Today was our first half-day of volunteering, with just our morning service commitment in the children's clinic. The day started off great with scrambled eggs, something we only get twice a week. Ryan joined us today, making our clinic group a crew of four (Adrian, Angie, myself, & now Ryan). The student group from Lafayette College is doing manual labor at the clinic, which resembles our group work in the afternoon. This makes Ryan's impact in the clinic that more important since there is a need for more support with the disabled children. Their special needs almost require one on one interaction to benefit them & there simply are not enough volunteers to stimulate the kids.
My role in triage is interesting, because I am providing both clinical support with patients & performing administrative duties throughout the day. I get to work with the kids in the inpatient ward at the end of my day & that really brings a smile to my face. There definitely is a need in the clinic for support in triage & one on one work with the kids. It definitely is a blessing to be able to do both. I feel it's really important to be working side by side with my Peruvian counterparts & I get that every day there. I never feel that I'm doing their work for them or that they take a back seat while I do the work. They are equal partners in a group effort to make the lives of needy children better.
Something that gets asked a lot is "Are we making a difference?", I definitely believe that we are. The kids really need individual attention & the minimal amount of automation in triage (at least by U.S. standards) requires a lot of walking to & from offices, records storage, & patient rooms. Having electronic patient records would be able to speed things up a bit & free up the huge space being used to store paper records. The storage room is open to the environment & the paper is subject to moisture & insects that eventually will destroy the patient records. A switch to Electronic Patient Records (EPR) could free up the storage room for diagnostic equipment or more patient rooms.
If I had to choose one thing that could make a lasting impact here in the Hogar Clinica de San Juan, it would be to implement EPR. That would take a long time & more computer infrastructure than what currently exists in the clinic. Having the opportunity to make a difference here, even if it's just for two weeks, has been really rewarding. I definitely look forward to another break trip in the future with UMD's Alternative Break program & their affiliation with UBelong.
-Will
Friday, January 13, 2012
Thursday, January 12, 2012
sometimes just let it happen
I decided to help out at a clinic in the disabled children section, even thought I feared I would not be able to find ways to contribute. And so far I learned that you don't have to overthink it. Just be there to entertain them, talk with them (spanish at work!), play with them, especially when they are left alone.
I got to realize how lucky I was as a child but I also got to address what we could call the "disabled taboo". When you come across someone with a visible disability, even with the best intentions of the world, it is often awkward. We should just behave normally, and say hi if there is eye contact!
I assume many people feel the same way, and the problem I had so far is that this need of a special reaction made me look at these persons in a different way (as they behave according to there disabilities), and I was even unconsciously assuming they had different feelings or thoughts than most people's. And this made me think the reaction is justified somehow, and it is pretty much a vicious circle.
Nevertheless, I got to meet a teenager, Manuel, with both mental and physical disabilities, and he broke this circle as he made me realized that it is not the case at all. However, it is indeed harder to find a way to express their feelings. Appearances can be really deceptive and i got one more confirmation today as Manuel actually spoke to me in English. He also happens to like poetry (he writes some in English and Spanish), and plays the guitar!
In conclusion, being with kids and teenagers makes it easy to open up and it is hopefull to see how easy connexions are made through their disabilities. The hospital is doing a great job by taking care of them and stimulating them, but the service can't deal with all the children at the same time. So i feel really good about playing with them, taking them outside. I learn a lot about myself and the interaction between human beings, but the greatest award is to see smiles on their faces :)
By: Adrien Depaillat
I got to realize how lucky I was as a child but I also got to address what we could call the "disabled taboo". When you come across someone with a visible disability, even with the best intentions of the world, it is often awkward. We should just behave normally, and say hi if there is eye contact!
I assume many people feel the same way, and the problem I had so far is that this need of a special reaction made me look at these persons in a different way (as they behave according to there disabilities), and I was even unconsciously assuming they had different feelings or thoughts than most people's. And this made me think the reaction is justified somehow, and it is pretty much a vicious circle.
Nevertheless, I got to meet a teenager, Manuel, with both mental and physical disabilities, and he broke this circle as he made me realized that it is not the case at all. However, it is indeed harder to find a way to express their feelings. Appearances can be really deceptive and i got one more confirmation today as Manuel actually spoke to me in English. He also happens to like poetry (he writes some in English and Spanish), and plays the guitar!
In conclusion, being with kids and teenagers makes it easy to open up and it is hopefull to see how easy connexions are made through their disabilities. The hospital is doing a great job by taking care of them and stimulating them, but the service can't deal with all the children at the same time. So i feel really good about playing with them, taking them outside. I learn a lot about myself and the interaction between human beings, but the greatest award is to see smiles on their faces :)
By: Adrien Depaillat
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
an update from Kun
It is about 9:00 am in Cuzco, Peru. I find myself sitting in a classroom
full of energetic kids. The first period is math. After yesterday's
brief initial contact, today was our first full day together. I was both
anxious and excited. Anxious because my Spanish is very limited. Excited
because I was imagining all the cool math tricks I can teach them. In
reality, I was struggling to follow what was going on in the class,
desperately trying to hold on to the few Spanish words I know and filling in
the rest with a high level of speculation. Figure 1 was taken after the
teacher asked a question and the class would circle up in front of the
white board, eager to give the solution. This is the picture of hope.
Surrounded by poverty, dealt a bad hand by life, these kids will overcome
things that are unimaginable to me because of the basic human drive to know
(a.k.a. curiosity). Their enthusiasm reminded me the reason why I wanted
to be an engineer. I saw my younger self in them. The first period ended
with me feeling a strong desire to learn more Spanish so I can communicate
with them more effectively.
After recess, we started the second period. The teacher was running
late, and another volunteer and I had the opportunity to lead the class.
Because of my cultural background (Chinese), the kids wanted to know how to
write simple words in Chinese. Keep in mind this communication was done
under their limited English, our limited Spanish, and a lot of drawing and
hand gesturing. This experience left me hopeful that maybe we can still
understand each other despite the language barrier. The class continued
when the teacher finally arrived with a visual memory exercise, a dance
lesson, and a lot of questions about where we are from. We ended our
morning eager to return tomorrow.
We had our lunch back at the hostel. After lunch, we went to Los Hijos del Rey
to paint their buildings. In preparation for this event, we bought the
materials the day before. We spit into two groups; one group was
responsible for scraping off the old paint, and another group was
responsible for painting the new layer. We were there for two and a half
hours. A picture is worth a thousand words, so we will let the readers
decide how we did.
By: Kun Lin
full of energetic kids. The first period is math. After yesterday's
brief initial contact, today was our first full day together. I was both
anxious and excited. Anxious because my Spanish is very limited. Excited
because I was imagining all the cool math tricks I can teach them. In
reality, I was struggling to follow what was going on in the class,
desperately trying to hold on to the few Spanish words I know and filling in
the rest with a high level of speculation. Figure 1 was taken after the
teacher asked a question and the class would circle up in front of the
white board, eager to give the solution. This is the picture of hope.
Surrounded by poverty, dealt a bad hand by life, these kids will overcome
things that are unimaginable to me because of the basic human drive to know
(a.k.a. curiosity). Their enthusiasm reminded me the reason why I wanted
to be an engineer. I saw my younger self in them. The first period ended
with me feeling a strong desire to learn more Spanish so I can communicate
with them more effectively.
After recess, we started the second period. The teacher was running
late, and another volunteer and I had the opportunity to lead the class.
Because of my cultural background (Chinese), the kids wanted to know how to
write simple words in Chinese. Keep in mind this communication was done
under their limited English, our limited Spanish, and a lot of drawing and
hand gesturing. This experience left me hopeful that maybe we can still
understand each other despite the language barrier. The class continued
when the teacher finally arrived with a visual memory exercise, a dance
lesson, and a lot of questions about where we are from. We ended our
morning eager to return tomorrow.
We had our lunch back at the hostel. After lunch, we went to Los Hijos del Rey
to paint their buildings. In preparation for this event, we bought the
materials the day before. We spit into two groups; one group was
responsible for scraping off the old paint, and another group was
responsible for painting the new layer. We were there for two and a half
hours. A picture is worth a thousand words, so we will let the readers
decide how we did.
By: Kun Lin
Monday, January 9, 2012
It begins...
We officially arrived yesterday in Cusco, excited and anxious to begin our volunteer experience in the community. We started the trip with a quick tour, volunteer orientation and a warm meal of soup, chicken, rice and bananas with chocolate. It was amazing to get a quick glimpse of the city, with its many cathedrals, and nooks and crannies full of wonder. We were exhausted from our two-day journey to Cusco, and fell into bed asleep at the end of the night. So what brought the 11 of us here? Here's a little background about our immersion:
Our Alternative Winter Break experience focuses on childhood development and poverty in Cusco, Peru. We will provide support to educational institutions that assist underprivileged children in the indigenous Quechua community. Beyond the well-preserved Inca walls, a large percentage of the children in the city are forced into labor or left behind as their parents travel into the lowlands seeking employment. Abuse, illiteracy and neglect are common, and early childhood malnutrition affects over a quarter of the children in Cusco, most of who arrive from poverty-stricken Quechua communities.
Our Issue
Our service projects are caregiving and educational in nature. We will serve local initiatives targeted at providing disadvantaged children emotional and social support. Three of us will work at a center dedicated to the nutritional rehabilitation of malnourished children. Most of the children are 3 to 5 years old and come from poor families living in the outskirts of Cusco. Another five volunteers will serve in after school care centers. The centers have classrooms where the children receive preparatory education for grade school. We will work with teachers to help create more interactive and student-centered learning environments. We hope to bring enthusiasm to class activities, and engage the children to help them learn and stay motivated. Lastly, three of our teammates will volunteer at a local sports center and assist in entertaining and organizing athletic activities for the local children.
Our service projects are caregiving and educational in nature. We will serve local initiatives targeted at providing disadvantaged children emotional and social support. Three of us will work at a center dedicated to the nutritional rehabilitation of malnourished children. Most of the children are 3 to 5 years old and come from poor families living in the outskirts of Cusco. Another five volunteers will serve in after school care centers. The centers have classrooms where the children receive preparatory education for grade school. We will work with teachers to help create more interactive and student-centered learning environments. We hope to bring enthusiasm to class activities, and engage the children to help them learn and stay motivated. Lastly, three of our teammates will volunteer at a local sports center and assist in entertaining and organizing athletic activities for the local children.
Our goal will also be to communicate with the children in a way that broadens their view about different people and places. Infrastructure problems, insufficient number of qualified teachers, overcrowded classes and shortage of educational materials continue to negatively impact the quality of children’s education in the city of Cusco. Our involvement will help support resource-poor kindergartens and an elementary school for children from local Quechua communities plagued by chronic poverty.
As a group, we will also unite to work in a construction project at a local elementary school. We will be connecting with a local community members to repair and restore vital areas of the building. We we also be painting classrooms and fixing the deteriorating bathrooms in the school.
So, today we will begin our service-learning experience. Stay tuned for more!
- Ana and Lily
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)