Day 7, by Amber Kelly
Today we reviewed our charts in order to fill out the census form we needed to provide to the Nicaraguan government. Going through my charts, I counted a total of 46 patients that I saw over the 3 days. I counted my diagnoses, how many medications I gave, how many times I provided health education, and the age ranges that I treated. Reviewing these numbers reminded me of how much good I was able to do in a such a short amount of time.
Sometimes in the moment, you get so exhaused that all you can think about is yourself and how you are glad to be done and take a break. It was good to go back after I had some rest and see an overall view of how much we really did with our short time.
After getting some work done we all went in the pool. The day was nice and sunny until about 4:00pm when it suddenly starting pouring rain. The pool was warm and we are in such a beautiful place so why would we spend our time inside?! We all spent time in the pool in the pouring rain and could not stop saying how amazing it felt. This team has been such an amazing group of people that have embraced every aspect of this trip. It was an amazing moment to just enjoy the people I was surrounded by, enjoy the beautiful surroundings, and just be grateful for this trip as a whole."
Day 8, by Payton Schwesinger
It's the night before we fly home, and it feels so surreal. I remember being so nervous for this trip a week ago- a country I had never been to with people I didn't really know for 9 days, with bugs, different foods, and no idea exactly what I was getting myself into. Now, all of that seems so misplaced- I had an amazing trip, LOVE all of these people, and learned more about myself than I ever expected to.This trip was out of my comfort zone- I didn't see myself as the type of person who could do this. But I said "Yes." And then I kept saying "Yes."
Yes to driving in the bed of trucks down Nicaraguan highways. Yes to fried plantains in all different forms. Yes to walking up to strangers and using my limited Spanish to ask about their names, their kids, and if I could take photos of them. Yes to the two girls who wanted their pictures taken in front of the trucks, the swings, the stairs, the bench, and anywhere else they could lead me. And yes to doing whatever I could to help this community, even if it felt small.
I feel so incredibly blessed to have been a part of this team and witness the impact we were able to make on this trip. I am already looking forward to another one! Until then, I hope I can take what I've learned back to my "normal" life: small things still make a difference, and good things can happen when you just keep saying "Yes."
Day 9, by Julian Espinosa
Wow! It’s the last day already. Feels like we’ve been here for a month now. But the weird thing is as it’s the last day it also feels like we just got here. That’s got to be some sort of phenomenon.
This morning the team woke up in Laguna De Apoyo. It’s a really beautiful place that’s close to the airport. We didn’t want to be deep in the country on our travel day and it’s only 40 mins away. I woke up earlier to be able to get Gaby our translator to the airport because her flight was much earlier than ours. Due to the team coming, I figured I might as well stay in the area and wait for them. Of course, as the theme of the trip was pivots I had to
pivot again. I didn’t have any cell service at the airport and there wasn’t a great place to stay, so I decided to go back with the taxi driver to pick up the team.
The taxis that picked us up didn’t have enough room so we had to get a third to fit our luggage. Our plan was to go to souvenir shopping but we ran out of time. We even ran out of time to get lunch. We headed straight to the airport and waited 30 minutes before we were able to check our luggage because we got there too early. We lost Mandeep and Garrett as they went to find food. As it turns out they went through customs. We all made it through no problems.
The food that the boys found was actually some of the best food. It was home cooked and great ingredients. We waited several hours for our flight. I even fell asleep on the seats in the waiting area! Our flights weren’t too bad. I was in and out of sleep. I ended up finding a row that open so I had that to myself. When we landed and got through the airport there was a sense of comfort being back in the states. While driving on the freeway, it was a sense of feeling safe. It was amazing to shower with hot water and get into a comfortable bed with air conditioning.
Anyways, 10 out of 10 trip, would totally do it again. Can’t wait to go back!
