To
be quite honest, I was a little anxious when I found out that my OTS group and
I would be going into the small community of La Quinta in the heart of Managua,
Nicaragua, to visit residents door-to-door on October 3, 2017. Despite this, I
knew that we were going to learn about a great cause and help them in their
work, so I packed away my nerves and tried to be as open as possible to the day
ahead of me. I cannot be more thankful that I did, because it turned out to be
a truly wonderful opportunity.
We visited the neighborhood of La
Quinta to learn about the ongoing health initiatives there and the people
behind them. The “brigadistas” (volunteers and area facilitators of the
Sustainable Sciences Institute) welcomed us with a bright banner and very
excited introductions. They were charged with educating their community members
about the spread of infectious diseases and how to prevent them. The brigadistas
began by showing us how they sought out mosquito larvae, as mosquitoes are
responsible for carrying and transmitting many problematic diseases such as
Zika, Dengue fever, and Chikungunya among Central American communities. After learning
how to collect samples, we were paired up with a brigadista and sent
door-to-door to check homes for mosquito larvae and to eliminate any standing
water that we found. We then took the samples to a local elementary school to teach
the children about the mosquitoes, their life cycle, and some basic prevention
methods.
Overall, this was a really fantastic
experience. All of the people that I encountered were really excited about our
interest in their work and very friendly. It was amazing to see that these
volunteers -many of them just older kids and young adults- genuinely loved what
they did and cared so deeply for their communities. It was so inspiring to see
the effort that these individuals were willing to put forth to improve the
quality of life for everyone in their neighborhoods. Experiences like these
really make you think about all of the little things that can be done to
improve the lives of those around us and to make a better future for us all. This
experience also reminded me that anyone, no matter age or ability, can be a
great force of change in the world. Sometimes making a difference requires
little more than an initiative and some dedicated individuals!
This photo
was taken of the brigadistas of La Quinta along with the members and faculty of
the OTS Tropical Diseases, Environmental Change, and Human Health program.
Picture credits go to the dual effort of one of the residents of La Quinta and Christian
Valverde.
No comments:
Post a Comment