Finally got to talk to Amy

I was finally able to talk to Amy today. She brought up a lot of really great points for me to think about while I do the study in Mexico. I will highlight a few things. She mentioned that there were a lot of cultural differences that she didn't think of before getting there. - Kind of like we've been learning in class- :) For instance the Ghanaian perception of exercise is a lot different than the American idea. We think its no big deal to go for a run- or we even want to because we know that will help us stay fit. The Ghanaians don't need to exercise to stay fit. The things that they do everyday keep them fit. They walk everywhere and they do a lot of physical labor. So to go for a run is like torturing yourself. In addition, they don't have physical education in the schools there so they are not used to being told how to exercise or stay fit and they definitely are not used to fitness assessments.When Amy would test the kids, she would have them do side bridges etc for as long as they could and they would think it was so pointless- how can that determine if you are strong or you can work hard etc? For them it was like she was torturing them. So she said it would have been better to have them perform some sort of functional task determined by their culture- like carry a load on their heads- which they do all the time and measure that some how. I'm not sure what kinds of functional tests I could give the kids in Mexico- maybe something to do with a soccer ball. I'll have to think about that.
When I spoke to my Mexican friend for the Methods 1 interview- she said that they do have PE in Mexico and they have fitness testing in the lower levels. So I can anticipate that the kids are somewhat used to it but I am sure there will be some differences from the United States and the kids/all the people will have a difficult time understanding why I am making them do what I am will make them do. I'm not sure what these differences will be. I think I will talk to another Mexican that I know about this.
Amy also told me how she did her recruiting and I think it sounds genius and so simple that I wish I had thought of it before. She went through the teacher and sent letters home to the parents for them to sign giving kids permission to participate in the study. One thing she said she wished she'd had was to be able to meet the parents. The area she was in was fairly large and so she couldn't go meet all the parents there. But my area will be small and so it will be much easier for me to meet the parents and discuss the project with them and just in general build rapport. Also, this way I can make sure that they understand what the study is for because she said that she felt that a lot of people signed the form without really knowing what it was - especially since it wasn't in their native language.
There were several other insights that I got from Amy- mostly concerning timing and how to conduct the project. So it was a really good meeting. One sort of take home message that she said was- try to anticipate all the cultural differences that will affect your project but realize that you can't actually anticipate them all.