X-Ray 9 on Maternal Health and MDG 5

X-Ray 9 are currently undertaking a project which supports the development of a health centre and the delivery of health services in the Conte Burika Indigenous Territory. Before this health post the community in this remote area had to walk up to 8 hours to receive medical support. 

X-Ray 9 interviewed 3 generations of one family in their community of La Carona, her is what Anastasia 56, Joclene 27 and Daisy 11 said:

In the indigenous community of La Carona, Conte Burika 200 women live an 8 hour walk away from the nearest available healthcare, the majority of the babies are delivered by their grandmothers and pregnancy care is only available once every two months.

This blog was written by Fay pictured with help from PM Medic Marisa and X-Ray 9

Anastasia, 56, mother of 7 children says;
I was born in Conte Burika in a village close to the border with Panama. This is where I grew up, got married and had my first child at the age of 15. During my pregnancy and the delivery of my children there was no medical care for me or my family. We had to walk 8 hours to the nearest clinic or wait for the doctor to come out. The doctors visits were unpredictable and often only happened a few times a year.In total I had seven children, two children died in their infancy. When I was 26 I moved to La Corona. I have lived here taking care of my family ever since.

Indigenous dress is worn by the Ngobe ladies. They speak their own language alongside Spanish

Jocelene, 27, mother of 5 children and daughter of Anastasia says;
I was born in La Corona. I went to school in a village called Alto Guyami which was a three hour walk away there and back every day till the age of 14 when I left school to get married to a man from the village. During all my pregnancies health care was unavailable, the only person that helped me was my mother. I beleive that the healthpost is very important for the women of this village, for this generation and the next. I hope it will give them the help and support that I wish I had received.
 
Daisy, 11, daughter of Joclene says;
Just like my brothers and sisters I was born in La Carona. Every day I wake at 5am to help my mother clean the house and prepare breakfast. At 7am I leave for school which, now, is only a 10 minute walk away thanks to the new school building built by Raleigh. In the afternoon I help my mother with my younger brothers and sisters. When I finish school here I want to go to the big city to become a doctor so that when I come back home I can help my mum and everyone in the village in the medical centre.

Raleigh and Health

X-Ray: PM Denise, Sebastian, Akalia, Katy and Fay working hard to complete the health post

Millennium Development Goal 5 calls for improvement to Maternal Health. Women will often take the role of primary caregivers in families. This can mean that lack of healthcare of medical facilities often has far great an impact on the women in a household. Maternal mortality is a particular problem and the effects are felt all the more in poor and rural areas. ‘About 800 women die from pregnancy- or childbirth-related complications around the world every day. In 2010, 287 000 women died during and following pregnancy and childbirth. Almost all of these deaths occurred in low-resource settings, and most could have been prevented.’ (WHO-http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs348/en/index.html) Raleigh's project in Conte Burika is positively contributing to MDG 5.

These women were interviewed by Fay Koster who then spent thirty painstaking minutes dictating the interview five words at a time to Fieldbase over the radio, in order to bring these amazing stories to you on International Women's Day.

Find out more about the UN and their actions to support IWD >

Blink and you'd have missed it

So another Raleigh phase has gone by quicker than a meteor flashing over the Cheviots; here’s a run through of the endeavours of those fine Raleigh guys and gals’

Our trek groups have routed their respective routes. X Ray 1 delved through the heart of Costa Rica, almost coast to coast. Beginning in Barbilla National Park they have breached the continental divide and are celebrating their success at Punta Judas. Whilst Turrisantos may sound like a beach resort, apparently its completely the opposite. And you need to like peanuts. and tang. and getting slightly lost. but mainly peanits.

X Ray 2 conquered the Corcovado, tackling the eponymous national park and La Amistad in the hot and humid southwest of Costa Rica. They finished with three days striding the sands at Playas Madrigal, Carate and Piro.

X Ray 3, up in Nicaragua, mastered the Miratombo trek, with their final days in the Maribios Volcano chain, enjoying stunning views of Volcan Momotombo and Lake Managua. They visited many communities along the way, were treated to food by smiling hosts, slept on volcanoes, traversed deserts and rivers, all celebrating in style at Lake Asoscosas.

X Ray 4 have completed their work on the ‘Quebrada Bonita’ trail in Carara National Park, enjoying a day trip to Playa Hermosa, and celebrating several birthdays throughout the phase. The traditional celebratory energy bomb cake was pimped with addition of oreos. Must have been some huge sugar crashes down in Carara after that...

X Ray 5 in La Amistad have also been productive on the ‘Gigantes del Bosque’ trail (Giants of the Forest’. They have enjoyed various outings to the swimming pool in Altimira, a local farmers market, and to the Valley of Silence Ranger station where Raleigh undertook a project a few years ago.

X Ray 6, after 18 days of pouring rain, finally had a day of sun! They have been working at Volcan Tenorio, undertaking an overhaul of the path to the waterfall on the aquamarine Rio Celeste.

X Ray 7 have continued the work of Alpha 7 on the adobe brick houses in La Naranjita, mixing mud and ‘old man’s beard’ to create a ‘cement’ between the bricks, alongside trips to Esteli and visits to X Ray 8...

...who have completed the community centre in San Jose! This was celebrated with a fiesta yesterday afternoon, featuring all the classics - pass the parcel and some rather competitive musical chairs. They too undertook trips to Esteli, visiting the cigar factory and there was a barely a dry eye when they said good bye on Tuesday morning.

Finally, X Ray 9 in Dorbata. In their one phase, they whipped up a school building faster than a Groundforce montage and have enjoyed the good life in the beautiful surrounds of Chirripo Indigenous Territory. The school is already in use and the group enjoyed a game of football with the locals, the torrential downpour during the fixture making the Brits feel truly at home.

They’ll all be back at HQ tomorrow for all the fun and games of changeover so stayed tuned for the latest goings on at Raleigh Costa Rica and Nicaragua.

Dorbata, Chirripo Indigenous Reserve X Ray 9

Quietly and unassumingly, hidden down in the Chirripo Indigenous Territory, X Ray 9 have constructed their school building with the energy and vigour of an army of thousands. Indeed, such is their progress that on Saturday morning they celebrated the opening ceremony with the local community.

Apparently the group don't have time for words, preferring to let their actions do the talking, so treat yourself to a mug of the hot stuff, settle in your favourite chair and enjoy X 9's photos from Dorbata.

It is also worth pointing out that an envelope of electronic proportions, featuring a smorgasbord of photos from our Nicaraguan groups landed in our inbox this morning so check back through the blog to see some digital depictions of the X Ray Groups in action.

Chirripo calling... news from X-Ray 9

Hello relatives and friends of X-Ray 9. We’ve been in Dorbata for over 10 days now and we’ve made great progress building a school for the indigenous population. Although it’s work in progress, it’s been put to good use as a stargazing platform and an impromptu bedsit.

The group are now happy residents of our jungle camp, including hand cut bamboo. This has produced a number of funny incidents such as monsoon rains forcing 11 out of the 14 members to find refuge in the hut. Only Brayan, Matt and Rob managed to sleep through the night. We’ve now acquired a whole community of furry friends including a few dogs turning up for dinner, one of which is particularly underfed and has been adopted by Josie as Skeletor. This morning Sophie was awoken by a cow attempting to join her on the basher. Unfortunately there is only room for one...the cow won.

In terms of our actual project, the walls are starting to come up with the help of Ciara and her magical spirit level, you know, the one used to measure ghosts... Alex and Fred, our residents Belgians, are attempting to learn Spanish whilst hard at work with varying levels of success. As we’re writing this, Jay, our group mother, is complaining about our lack of hygiene. Yes Ravenna, you should’ve cleaned up today. Danny’s beard is coming along nicely, long enough so that braids can be constructed.

Yzza our most talented photographer (well she has the best camera) has turned out to be our most devious card player. We celebrated Ciara’s birthday on the 10th with cake and a homemade piñata constructed by Adri and Jay. Dara has been rejected membership to the latino club by Adri and Brayan. The camp has been pimped up as we have no running water or electricity. Despite Rob constructing a shower, Matt has eclipsed his tenth day of no showering and if he makes it through phase, he will receive 15 Oreo packets from Dara.

So, as you can gather, we’ve been very productive. Everyone’s looking forward to Bravo’s visit and building a bridge for the locals, all in time for the school’s inauguration, where we hope to celebrate with the whole community.

X-Ray 9 out.

X-Ray projects, some background

Many of you undoubtedly read the previous post regarding X-Ray allocations and spied some new locations in amongst some familiar names. Well observed. Whilst some of the groups will be continuing the work undertaken by the awesome Alphas, a couple of new projects have cropped up which I will give you a background.

The Turrisantos and Corcovado treks, as you may have guessed, are the same as those that ran in Phase One, albeit with one new addition, the Miratombo trek, which will be tackled by X-Ray 3 during the phase. Starting up in the north of Nicaragua, near to Esteli. This route snakes its way through the Miraflor and Estanzuela wildlife reserve, and for the second half of its duration, the mighty Volcan Momotombo remains within sight; the trekkers celebrate the trip’s climax in the crater lake of Asososca.

Environmental efforts continue at Carara and La Amistad National Parks, with X-Ray 4 and 5 respectively, however the new kid on the block is Volcan Tenorio, visited by X-Ray 6. Located in the north of Costa Rica in Guanacaste province, it is notorious for the ultramarine Rio Celeste, which attains its colour due to mineral deposits and the emanation of sulphur from the volcano. Whilst in the park, X-Ray 6 will be repairing access trails alongside constructing a stair case down to a waterfall on the Celeste. This is one of several projects Raleigh will have undertaken on Volcan Tenorio; previous Raleigh groups assisted with the constructions of a bridge and Latin America’s first disabled access pathway in a rainforest.

X-Rays 7 and 8 will carry on the community projects undertaken in La Naranjita and San Jose up in Miraflor, Nicaragua, whereas X-Ray 9, in a new project, have swung south to Dorbata, in the Chirripo Indigenous Territory which is located on the Caribbean slope in the Matama area. Populated by the Cabecar indigenous people, one of the largest groups in Costa Rica, X-Ray 9 will be constructing a school in the area, which due to its remoteness, is generally only accessible by foot. The majority of the population are subsistence farmers, with one notable import to the community being football boots!

We will of course, bring you news and views from the projects as they break. If you haven’t already, whet your appetite by checking out the fantastic photo review of phase one (see the link on the left hand toolbar), composed by Ale. I can assure you it only gets better the more you watch it.

X-Ray Exodus

In the mere blink of an eye our Alpha groups have returned, eaten us out of house and home, regrouped, and flown the nest in the form of X-Ray groups. Phase Two is underway. Just two days ago, all was calm at Fieldbase. In a jam packed schedule we’ve welcomed and initiated our Explorers at ‘jungle’ camp, taken the Expedition 12B photo, seen our groups relay the story of phase one in their skits, reformed and ‘broken the ice’ with our new X-Ray groups, and last night celebrated the end of changeover with a super-heroes and villains fancy dress party. They’ll be off for 19 days on a variety of projects, some of which involve continuing work undertaken by the Alpha groups in phase one, some of which are new for expedition. The groups are as follows:

X-Ray 1 – Turrisantos Trek

Clare Wright
Daniel Saborio
Francesca Hodge
Elliot Gordon
Callum E Hunter
Danielle Dowding
Diana Hindle Fisher
Jack Bannenberg
Jose Pablo Castilo Halabi
Lauren Davidson
Phoebe Mackenzie Smith
Savan Shah
Sophie I Jenkins
Lisa Steinmetz
Sam Horbye

X-Ray 2 – Corcovado Trek

Afsana Tahirova
Joseph Donovan
Harry Verma
Dougal Mackenzie Smith
Erika Lobo Sánchez
Louisa Treadwell
Mary Dashfield
Max de Kroon
Valeria Vasquez Cruz
Jonathan Sacarello
Alexi Meghir
Joshua Biggs O'May
Fosca Meyjes

X-Ray 3 – Miratombo Trek (*New*)

Caroline Bolt
Jonathan Baguley
Kelly Mcpherson
Oliver Thomas
Wing Tung Wong
Deyanira Monterrey Centeno
Jarol Jassiel Tercero Morales
Jessica Emerson
Mark Wardle
Rosemary Henry
Samuel Marsden
Sian Lewis
Thea Mikkelsen
Ting Phoa
George Batt

X-Ray 4 – Carara National Park

Alexander E Dennis
Katie Philpott
Lucinda Ryan
Charlotte Rombaut
Ileana Boyes
James Barlow
Julian Heckmatt
Liam J Ward
Mark J Fearon
Nicole R Waller
Sjoerd B Baardman
Tess P de Jongh
Véronique Driebeek
Daniel Meza
Markus Hjorth

X-Ray 5 – La Amistad National Park

Danielle Percival
Matthew Jewers
Gareth Price-Baghurst
Alfredo Salas Garro
Valeria Celeste Polimeni Solís
Anthony Gallagher
Julie Balfour
Kevin Ho
Neneh Mae Whiting
Phillip Houghton
Rachelle Bent
Louis Manders
George Moody
Amelia Christie-Miller

X-Ray 6 – Volcan Tenorio (*New*)

Amanda Payne-Danson
Roeland Terpstra
Mohammed Benyamin Chowdhury
Maria G Gerono
Mercedes White
Benedict J Maclean
Allegra Dowley
Edward M Lilley
George K Cosgrove
Gustavo Badilla Araya
Hannah Voisin
Pamela Quesada Gutierrez
Simon Webb
Sonia Deiters
Timothy J Welander

X-Ray 7 – La Naranjita, Miraflor

Alex Beaumont
Fiona Arakelian
Amanda H Petersson
Amy Craddock
Claire F Edgley
Eika S Webb
Istvan Josue Sepulveda Hernandez
Jack T Griffin
Joni Antonio Moreno Gonzáles
Marvin Uriel Perez Villarreyna
Thomas S Edney
Louis J Worrall
Harvey Burgess
Emma Tivey

X-Ray 8 – San Jose, Miraflor

Jemma Grundon
Jessica Soane
Victoria Brennan
Andrew C Sweerts
James J Wildgoose
Anna Blackwell
Azelle Egbe
Charles A Pilkington
Georgina H Webster
Hanko Gerritsen
Holly K Courtier
Jezreel Lezama
Michael Modesto Romero Herrera
Roisin M Carson
Fleur Jansen

X-Ray 9 – Dorbata, Chirripo Indigenous Reserve (*New*)

Adrianna Rodriguez
Daniel Walsh
Jayshree Jadav
Robert F Sutton-Mattocks
Alexandre Bello
Frederik van Landegem
Brayan Lobo Fallas
Ciara Atkinson
Dara M Sternberg
Josephine Killen
Matthew F Moore
Ravenna A Westerhout
Sophie G van Woerkom
Yzza R Slaoui


From hereon in, if you wish to send a message, please put the NAME OF RECIPIENT and their X-RAY GROUP. Makes admin a little easier. Thanks!