carrizal

Ok so after like 2 weeks I know you all are dying to know how my week in the “country” went. (MOM!) Hehe. We went to a little pueblito called Carrizal to spend five days there researching a certain theme and learning how life is in a poor community. I choose to research about health with two other girls. We have been learning about different methods of investigation like surveys and observations. This community just got running water about four years and they were planning on getting electricity in a few months. We decided to research how the utilities have and will affect health. We spent a few days around the community talking to people about food and diseases. We also spend two days in the local clinic which was about a 45 min walk down the hill, observing (and helping) the nurse. To spare you all the details we found that there were no cases of malaria or any other major problem. The most common things were the cold and also cuts from machetes. I will attach my power point I made for the presentation so you can look at more details.
One thing that was cool was to be able to be in the clinic. The nurse was very nice (see the pic below) and we got to help out. One man came in with a really bad cut on his leg from working in the fields and I got to help clean the wound and the nurse stitched it up. She showed me how to give shots; mainly women came in for the birth control shot (which was free). I had a great time and learned that I love helping people get healthy (I got to give out multi-vitamins and prenatal vitamins) but I realized that I do not want to be a nurse.
Other than our investigation, we got to live with a family and learn about life in campo. It was intense but so good. I was really nervous at first- not going to lie. I was going to live without showing, without lights, in a dirt house with lots of animals. We lived in pairs and I got to stay with Jessica which was amazing. She was so rad. We had baby chickens in our room at night, cows outside mooing and pigs wondering around. I was so thankful I didn’t get sick. We ate a lot of beans and tortillas. I learned how to make tortillas, so cool! Other cool things were 1. one of chickens like to lay eggs and I so we would collect them and eat them for breakfast. 2. I got to watch a cow being milked 3. I lost weight that week! 3. It was a group bonding experience 4. I was able to hike around the hills and see the beauty in God’s creation 5. They grow coffee and so I got to roast coffee, grind it and drink it. SOO good! (way better than starbucks. Hehe)
Overall, it was a good week. Hard but good. I was glad to come back home to Tegus and to take a shower. I gave my presentation and my teachers loved it. It was great! I was very proud of myself after all.