Dayton high school had a great time on their very first brigade in Guachi. Even though they weren’t a traditional medical brigade, they had just as big of an impact working. They spent their mornings playing with the kids in both the grade school and the kindergarten and giving presentations about self-esteem and dental care. They brought down materials for arts and crafts and different teaching tools for the teachers. In the afternoon they worked hard painting both schools and playing soccer out front with kids from the community. By the end of the week they still had enough energy for a dinner with some of the local families and a talent show. Their energy shined through even on the rainiest of days as they all got together and had a makeshift mudslide in the lawn of the clinic. It was so great to see a young group of people so invested in the community and willing to try just about anything. We are looking forward to having them back again!
VCU at Pinares from June 12 to 23, 2012
We had a successful two weeks. We had a large group of 35 people in total and we visited several communities around Pinares, held daily clinics in Pinares, did a CHI in each of the surrounding towns and also checked up on water filters and stoves, tested water quality of filters and then cleaned and replaced broken filter parts. We also had an overnight hike to Llano de Balas that about 15 people participated in. The translators from La Ceiba were great!
University of Wyoming: Agua Salada June 30 – July 8
The University of Wyoming had a blast on the 2nd of their three yearly trips. They camped out, for the first time, in their newly finished Clinic in Agua Salada. The brigade came down in full force with 20 members ranging from Spanish majors and social workers to doctors, nurses and a dentist. In addition, one of the leaders was a midwife, and they had an engineer, Spanish teacher and a handyman fire fighter on board.
Over a span of 5 workdays they saw over 400 patients for medical consults, dentistry and via home visits including one in-home birth. In addition, the brigade worked hard teaching English classes, visiting schools, meeting with the local midwives and teaming with the community to plan the logistics of their new clinic. With all this work they still had enough energy to visit the local waterfalls and play soccer with the local kids. The community was sad to see them go and was so grateful that they decided to throw the brigade a dance party on the last night. The brigade was an over the top success and we are so excited to see them back in November! Thanks to all the members for their inspiring work and amazing enthusiastic attitude, we are eagerly awaiting your return!