Starkey Mission Day Two: Language barriers and a little rain
Wednesday, May 10th:
We arrived the Red Cross center to hundreds of people waiting in chairs and local Red Cross workers ushering us to sit down quickly. They were having this huge presidential government meeting in order to thank the Starkey team and the Red Cross for their involvement in helping their people. They had us sit smack in the front rows aligned with the podium table where sitting was Cambodia's Prime Minister's son and the President of the Red Cross… there were so many reporters, cameramen and video men all taking pictures of the even yet we all were slightly lost as they were all being given in Cambodian... so I tried to mask my confusion with a smiling affirming face to make it look like I knew what as going on that that I was pleased with it. Fake it til you make it!
Instead of rotating around today like we did yesterday, we stayed at one station pretty much from 10 am - 5pm. Today I was at counseling, where we explained to the patients how to put their hearing aids in, turn them on and off, clean them, use the dry aid kit, change the battery ect 2 other of my classmates were with me as well- we would take about 5-7 people after they had been fitted with hearing aids and explain all of these things to them, except through an interpreters to a people that probably have never even seen any kind of battery or technology in their lives. We quickly learned that on top of the language barrier, and the overwhelming amount of information after hours of waiting, to factor in the concept that these people have little or no experience with technology of any kind making it very difficult for them to wrap their minds around basic things like what to do when it dies indicating a dead battery or like keeping it away from water and animals ect. It was actually quite heart wrenching at times for me. This was the day of a lot of my internal battle about wondering if we were truly doing any good here. I just was praying that somehow this would retain for people and that they would be able to get some benefit from these hearing aids. That their lives truly could change for the better.
I had one interpreter that I was worried about at the beginning- supposedly they put the best English speakers with us but I would talk to her and get a blank stare back, after very slowly repeating it she got it and eventually she was doing great or maybe just telling me that she was. Teaching people how to put hearing aids on is always an adventure haha but today especially so: I got a good laugh watching everything from trying to put the body of the HA in their ear canal, or the helix, or just put the BTE over their ear and lightly rest the mold in their ear- in the clinic at home some people take 30 min to figure it out… we didn't have that kind of time… so thankfully for the AfterCare team that will be following up with every single person, they are going to need it. But we could not have done it without the interpreters. They did an amazing job. Most of them were just local volunteers who had never seen a hearing aid before but they were so excited to work with us and to be helping out. It was so much fun to witness!! They wanted to all friend us on Facebook afterwards and to take a picture with us. As we were taking it, they yelled out "do the two sign!" Peace sign, two sign, whatever sign we do ahhh it was such a good laugh we got. It became our picture cheese every time we took a picture after that.
So it's monsoon season here. Currently yes. Near the end of the day, torrential rain started out of no where, again thank you to the airplane hangar thing we were under- but it was too loud to even talk to a person right next to me let along someone that doesnt really know English. The pouring rain is thunderously loud, I am amazed at how much rain can dump down here in such a short amount of time. We were scheduled to fit 250 people today but we doubled it which still qualifies for a very small mission in the eyes of Starkey.
This morning I woke up at 5 am… realized the sun was rising and so excitedly went and watched it on the boardwalk outside of our hotel over the Mekong river. It was absolutely stunning and one of the few mornings that it was not overcast so I really lucked out :) #tendermercies. I was shocked at how many people were already out running, walking, biking or stretching, this culture is amazing. Noone is overweight, there were young kids out there riding bikes around that early as well. I would love to live a life that was run by when the sun rose and when it set. How beautiful would that be? I'd be down. It's not like I hear my alarm clock anyway :)
The other tender mercy of the day was when we could not find one of our classmates. Her roommate had left with the early group as part of the otoscopy team that morning (we all rotated going early) So Madi asked me to make sure she was up when I went to breakfast. When wasn't there when I went down and the internet in the hotel was super spotty so she couldn't get my texts. And they had told me what room they were in but I only partially heard it assuming I wouldn't actually need it I didn't ask for clarification… as our time to leave is coming rapidly closer I still had no idea what room Madi was in. And none of our professors knew either (still don't know why they didn’t know) but for some reason only room that came to mind when trying to figure out which one she was in was 225 even though I knew I didn't hear the room number they said- so I went up and indeed it was her
Madi asked for a wake up call but she got it at 8 am saying it was 7:25… Soooo long story short, I don't recommend relying on the hotel staff to wake you up in foreign countries. And to let your phone automatically change with the time zones haha oh dear Madi just thought it was 7:25 and was just straightening her hair casually while we are all eating breakfast and about to get on the bus.
Tonight we ate at a 4 or 5 story outdoor restaurant (a lot of the restaurants there build skinny and up) called The Touk. I got a delicious green chicken curry that was so heavenly. I'm still a little paranoid about getting sick, so if I do, it's because of this curry tonight. While we were there I was reaching arms back and accidentally knocked the waitress with my fist, and these Cambodians are small, I knocked the wind right out of her oh my I felt terrible!! And then I somehow managed to run into two other little waitresses over the course of the night. I am not tall at all but tonight I really felt the size difference- those poor people I felt terrible. By the time we finished dinner, it was downpour raining again so we rode tuk-tuk back to the hotel. Mom you think my driving is bad and that people are going to hit us here on our streets? You would mom cry hysterically in fear here- I could high five the people on the motos next to me if I wanted to! Again I am still so amazed at how we didn't see a single accident!
And some of our fellow students have lizards freely roaming in their room. And it's not common to see dead cockroaches on the floors of the hotel. When the hotel is basically an open air hotel, you're bound to make some friends ;)
We arrived the Red Cross center to hundreds of people waiting in chairs and local Red Cross workers ushering us to sit down quickly. They were having this huge presidential government meeting in order to thank the Starkey team and the Red Cross for their involvement in helping their people. They had us sit smack in the front rows aligned with the podium table where sitting was Cambodia's Prime Minister's son and the President of the Red Cross… there were so many reporters, cameramen and video men all taking pictures of the even yet we all were slightly lost as they were all being given in Cambodian... so I tried to mask my confusion with a smiling affirming face to make it look like I knew what as going on that that I was pleased with it. Fake it til you make it!
Instead of rotating around today like we did yesterday, we stayed at one station pretty much from 10 am - 5pm. Today I was at counseling, where we explained to the patients how to put their hearing aids in, turn them on and off, clean them, use the dry aid kit, change the battery ect 2 other of my classmates were with me as well- we would take about 5-7 people after they had been fitted with hearing aids and explain all of these things to them, except through an interpreters to a people that probably have never even seen any kind of battery or technology in their lives. We quickly learned that on top of the language barrier, and the overwhelming amount of information after hours of waiting, to factor in the concept that these people have little or no experience with technology of any kind making it very difficult for them to wrap their minds around basic things like what to do when it dies indicating a dead battery or like keeping it away from water and animals ect. It was actually quite heart wrenching at times for me. This was the day of a lot of my internal battle about wondering if we were truly doing any good here. I just was praying that somehow this would retain for people and that they would be able to get some benefit from these hearing aids. That their lives truly could change for the better.
I had one interpreter that I was worried about at the beginning- supposedly they put the best English speakers with us but I would talk to her and get a blank stare back, after very slowly repeating it she got it and eventually she was doing great or maybe just telling me that she was. Teaching people how to put hearing aids on is always an adventure haha but today especially so: I got a good laugh watching everything from trying to put the body of the HA in their ear canal, or the helix, or just put the BTE over their ear and lightly rest the mold in their ear- in the clinic at home some people take 30 min to figure it out… we didn't have that kind of time… so thankfully for the AfterCare team that will be following up with every single person, they are going to need it. But we could not have done it without the interpreters. They did an amazing job. Most of them were just local volunteers who had never seen a hearing aid before but they were so excited to work with us and to be helping out. It was so much fun to witness!! They wanted to all friend us on Facebook afterwards and to take a picture with us. As we were taking it, they yelled out "do the two sign!" Peace sign, two sign, whatever sign we do ahhh it was such a good laugh we got. It became our picture cheese every time we took a picture after that.
Photocredit: Larissa Marvos Starkey Marketing Team
So it's monsoon season here. Currently yes. Near the end of the day, torrential rain started out of no where, again thank you to the airplane hangar thing we were under- but it was too loud to even talk to a person right next to me let along someone that doesnt really know English. The pouring rain is thunderously loud, I am amazed at how much rain can dump down here in such a short amount of time. We were scheduled to fit 250 people today but we doubled it which still qualifies for a very small mission in the eyes of Starkey.
The other tender mercy of the day was when we could not find one of our classmates. Her roommate had left with the early group as part of the otoscopy team that morning (we all rotated going early) So Madi asked me to make sure she was up when I went to breakfast. When wasn't there when I went down and the internet in the hotel was super spotty so she couldn't get my texts. And they had told me what room they were in but I only partially heard it assuming I wouldn't actually need it I didn't ask for clarification… as our time to leave is coming rapidly closer I still had no idea what room Madi was in. And none of our professors knew either (still don't know why they didn’t know) but for some reason only room that came to mind when trying to figure out which one she was in was 225 even though I knew I didn't hear the room number they said- so I went up and indeed it was her
Madi asked for a wake up call but she got it at 8 am saying it was 7:25… Soooo long story short, I don't recommend relying on the hotel staff to wake you up in foreign countries. And to let your phone automatically change with the time zones haha oh dear Madi just thought it was 7:25 and was just straightening her hair casually while we are all eating breakfast and about to get on the bus.
Tonight we ate at a 4 or 5 story outdoor restaurant (a lot of the restaurants there build skinny and up) called The Touk. I got a delicious green chicken curry that was so heavenly. I'm still a little paranoid about getting sick, so if I do, it's because of this curry tonight. While we were there I was reaching arms back and accidentally knocked the waitress with my fist, and these Cambodians are small, I knocked the wind right out of her oh my I felt terrible!! And then I somehow managed to run into two other little waitresses over the course of the night. I am not tall at all but tonight I really felt the size difference- those poor people I felt terrible. By the time we finished dinner, it was downpour raining again so we rode tuk-tuk back to the hotel. Mom you think my driving is bad and that people are going to hit us here on our streets? You would mom cry hysterically in fear here- I could high five the people on the motos next to me if I wanted to! Again I am still so amazed at how we didn't see a single accident!
And some of our fellow students have lizards freely roaming in their room. And it's not common to see dead cockroaches on the floors of the hotel. When the hotel is basically an open air hotel, you're bound to make some friends ;)
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