Pharmacy School Just Takes Too Long (or, Nicaragua, Day One)

So, here we go! Exciting things from Central America are here!

We (Deb and Hollis, Alex and Lori, Carl and Crista, Jayne, Sue, Drew, Lauren, and I) began our journey in Farmington on Tuesday afternoon at 2:30, when we met to caravan down to Boston and a hotel for the night, since our flight was at 6:45 the next morning.

With all of the donations we had, there were so many extra bags that we couldn't take them all. We also had six or seven pairs of crutches, and a few walkers to bring down with us. Some of the crutches were allowed on, but then, to get the rest of them onto the plane, Drew, Alex, Hollis and I had to pretend we needed them for medical reasons. Our back story, if they asked us what happened, was that we had all been injured in a rock climbing accident. Thankfully, they never asked why four out of eleven people needed crutches.

When we arrived in Nicaragua, a bus from Amigos picked all of us, and all of our luggage, up for the two hour ride from Managua to Chinandega. We stopped alongside Lake Managua on the way up for a photo op with the volcano, and then continued on. Once we arrived in Chinandega, we got settled into our rooms, and went out to a chicken restaurant in town for dinner.

Hollis, Alex and Drew

Our bus and driver, with all the medical stuff on top

The next day, we went to see the new compound Amigos is working on, and the work Amigos has done in La Villa de Catalina. What has happened is this: Amigos bought a bunch of land for a town. They then went to the dump, where there is a large settlement right beside the trash, and told every family there that if they wanted to move, to come now. About 120 families left the dump and moved to the Villa. Once they had moved, Amigos helped them build houses. Amigos has also built two school buildings, a library, a clinic, and a church. To entice children to go to school, every child that attends receives a healthy balanced meal at the end of the day.

The new Amigos dorms, with the volcano

Students from Villa de Catalina

After the tour of La Villa, we continued on to another village, Chunco, right at the base of the volcano. Here, we set up a clinic. I helped distribute medications for about half the time, and occupied children while their mothers were waiting for the other half. It was a successful day. Mostly we gave out vitamins and antibiotics, though we also gave mothers with new babies and those who are pregnant pre- and post-natal vitamins.

Our Head Pharmacist, at our Pharmacy

Once we had seen all the patients, we retuned to the Amigos house in Chinandega for dinner and hanging out and much needed sleep!