Demonstrations and decisions

Well it rained on and off all day today, so nobody need feel jealous that I´m here! Although it did stay very warm, which is more than can be said for Holland and England I bet!

It´s been a bit of a strange few days at the clinic. I was beginning to feel very bored and frustrated there because I was not doing any operations at all, only other little things. It is very interesting to see how they do things at the clinic, for example blood testing - at university we just put it in a machine and get the results out after a couple of minutes on a piece of paper, but I´ve learned how to do it the long way, counting blood cells under the microscope, etc. And I´ve seen Babesia and Ehrlichia under the microscope, which will mean something to the vets reading this!

But I came here for operating experience, which I´m promised every day and every day I don´t get any. I spoke to Carla, the owner of the clinic, and she said she had organised a castration project for me next week, at the sister clinic not far away. I would be working with another vet there, who I met, and there would be a lot for me to do. But I didn´t really trust her, because she´s always promising things which don´t come true, especially with Irene. So I wasn´t sure... Then yesterday I really was going to help spay a bitch, which I was looking forward to. But Carla and most of the rest of the staff, organised a protest to which I was made to join. Apparently last week, militants on the island killed 6,000 stray animals. I don´t know hte details, but it sounds shocking. So they held a demonstration at a clinic in another town, and then went to the government building to hand in a petition protesting against the slaughter of animals, and promoting sterilisation of strays instead. Of course it´s a good cause, but personally I think Carla should look at the suffering of some of the animals in her own clinic first!

I don´t know why I had to go, and I was firstly a bit annoyed because it could have potentially been a dangerous situation. Going to a demonstration in a foreign country is not usually a good idea, especially somewhere like Venezuela. It was a peaceful protest, with banners and trying to get passing drivers to support us, but who knows what could have happened. But the thing that made me really mad was that I missed the sterilisation because of it. Franklin the vet asked Carla to let me stay for the operation (there were a lot of consultations in the afternoon so he was too busy then) and she said no!!!!!!

I was so angry, and I decided then that today would be my last day. Then today I went to the clinic and Franklin could see I was upset and didn´t want to do the castration project next week. Today we immediately did 5 operations, some of which I did myself or with his help, which was great, and he said that he would do the castration project with me next week (the other vet hardly speaks English, and I hardly speak Spanish, so that would be a problem). He would let Joselyn do all the consultations, and we would operate. In the end I said yes, but I will give it 2 days to see if I really do have a lot to do. If not, I´ll leave. I´m not very happy about working for Carla, because she doesn´t give a damn about me or the other volunteers, only the image of the clinic - I´m sure I was dragged to the demonstration to be in the photos so she could show everyone that even the white volunteers support her (and indeed, I´m on the front page of an Isla Margarita newspaper today!) But the most important thing for me is to get a lot of surgical experience, so I´ll give it a chance. We´ll see!

Anyway, apart from that I´ve been keeping fit still. Irene and I went to another tae-bo lesson, and afterwards stayed for a dance class but it was so complicated we had to stop halfway through! Although even some of the Venezuelan girls had trouble following it, so I didn´t feel too much like a clumsy European! Tonight we´re going out to a disco just outside the city, which should be good! And tomorrow finally a day off from the clinic.

My Spanish is improving a bit, only 2 people at the clinic speak English so I´ve had to learn the basic words and phrases which combined with sign language is working well! I keep a phrase book in my pocket all the time there (thanks Suzanne!) and I learn a few new words every day. Having said that it can´t be that great because every time Irene and I order food somewhere, they never get the order right. Also I took a taxi yesterday back to the hotel from the clinic (taxi´s are safe and cheap, only about 2 euros for a 15-20 minute journey) and the driver took me to a garage?!

I´ll keep practising!