Teaching Brain Neurology

I have to say I have been know for my lofty ideas and sometimes they are winners and some are loser and some times they work out but not in the way I planned on either way I would not change any of them. This is the case with my idea for teaching about nutrition for the brain also explain how the brain works. A few months ago my friend Dara from world vision asked me if I could create a lesson for this health fair I was like sure but he stated he wanted me to try to do it without anyone translating it so you would think I would aim low. However I though hum they actually gave me a month to prepare I can have my khmer tutor help me and though some talk I was like well it would be cool to buy a cows brain and start a lesson with it. I thought I could play tag with them by showing them how the synapse and axon dendrites enzymes etc work then after teach them about nutrition. I tried to plan all this out so their was lots of games sadly though I was misinformed about the age they told me like 11-12 which would have worked but when I got to said out reach it was like 8 years old so a bit advanced. Not to worry though Dara just had to re explain everything I said in Khmer. I had some pictures to the tag also failed they ended up playing a Khmer version of tag that is called chicken but that is how things go sometimes. The nutrition lesson went smooth I had a poster some cards and they all played a game and understood the lesson kids in Cambodia are pretty smart with all the foods and names I swear I don’t know some names of fruit in English I only can call them the name in Khmer now. It was funny though because even with them being on different teams they still cheated with each other see pictures it cracked me up. In between all of this I played some Khmer games with them Dara made up some balloon bursting game were the kids had to bit on the balloon. Its cool when I have the opportunity to participate in a big out reach project like this one it gives me a chance to plan something bigger try new things out see if I can help teach things to village that most people automatically assume are above the heads of village people. While I can say there was not a real grasp on the brain neurology it did start them to think more about the human body and instead of just telling them eat good so your healthy I took a first step for them to think about how the body runs on food and how important the brain is. On another note I have put my hat in the ringer for my Peace Corps extension I word it this way because they only have 3 spots and 10 people want it =( and I am not exactly a favorite however they have asked that I try to partnership with an ngo to take on some of the cost and that it would help my chances. Due to money as well I may have to for go my ride home this summer, which is sort of a downer. The thing is this is how I look at it either way I am going to be working in Cambodia and will not have money to go back and forth so its not the worst thing. My action plan for my 3^rd year ideally would be to work in gender and development I have emailed USAID Gender branch to see if I could work with them I also met with the U.N Women to see if I could have a chance to do something with them. Now I am not delusional I know gender is not on to many peoples top list so I have other plans for public health as well though world vision who I work with already or khana or I recently have met with Marie Stoops they work on family planning and I really admire all that they do for reproductive rights. Other then this I have no real plan of action just to keep working in Cambodia. Until next peace out from the other side of the world!