no pants (this isn’t real uncommon the children commonly don’t were pants until they are potty trained. But this little boy was a little older and only had a single old shirt to claim as his own. We reached in the bag found a pair of pants to fit him, put them on him and he and his mother were so happy. I can’t express the look of proud ness he had over is new pants. (More tears) One of the last villages we visited we had spent a while at and were getting ready to leave when one of our members noticed a little girl with something on here arm and asked me about it. At first I thought she had paint or something on it, but as I watched her I noticed she was trying to hide it. We had been playing with her and the other children for sometime prior and not noticed anything wrong. As I looked closer I could see something indeed was wrong (note FYI, I have tears now as I’m writing this) As it turned out she had dunked her arm into boiling water the day before up to the elbow, causing deep seconded degree burns over most all of her hand and lower arm. They had tried to treat the injuries by covering them with tooth paste. I can’t tell you how my heart sank knowing or not knowing what the outcome would be. This is a child if we were at home I would have immediately called for a helicopter and sent her to the burn unit at Harborview Hospital without thinking twice. But there is no helicopter; there is no burn unit, only us. Art (a paramedic from Belleview) and I went to work breaking out our “crew first aid kit” (only to be used for us tram members) (that plan went right out the door), stetting up an IV for irrigation, digging out bandages and antibiotic ointment. The mother drug the very frightened girl over to us, as the entire village gathered (very closely) around. Soon as we started putting saline on the injuries she calmed right down, standing on her own holding her arm out not even flinching. I irrigated and scrubbed her entire arm and hand getting the tooth paste off and cleaning the burns. As I did this she didn’t even twitch or squirm, it had to be so painful, any of us would have needed enough morphine to kill a horse to be able to withstand what I did to her and she had no pain meds at all. It was absolutely all I could do not to just fully break out in full blown tears myself while I was treating her. After cleaning the burns we dressed them in sterile bandages, gave here mother $40 to take her to see the local doctor in the nearest town and overly impressed how important it was they follow through with getting care for her including antibiotics and fresh dressings. We have our doubts If they would seek medical intervention $40 would buy a lot of food for a really hungry family, we can only hope. The girl looked to be about 5 or 6 we were told she was really 9 years old. Augh! I needed a breath after that one. Rebecca and I paid for several more wells to be put in. (thanks for the contributions to make that possible)
Sunday Rebecca and I headed north to do some touring and see other parts of Cambodia including the temples of Anchor Wat, one of the wonders of the world, the floating village, we attend a wedding, were invited to spend a evening in a village (and did) and so much more. It was so nice to share some of my Cambodia experiences with her. We are now home again, my sleep patterns are all screwed up, and the good news with that is the blog is updated.
We hope to go back next year and do it again, I still believe it’s a very worth while mission and we are making a difference. The night before we left there was a fire that burned 55 families out of the homes (I of course had to go and “evaluate the firefighting efforts”) they employed skills we taught them this year to stop the fire before it got any worse, but there still is a lot of work to do.
Thanks for your support on this journey.
Andy
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
Monday, January 22, 2007
Weekend away
A weekend away. We took a four-hour express bus ride to the coast of Cambodia. One thing to keep in mind is the differences in busses here is how fast they reach their destination, same distance, same road, same number of stops. Yes this means the express bus drives faster and takes a lot more chances passing. Passing on curves, hills, curvy hills, with oncoming traffic, with oncoming traffic on hills on corners, ect. I think you get the idea here. The reassuring part is the bus is larger than most other vehicles; most that is. The road to the coast also is the road to the only port. So yes lots of very large slow moving trucks, lots of trucks to pass and play chicken with. All and all it only appeared we would die in a fiery head-on collision about one million times. Not bad for eight hours of travel. This is real good entertainment of someone that is into thrill seeking, so cancel your next base jumping adventure and buy a five dollar bus ticket.
The weekend was great; my only misgiving was Rebecca was not there to enjoy it with us. We all were happy to get some fresh air. The smog in Phnom Phen is awful infact. When you fly into Asia there is this gross layer of smog you descend through, often from the aircraft at altitude you cannot even see the ground due to the pollution. Looking at it makes me think all that we do at home hardly make a dent in the entire planet’s health, but I guess it’s a start. We stayed at a really nice hotel with a pool and private beach. Several of us ventured to the beaches the locals go to, I will say I enjoyed that beach much more. It we really great to see so many Cambodian people having so much fun. At night there, it reminded me of “Burningman” with the wall-to-wall thrown together bars lit with Christmas tree lights. The beaches were beautiful with warm clean water. The air temps were in the mid 90sF, all most the same as home plus 70F.
Five of the wells we paid for are already in and pumping fresh water. I saw the pictures of them this morning. It is amazing with a few dollars how quickly lives can be changes. We will be getting some help to people in the village I spoke of in the “really poor” area. I saw pictures of their homes also this morning, here are a few pictures. I’m looking forward to getting back to that area and see what has been accomplished. I’m planning on paying for at least one more well and either a house or repairs on several houses. I need a Costco to but a bunch of blue tarps.
The classes are back up and going again today. We managed to get the two EMS classes combined at HOPE Hospital today. The students from the Police are really happy to be back in town and not having to travel an hour each way, plus we have all the equipment we need for teaching here. Things seem to go so much smoother here. Walking back into HOPE this morning was like going to a friend’s house, welcoming and warm, with a feeling of comfort that really surprised me. It’s really good to be back here. We caught the classes up so they are near the level. Northwest Medical Teams have been doing he teaching here at HOPE last week but they moved on north and to Vietnam this week. We will use the two groups to teach each other in some areas. Hopefully this will promote the idea of them doing further teaching to their coworkers. Out on the drill ground today 103F. HOT!
That all for now.
Andy
The weekend was great; my only misgiving was Rebecca was not there to enjoy it with us. We all were happy to get some fresh air. The smog in Phnom Phen is awful infact. When you fly into Asia there is this gross layer of smog you descend through, often from the aircraft at altitude you cannot even see the ground due to the pollution. Looking at it makes me think all that we do at home hardly make a dent in the entire planet’s health, but I guess it’s a start. We stayed at a really nice hotel with a pool and private beach. Several of us ventured to the beaches the locals go to, I will say I enjoyed that beach much more. It we really great to see so many Cambodian people having so much fun. At night there, it reminded me of “Burningman” with the wall-to-wall thrown together bars lit with Christmas tree lights. The beaches were beautiful with warm clean water. The air temps were in the mid 90sF, all most the same as home plus 70F.
Five of the wells we paid for are already in and pumping fresh water. I saw the pictures of them this morning. It is amazing with a few dollars how quickly lives can be changes. We will be getting some help to people in the village I spoke of in the “really poor” area. I saw pictures of their homes also this morning, here are a few pictures. I’m looking forward to getting back to that area and see what has been accomplished. I’m planning on paying for at least one more well and either a house or repairs on several houses. I need a Costco to but a bunch of blue tarps.
The classes are back up and going again today. We managed to get the two EMS classes combined at HOPE Hospital today. The students from the Police are really happy to be back in town and not having to travel an hour each way, plus we have all the equipment we need for teaching here. Things seem to go so much smoother here. Walking back into HOPE this morning was like going to a friend’s house, welcoming and warm, with a feeling of comfort that really surprised me. It’s really good to be back here. We caught the classes up so they are near the level. Northwest Medical Teams have been doing he teaching here at HOPE last week but they moved on north and to Vietnam this week. We will use the two groups to teach each other in some areas. Hopefully this will promote the idea of them doing further teaching to their coworkers. Out on the drill ground today 103F. HOT!
That all for now.
Andy
Thursday, January 18, 2007
A great day
This morning Sos had a visit from a relative of his from out in the village area were we went last weekend. She told Sos of the village that is “really poor” she said they have no wells and don’t even have houses. I gave Sos money to put in a well and some money that they will use to buy some clothes. Together we gave Sos enough money to drill four wells in the area. He thinks they will be put in as soon as next week. He also says a house in that area costs about $150. Looks like I may buy a house in Cambodia and change a families life.
We had a great day of training! To day we stopped on the way to class and bought several “sticks” about 5’ long. We also rounded up several long backboards and some rope. When we arrived at class again bad news: no ladder truck or fire engine hat could draft water. On the EMS side it was full on practical hands on training utilizing materials and equipment available on site. All those wilderness medicine classes are coming in real handy. Even though we are not in a wilderness area, improvising with supplies on hand.
We built stretchers using the sticks we bought and rope. Moved patients in and out of windows, over obstacles and under vehicles. The Australians have been teaching search and rescue techniques to the fire group utilizing many of the same skills. So you can guess what had to happen: fire -vs- EMS in moving patients through an obstacle course. I have never seen such fierce competition with so much laughter and so many smiles. It was a great way to practice the skills learned and build teamwork. The Australians are always doing some teambuilding exercise, we’ll hear laughing look out and see their class down to their underwear putting all their clothing end to end to see which team can form the longest line. Despite all the equipment and facility issues the students are learning a lot and gaining valuable skills.
Jerry after three or four years is also making progress, meeting with officials concerning communications and emergency phone systems. For an example if you dial “119” (the emergency EMS number) the call goes to Calamed Hospital. There is only one line, without call waiting, answered by one person between 10:00 and 20:00. In the off hours the line does not get answered. And we complain at home about our dispatch.
Gary also has some good meetings and made so valuable contacts with the hospitals and some NGOs.
We still have some of our equipment sent over, that has not cleared customs, and hopefully it will clear today.
My thoughts are at hope as the memorial services occur at home. I’m sorry that I am not there to say good-bye.
Tonight we had a great dinner, “Italian” go figure, and it’s probably the most authentic Sicilian restaurant I have ever eaten in. They fly in the meats and cheeses daily from Italy and the cost for my meal was under $8.00. To be honest I would still rather have Cambodian food.
Tomorrow the national TV news network will be at class to film for the evening news. Unfortunately we won’t see it we will be on a bus to the beach for the weekend.
I also bought a cheep cell phone so we can problem solve between classes and ect. So if you feel so inclined to call me my Cambodian number is 011-548-206 I’m not sure what the country code is to access Cambodia, you’ll need to look it up. Look forward to hearing from you I have 400 minutes to use in the next two weeks. Phone and calling card all for $20.00
Andy
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
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