Week 9

I can’t believe I have already completed 8 weeks of training. Time sure has flown by. I am sitting in a cyber in my new site, where I plan to serve as a community health educator for two years. The name of the city is San Isidro and it is in the department of Matagalpa. The ambiance and topographical landscape is something to be forgotten. San Isidro sits on a plateau, surrounded on three sides by hills (mountains, as they are called in Nicaragua). The climate here is a little cooler then the typical climate of Nicaragua, say Mangaua, but March to May are the hottest months of the year in Nicaraugua wherever you are. The climate and topography of San Isidro reminds me a lot of my training town St. Teresa, just with pretty views of hills. I took some pictures and I will try to post them on the blog in the coming week.

So far my site visit has been going pretty well. This past Friday, I met one of my colleagues that I will be collaborating work with during my two years of service. He’s 25 and his specialty is in working with the Ministry of Health to educate the people of San Isidro and reduce the number of vector borne disease, such as malaria and dengue. The host family I am living with now during my 6 day site visit, and which I will be living with for at least the first 6 weeks of my service is very nice and welcoming of me. My parents are quite young, my father is the pastor at a local Evangelical, Pentecostal church he is 49. My mom is 37. My parents have 3 boys, ages 13, 10 and 8. Like many Nicaraguan families, there are many cousins, nephews and nieces in my host family because my mom is one of 11 children and most of the relatives also live in San Isidro.

Today, I got my first glimpse of the Health Center in San Isidro. It is quite large and seems to get ample resources, human and capital, because it is well kept and the staff seem very competent. I am planning on spending at least a part of my days during service here in the health center. Right next to the Health center is a newly inaugurated house for pregnant woman. San Isidro´s health center serves 52 outlying rural communities and when a women is ready to give birth it is very difficult for her to get to the health center in San Isidro let alone the nearest hospital that is in La Trinidad, about 17 km away from San Isidro. Therefore, about 2 or 3 weeks before the due date for the baby, pregnant women from rural areas near San Isidro can come stay and make food for themselves in the house for mothers to be, similar to a hotel. I also believe that the health center is staffed to deliver babies as well, so it is convenient and a good thing that there is a house for mothers to be now. I plan and giving lessons to the pregnant women on risk factors and warning signs of pregnant women.

All in all I am quite impressed with my new site, where I will be stationed for 2 years. I am nervous and excited at the same time, in figuring out how I am going to inititate all these great ideas I have learned in training, my own ideas and how I can help the people of San Isidro realize their own wants and needs!