My First Day on the Job

Normally, when I start a new job, I create a 90 day plan for myself along with set objectives and I set up 1:1s with essential people. Since I didn´t know what I would do at the clinic, I arrived with just my flexibility and enthusiasm to help. I´m volunteering with Primeros Pasos www.primerospasos.org that provides basic healthcare to children in a rural community. A quarter of all deaths in Guatemala is due to infant mortality. Primeros Pasos is working to reduce that number through health education programs and easy access to healthcare.

Every school in the region is granted a free visit to the clinic once a year for an annual checkup. Today, the kids, aged 4 to 7 from a local school, arrived in mass. I started the day by weighing them, taking their height measurements and giving them high cincos (5´s) when they arrived while the other volunteers registered the students and checked their stool samples for parasites. Under a microscope, I saw my first parasite, a circular blog that wiggles around and causes mass unhappiness to its unwilling victim.

Then, I attended one of the health education classes that I hope to teach once my Spanish improves. I even learned a new tip or two on hygiene and nutrition. The teacher organized games for the students to learn how to wash their hands properly, brush their teeth, throw trash in the trashcan and tell the difference between good and bad foods. When the teacher put up a picture of McDonald´s fries, the children all agreed that the fries are good until the teacher convinced them slowly otherwise.

Afterwards, I watched as the doctor examined several kids. A couple kids had lice and I actually saw the bugs running around on their heads, another child had ticks and another had a bacterial infection on his arm. I just wanted to take them all and give them a big hug of love.

After the examination, the kids all received a bag with a bar of soap, a toothbrush, drugs or lice shampoo if they needed it and instructions on proper hygiene that they gave to their waiting parents in the hallway. I love this organization and I believe they are improving health care in this community. I can use my own visit since I made the mistake of eating ceviche yesterday and now I´m paying for it. I need to temper my adventurous appetite. We´ll see if the clinic lets me return tomorrow.