Beekeeping and Honey Harvesting

My host dad has two families of bees.  (Pictured below with my host niece, Leontina)

At first this made me a little nervous . . . Nobody likes bee stings, but I have yet to be stung and I have eaten LOTS of delicious honey.  So far, so good.  : )

I got to help with the honey harvesting this year and last year and had a lot of fun.  

Step 1:  Remove about half of the honey frames from each stoop.  (You have to leave the bees enough for the winter.)

Step 3:  Wipe the bees clinging to the frame from the frame.  

Step 2:  Remove the beeswax that covers the honeycombs.

Step 3:  Place the honey in a spinner which extracts the honey using centrifugal force to extract the honey.

Step 4:  Strain the honey to remove wax and other debris.

Step 5:  ENJOY.

I think I might even try my hand at beekeeping in the States.  : )  (Thanks for the book, Brad!)

School Library Relocation and Renovation

Our students honestly didn't read much. This made me really sad because I have such fond memories of reading ALL THE TIME as a kid. I love accelerated reader and I was all about the Boxcar Children, Laura Ingalls Wilder and Mr. Popper's Penguins.

I talked with our school librarian to get a little insight. Meet Angela. She happens to be the sweetest lady ever.

She explained that while the library seemed to be pretty full of books, the majority of the books were old and written in Russian or in Romanian, but in the cyrillic alphabet. This was really hard for the kids to read and definitely wasn't something that they would want to do in their leisure time. In addition to that the library is COLD. It was in a cold and distant part of the school building. (Below is a picture of our old library and some books written in cyrillic.)

Angela and I did a little more talking and decided to try to make some changes. We talked with the Romanian teachers and organized a student survey. The surveys confirmed our suspicions. Students reported not frequenting the library because of its lack of books, inconvenient location and cold temperature. Ninety-two percent of students said that they would read more if the library had books that would be of more interest to them.

With this information, we started implementing some changes. A room on the first floor near the entrance was made available and we started moving the library. This was a whole school effort. Students and teachers helped to move books, cleaning ladies gave the walls a fresh coat of paint, and individual teachers and students donated plants. (Below are a few pictures of the process.)

I talked with some other volunteers about our lack of books and another volunteer suggested that I contact the LDS Humanitarian Aid Representatives in Moldova. Not being Mormon myself and feeling a little concerned that they may try to proselytize, I was hesitant. The girl assured me that the organization worked soley to help, so I contacted Ray and Kathy McGovern. I am SO GLAD that I did.

They were wonderful. At no point was there ever any pressure and they were great to work with. I explained our school's situation, they came for a visit, and within a month, we went book shopping.

My partners said it was so much fun to shop, pick out whatever you want and to have someone else pay. : ) It definitely was a lot of fun for us, but it was like Christmas morning for the kids. Many students waited for about an hour after school to see the new books. We had a really warm reception from students and teachers even prepared a special meal as a thank you.

The library is now full of kids all the time. They are reading. My partners and I could not be happier.

Working Safely with Tobacco

During the summer, my nurse partner and I undertook an important cause-- education for working safely with tobacco. This health concern is especially relevant in our community in which around 90% of families cultivate tobacco. With limited job availability in the village and limited marketable goods, many are left without options and are forced into growing and selling tobacco in order to have some form of household income. A lack of technology makes labor-intensive work becomes a family affair, and, unfortunately, this work is not without risk.

Working with and around tobacco poses many health risks. Nicotine and other toxins are absorbed from tobacco leaves into the skin and increase the risk for cancer. Shorter-term problems may arise including nicotine poisoning (absorption of large amounts of nicotine through the skin or by ingestion) and Tobacco Worker's Lung (inhalation of molds which causes lung inflammation).

Of course there exist general health risks associated with working in the sun as well. Dehydration and sun burn add to the dangers associated with tobacco cultivation.

The good news is, that while we can't eliminate all risk associated with tobacco cultivation, we can at least lessen risks by being staying protected. My partner and I worked to educate community members through seminars conducted at the school, medical center and mayor's office. (Picture below at the school.)

Of course, we all are familiar with protection methods against dehydration and sunburn. Drink plenty of water (about 2-4 glasses of water per hour when working in the heat) to prevent dehydration and cover skin with clothing or sunblock to prevent burning.

Nicotine intoxication can be prevented through a number of methods. Simply wearing gloves to lessen the amount of nicotine absorbed through the skin. Changing work clothes immediately after work and washing work clothes before wearing them again also help to reduce the amount of nicotine absorbed. Taking a cool shower also help to reduce absorption.

Tobacco Worker's Lung can be prevented by properly drying and storing tobacco to prevent tobacco molds from growing. (Below is pictured a drying rack in my village.)

Here's to hoping that in the future my village will find another my village will find other income sources in the future, but for now, I feel good knowing that they now know how to protect themselves and their families.

WE HAVE HAND WASHING SINKS!

Check out these beauties!

We installed seven sinks at the school

and one sink at the medical center.

Students and teachers will now be able to wash their hands after using the outhouse and before eating in the cafeteria and nurses and doctor will be able to wash their hands between patients and before and after procedures. Yay!

Stay tuned for follow up data to see if we reached our goals for decreasing illness in the community and school absences!

Health Fair

We kicked off our village health campaign with a health fair.

The health fair was geared towards all community members and the topics were chosen and written in collaboration with the nursing staff at the medical center.

Health topics included information about what constitutes a healthy diet, interactive calorie content games (people ordered common foods from low to high and then ordered activities from low to high by calories burned per hour),

blood pressure checks,

body mass evaluations,

true or false game about the benefits of exercise,

and some demonstrations of flexibility, muscle building and aerobic exercises.

Health clubs students also ran a booth with information about stress managing methods and gave free back and hand massages. (I took advantage of this after the fair. : )

We also revealed our plans for the new sport field:

Here's a key:

Pink: Playground including swing set, see-saw and a recycled tire structure.

Orange: Pull-up bars and long jump

Blue: Basketball court including new cement tiles and new backboards

Green: Soccer field with reinforced goal posts and freshly-painted lines

Gray: Spectator benches

Purple: Fence enclosing the whole field (This is especially important because currently cars and carts drive through the field and livestock graze there, making grass-growing impossible)

It'll be a great improvement over our current field:

At the fair, we also encourage community members to choose and implement one of four pre-written health goals. Here are the goals community members could choose: (Feel free take on a goal yourself!)

1. At least 50% of my diet will be composed of fruits and vegetables for at least one month.

2. I will practice physical exercises for at least 30 minutes per day for at least one month.

3. I will use less fat (oil, animal fat, butter, etc) and salt when cooking for at least one month.

4. I will use healthy stress management techniques when I feel stress for at least one month.

We will follow up with participating community members will with over-the-phone surveys in about two months' time to check in on their progress.

If you'd like to donate to our project fund, click here!

A Year of Health Club

Health club has been a blast this year. We accomplished a lot in a year's time.

We celebrated these accomplishments at a year-end party where we ate way too many cookies, drank some Kool Aid (Thanks Mom!), played musical chairs and took some goofy pictures.

We also watched this little video with some of the highlights of the year:

Some translations and explanations:

Petrecere Halloweenului = Halloween Party

Teatru de Papuși: Spalarea mîinilor = Puppet Theater: Handwashing

The little song they sing was written by another volunteer, basically, they just list a bunch of actions (I played with a cat, I used the bathroom, I wiped my nose, etc.) and then STOP, I wash my hands.

Postere: Spalarea mîinilor = Posters: Handwashing

The posters list the proper method for handwashing and are going to be placed above the sinks at the school and at the medical center after they are installed.

Viața fară violența = Life Without Violence

We did a little social theater activity for other students at school and talked about what to do in cases of abuse.

Ziua femeilor = Women's Day

Women's Day is a national holiday in Moldova. Here's a little more about our event.

Hai Moldova și hai Scorțeni = Let's go Moldova and Let's go Scorțeni

This was part of a nation-wide clean-up campaign.

Facem acțiune = Do Actions

This was a physical exercise event. More details on that here.

Mulțumesc pentru un an de suces. = Thanks for a successful year.

Also, thanks to all of YOU for checking out this blog post. : )

Exercițiile Fizice (Say what?!)

Yep, physical exercise.

Beyonce style.

OK, maybe not exactly Beyonce style, but my health club kids, 50+ younger kids who participated, and I exercised today.

We split into three groups and did some aerobic exercises,

some strengthening exercises,

and a bit of flexibility training.

Also these cute little babies came by.

It was a good time.

Did you know that physical exercise can:

Boost your energy levels?

Help you maintain a healthy weight?

Prevent certain chronic diseases?

Improve your mood?

Give you better, more restful sleep?

Be FUN?

Now you know . . . Get on it!