This past week, everyone in the Global Health track (Spencer, Shana, Cara, Elyse, Heather) completed our last week of our internships. Though exhausting, this experience has taught us a lot and we all can not believe that we had the opportunity to participate so closely with the Oaxacan community. Cara, Shana and Spencer continued working with the AIDS/HIV clinic. Cara shadowed and assisted the nutritionist, attending consultations with patients receiving treatment for HIV. Shana and Spencer covered vast grounds as they took on the challenge of passing out free condoms and information about HIV/AIDS around the city for the second consecutive week in a row. In addition to distributing over 500 condoms, they designed more promotional images for the Facebook page of Amemos Vihvir. The grass is growing a little greener in Oaxaca now after being showered with magnificent information. Heather had a splendid last week at the equine therapy center. She worked with patients attending the center as well as conducting essential interviews that opened up a world of information about health care in Oaxaca. Elyse prepared and presented an informational presentation with Lauren, the midwife she has been working with.
On Saturday morning, we left to go to the coastal city Juchitán. On the way, we stopped by a small commercial farm to speak with a man who grows watermelons, onions, tomatillos (a smaller type of tomato), and a few other vegetables. We learned about the commercial agriculture market in Oaxaca and enjoyed some fresh, juicy watermelon. About 3 hours later we arrived at our final destination: Juchitán. It was like a sauna there. We were given a presentation by a local radio station which presents itself against the installment of windmills in their city, for poisoning the ground and contaminating agriculture and water quality there. We grabbed some authentic cuisine and retreated to our air conditioned hotel rooms for some well deserved snoozeroos. The following day, at the ripe hour of 6am we journeyed to the local fish market and asked some vendors about the sources of their fish and seafood to learn about the food system in this region. Then we visited a farm that had plenty of functioning windmills that we had heard about the night before and talked to some of the farmers on that area of land. That afternoon, we had the option to go to a natural spring which was made into a public swimming area. It was nice to enjoy a delightful dip during the duration of our day trip.
Sunday morning we dug into the delicacies of a delicious diner. Directly after, we headed to watch a presentation about the prevalent presence of muxhes in this city, a group of people that are recognized as a third gender in Mexico. After this visit we went to a migrant/refugee shelter in Ixtepec. We were given a tour of the facility by 2 volunteers and spent time and talked with some of the people who were at the shelter. Many of them came from Honduras and El Salvador, and for many it wasn't their first attempt trying to reach the United States. It was amazing to hear their stories and share things about ourselves as well. On our way back to Oaxaca we ran into a quick blockade on the highway and had to take a beautiful side road with views of the surrounding mountains and farmlands as a detour (muchos mangoes!). The landscape here is truly breathtaking. We arrived back in the city around 9:30 at night and all scurried home to process our packed weekend and rest up for the upcoming week. We are so excited about being able to join with the food systems group and be a family again.
Brought to you by: Shana and Spencer
Most of these photos are courtesy of the beautiful Elyse Joan Wilders Clancy and Heather Leigh Skillman
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