During spring break of this year, I traveled to Costa Rica with 12 members of UNCs Chapter of The Foundation for International Medical Relief of Children (FIMRC)-as well as 2 students from Boston College and Michigan State University, to participate as a global health volunteer at FIMRCs clinic there. This organization is a chapter of the national non-profit that is based in Philadelphia. The overall mission of FIMRC is to improve maternal and child health in underserved areas of the world. I have been on previous service trips and outside of the U.S. many times before, but this was the first time I traveled to another country for volunteer work. My time in Costa Rica was one of the most unique and memorable experiences of my life so far. The only part that I regret is not being able to spend more time there. Even though we were aware that the environment and overall circumstances of the community that we were going to would be disadvantaged in comparison to our own personal lifestyles and other areas in Costa Rica and Latin America in general, there were certain things we learned and observed that were surprising and not expected. Many patients that came to the FIMRC clinic in Alajuelita had to walk at least five miles, which was extremely difficult because it is usually just the mother that comes with her children, since the clinic is primarily focused on children and secondarily focused on women.
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| (Photo courtesy of Caitlin Durr) |
La familia de intercambio: This was my first time staying with a host family, and I had no idea what to expect. I admit that I was worried about living with a family that I had never met before for just a week. I wondered: Would they like me? Would I be able to communicate with them in Spanish? What would the living situation be like? My host family experience with the Castro's turned out to be a wonderful experience. My family was extremely nice, funny, and easy to get a long with. They only spoke Spanish, so it was somewhat challenging to communicate at times because I hadn't taken Spanish since freshman year, but after the first two days I was able to understand (most) of what was going on! This was the first time I was in a situation in which I had to communicate in Spanish for long periods of time, and even in the seven days that I was there my Spanish improved a bit. This motivated experience motivated me to continue Spanish at UNC, and I will actually start taking it again this summer when I study abroad in Venezuela! My host family experience was also helped by the fact that I roomed with one of my closest friends at UNC. We were able to help each other out with communicating-often if I didn't understand something she did, and vice versa. Our host mom cooked three delicious meals a day, which was definitely a treat after living away from my own Mom's cooking for most of the year! What was great about this family is that they truly cared about my roommate and I, and were interested in our everyday experiences at the clinic, and in our lives back at Carolina.
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| With my host parents (Photo courtesy of Catherine Maier) |
La día típica en la clínica en Alajuelita: The clinic itself was a small building that consisted of one physicians office, the psychology office, a small kitchen/storage room, and a small bathroom. The back of the clinic served as a pharmacy with shelves of donated medicines and other health supplies. There were only three members on the permanent clinic staff- the physician, the psychologist, and the health program coordinator. During our time there was also a long-term ambassador who had been volunteering at the clinic and teaching a self-designed sexual education course to teenagers in Alajuelita since January During the week we worked as medical and global health volunteers. We had the opportunity to shadow the clinic's physician and psychologist, take patients vitals, prepare and present public health presentations, and spend time with the children in the community.
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| (Photo courtesy of Sarah Leyden) |
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| (Photo courtesy of Allie Stavrolakis) |
Otros actividades: After getting back from the clinic and either exploring Santa Ana or visiting San José, and eating dinner and spending time with our host families, all the volunteers met up to explore the nightlife. Because we were all of legal age in Costa Rica, we were able to go to the local bars and clubs at night! This was a fun way to interact with the locals and experience a part of Costa Rican culture outside of the health aspect. One of the coolest places we went to was a Latin dance club in Santa Ana. At first it was a culture shock- a dance floor packed with Costa Ricans doing the salsa, rumba, and merengue practically professionally when most of us had never done those dances before in our lives. However by the end of the night we had all learned the basic steps of those dances and were having a great time dancing! My personal favorite activity outside of volunteering at the clinic was playing soccer with the other volunteers and three boys in the Santa Ana neighborhood where we lived. If you're reading this and you know me, you know that I love playing soccer. It was so great to get to play with these boys who were probably only 8 or 9 years old, but extremely good! Because soccer is the most popular sport in Costa Rica as it is in Latin America as a whole, it was great that we got the chance to be out on the field and see how much people really enjoy playing or watching this sport. I loved the fact that they wanted to play with us, even though it was obvious that we clearly were American visitors.
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| (Photo courtesy of Katie Lynch) |
El fin de semana a la playa: After our last workday on Friday, we traveled to the coast, and spent Friday at Jaco beach and Saturday at Manuel Antonio beach. On Saturday morning we woke up at 6am to go ziplining above the rainforest! I was nervous at first since I have never done anything like that before, but after doing the first zipline I was extremely excited to keep on going! The beaches in Costa Rica are absolutely gorgeous, and it was a great end to a wonderful week!
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| Ziplining (Photo courtesy of Catherine Maier) |
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