Sunday was service at the Catholic Church in the city. It was pretty long, and it involved a lot of standing up, then sitting down, then standing up again (you get the picture). There was a lot of singing. The priest spoke about diabetes in his sermon and about the associations work and our week's activities. I don't think I'll be going to church unless it's for this kind of special event to show support...
On Tuesday, we had a symposium at the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank Auditorium. Dr. Sahely, Dr. Wilkinson, and Margaret all spoke. It went pretty well, they were all very informative but kept it interesting at the same time. Especially Dr. Wilkinson who had us laughing quite a bit. I even got quite a few SOS members to attend as a group which was really nice. There was a good turnout, ranging from university students, diabetic clinic patients, doctors, and business professionals. But there's still plenty of room for improvement for next year.
Wednesday I was on another radio show, except this time it was live with Eulynis and Margaret. I spoke for a little bit about being diabetic. This Monday and Wednesday the other radio show I was on will be rebroadcast at 8.15 am Kittitian time: http://www.dominionradioskn.com/
Thursday we had our high school quiz. It went amazing for our first time. I was one of the score keepers. We had a pretty good sponsor and the kids got real excited and were cheering their teams on. Cayon High School won (my village, woohoo!) and they all literally jumped out of their seats screaming when we told them the score. We had prepared a booklet for them to study from, based on the questions we had formed. I think they really learned a lot and we really made an impact. Eulynis put me on the spot and called me up to speak for a couple of minutes to 'share my story', so I had to make an impromptu speech about my experience with diabetes. I started with how long I've been living with it, and got a loud 'awww' from all the kids. I started blushing because I hadn't meant it to elicit sympathy or pity. But Eulynis had wanted the kids to see that diabetes isn't just for old fat people who eat too much sugar, and that you can live a normal life (like me).
On Friday we had a screening in Independence Square. Now in the States not just anyone would be able to perform the screening, but since I'm a diabetic myself they trusted me to go around sticking people apparently. I personally diagnosed at least 4 people =( One man's glucose was 427. We told him we needed to admit him, but he started screaming that he wasn't diabetic and would just stop eating sugar before he literally ran away. I didn't know how to react. I was pretty much the only one who wore gloves and even bothered to try and talk to the 'patients' while I tested them. I had someone else from WINN FM interview me while I was there, distracted nonetheless. A girl from one of the high schools stopped by, and as I tested her she was like 'So you've really been living with it that long?' She asked some more questions, and I'm glad the quiz convinced her to get screened and is making her learn more about it.
Yes, that's me with my latex gloves testing a woman on the left.
Christina explaining some of the literature we provided
We also had the blue lighting all over town like the rest of the world. Basically all over the world big businesses lit up in blue (the color for Diabetes). The banks and hotels here all participated which was nice.
Then Saturday morning, finally our week culminated with our Diabetes Walk-a-thon from the Cayon Health Center to Independence Square in the city (a good 5 miles) in honor of World Diabetes Day. The week is finally over! Although this Wednesday I have to give a presentation at one of the high school's speaking about life as a young diabetic. I know it will have an impact (hopefully), but I personally am not looking forward to the pity and sympathetic reaction again.
In addition to the week of activities with the DA, I also had a couple of SOS strategic planning meetings along with a Barrier Analysis meeting with some of the other PCV's and have been working on our action plan for the SOS website and ICT training etc. A blessing in disguise, Julie Ann came to spend a couple of nights in St. Kitts because her place in Nevis was broken into. She wasn't hurt and nothing was taken thankfully. But it was nice because it gave me, her and Will a chance to hang out. We cooked and baked and watched a movie at the cinema (which is the ONLY thing on the island that's cheaper than in the states). We also did more Thanksgiving planning =) Still SUPER excited and can't wait to begin the baking!!! Wait for the ultimate blog entry on Sugar High...
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