Go Make a Difference

When I talked to Meagan this spring about her trip, one of the most important things she said to me was that I would gain a lot more from the people I worked with than I would contribute to them. While I understood the idea at the time - I had no real medical training and I'd heard nothing but inspirational stories about Nicaraguan people - I still hoped that I could make some kind of contribution. That's what volunteers are supposed to do!

It's tricky, though, because unlike Jason, I don't have extensive training that I can use to teach dozens of recruits how to save lives! I can micropipette, sure, but it's not as if the other women in the lab wouldn't get by without me. Brianne said that she was feeling the same way last week, so we set out to find a way to actually make a difference while we're here. She said that while she was in the clinic recently, a woman asked how she got a vaginal infection. (This might be gross, skip to the next paragraph if you're squeamish. Or a boy.) The women here have never been taught to wipe front to back! Whaaaaat?

It became clear to Brianne that we had an opportunity to make a difference while mixing my two great loves: health science and education! She suggested that we go into schools a few times a week to teach workshops to the students about health and nutrition. It will mostly be about preventing sicknesses, I think, but tailored to the age group: we'll teach the younger children about washing their hands, for example, and the older ones about STIs. We won't be teaching firefighters to shock hearts, but we'll be saving lives all the same.

So today, when we went to the private school with Jason to teach basic hands-on CPR to a group of 15-year-olds, we also asked the sub-director if we could come teach our health class a few days a week. We were worried that there would be a bit of a struggle given that there are nuns working in the school and we wanted to talk about STIs, but we lucked out and the lady said yes right away! I'm really excited to get into the schools and start interacting with the students; although our Spanish leaves a lot to be desired, we could tell that they're interested.

Even without the Spanish, we can connect at some level! While we were waiting at the school (they invited us to come at ten but it was recess until ten-thirty; Nica time at its finest) there was a girl with Down Syndrome sitting outside the gate. It was great to see her in school because José says that most children with Down Syndrome or autism end up shut up at home because nobody has the patience to teach them. She seemed a little upset, though, so Brianne went to sit beside her and rub her back. Within five minutes, there was giggling and hugging and a lot of smiles. It was probably one of the highlights of my day - the others being the amazing banana flambé we made together this evening, and having the firefighters open the hood of the ambulance in the middle of an exam because they were writing on the hood and dropped a pen inside!

All in all, I have to say that despite being frustrated with Spanish and feeling like I'm just sitting around until my placement starts, things are looking up. I think I'll be able to make a difference after all.