Global Health Practicums

After returning from village stays, the global health students went back to their practicums for one final week. -Lia and Selina share their experiences below.

       I, Selina, went back to the Centro de Esperanza Infantil-- the volunteer center for an organization called Oaxaca Street Children. The mission of this non-profit, grassroots organization is to improve the lives of marginalized children by giving them access to an education. The center supports children through university, and provides them with the tools and support they need to complete their education.

On an average week I would arrive in the morning and help the children there with their homework, and play games with them once they were finished. Then they would eat a nutritious lunch provided by the center before going to school in the afternoon. This past week was different however, due to the fact that the kids were on vacation. Vacation means no lunch is served at the center, and for a few kids also meant no homework. These two factors diminished incentive for the kids to attend. However, some kids did still come, as their alternative was hanging out in the Zócalo or on Alcalá with their street vendor parents.


      We spent time reading books, doing homework (turns out some kids had a lot of work to do over break) and playing. I also translated some letters from the kids’ sponsors from English to Spanish. I helped my buddy Javier, 5, (pictured above) learn how to write his name. Overall it was a much more laid back week for me. The global health students ended it by meeting up on Friday at SURCO and doing presentations about our practicums. It was fun and interesting to see what everyone else had been up to the past few weeks, seeing as I only had a rough idea of what my classmates had been doing! I am still continuing to visit the center a few times a week, as I have free time in the afternoon and didn’t want to say bye to my little friends yet. This experience was truly a wonderful one for me and although saying bye will be very hard, I am so grateful I got to be a part of these kids’ lives for a short time nonetheless.


 


       Lia, Mary and Ben returned to the Centro de Salud in Arrazola where they began a project in collaboration with the health clinic.  To figure out a theme or message to focus on, we met with some of the doctors who felt that the community could benefit from information on the prevention and warning signs of child cancer.  In order to handle this topic beautifully yet effectively, our teacher Jonathan was able to enlist the help of his goddaughter and local artist, Erendira.  With her expertise we were able to construct a sketch that represented a healthy lifestyle on one side, contrasted with symptoms and potential causes of cancer on the other.

   A group of students from the University of California Davis were in town for the week on an alternative Spring break trip.  We rallied them to join us in the painting process which allowed the project to be completed in just two scorching hot days.  It was great to have “real” artist on board, not only for her expertise but also to continue practicing our spanish.  She was very patient as Mary and I attempted to express our creative visions of kids juggling fruit on a bicycle and frolicking through the milpa (a traditional form of Mexican agriculture).  Here you can see Mary and Benito beginning the initial outline as based on the gridded sketch drawn out by Erendira.  On the right, Lia poses proudly with her paintbrush among her new UC Davis friends while Ben reaches down from the roof to paint some fresh air.

After a slightly more stressful first two weeks of the practicum doing outreach and education in the local secondary school, we were glad to blow off some creative steam with this project.  If there’s one lesson I learned on that last day, it’s to never underestimate the strength of the Oaxacan sun, no matter how tan I think I’ve gotten!  Putting my sunburned skin aside, it was great to see the community come together to make this happen, from Saul of Eco Alebrijes who supplied us with paint to the woman who volunteered the side of her house for the mural.  We are grateful for the learning opportunities and relationships we formed while interning at the clinic, as well the welcoming support and enthusiasm they gave us for the mural.
Side note:  If anyone at home receives an alebrije as a gift from their beloved UVM’er, this is the town those colorful wooden figures are made.

Hasta luego!
Lia and Selina