Lima Day 2

Well, where to begin. I'm actually writing this on day 3 because sadly I ended up sick on the night of day 2. It's been a while since I've felt this crappy but I guess there's nothing really that I can do about it. Day 2 actually started off great! It was tour day and time to go visit the outskirts of Lima where we would be setting up clinics-the favelas. The tour was through the giant favelas that engulf the edge of the Andes mountains. It was like nothing id ever seen. I have seen the amount of poverty before especially in some rural areas in India, but the way everything was on steep, large mountains was something I've never seen before. Walking and driving in the area was tiring and definitely scary so just imagining doing it everyday seemed like a huge burden. One of the major favelas that we worked with was Pamplona Alta. The community was one that Medlife considered self efficient because of the way the community worked together. As Medlife see's the situation, the communities where we provide service should have a community that works well together so that the education and the infrastructure we leave will be sustained. Although they are poor, they work together instead of just working for themselves. This is the ideal community that we can serve and the type of communities that we want disorganized communities to strive for.  One of the biggest problems in the favelas is the politics that cause people to become even more poor. People come into the communities and as landlords they build staged communities which are then sold off to poor people who want to live in the urban area to get better jobs. The situation is pretty complicated and the types of problems they have are more than just this but they all involved the landlord and the house buyers who are trying to be closer to the city. One of the other problems is again the aesthetic of the community which makes it harder to go up and down the steep terrain for simple things such as water which isn't portable in all areas. For this reason, the higher you go up on the mountains in the favelas, the more poor you are. There's one story of a woman who everyday had to walk all the way from the top of the favelas to her nursing school and her nursing internship. She would cover herself head to toe everyday in plastic to make sure that her uniform didn't get dirty because although she lived in a less fortunate community, she still was held to the same standards and if she showed up dirty to work she wouldn't be giving a good impression. Similarly in the schools if a child's uniform is dirty they are sent all the way back home and as a child it is very difficult to walk through the favela cleanly. For this reason and more many kids ditch school, don't make it there, or are sent back home to change and come back clean. One of the last things they showed us was the wall of shame. This famous wall splits two different economic classes literally right next to each other. From an aerial view one can see that on one side of the wall there's poverty and on the other is one of the richest communities within Lima. This gap between the economic standing of people in Peru makes it harder for these poor communities to thrive and gain more power in their county. Although there is a law that every person must vote, the mayors take advantage of bribing in order to gain more votes and the favelas accept this form of bribery because they are desperate for supplies and money. The politics within the country are advanced and very controversial. Obviously it's something that can't be solved overnight or even in a couple years. It's interesting to see how different the regulations and living situations are from America, but at the same time the similarities between some parts.

Lima Day 1

Finally after two years the trip is finally here. Traveling is like a drug and after going once I couldn't help myself but to experience it again. The next 9 or so days I'll be spending in Lima, Peru working at a mobile clinic through the organization called Medlife at the University of Michigan. After my first mobile clinic in Costa Rica I came back my sophomore year ready to get more involved in a mobile clinic club because the experience I had on my clinic was one I wanted to share with others. Today we started the day with orientation and learning to get familiar with Peru, specifically miraflores. The town is very safe and the people and the community is great as well! So far we have gone out to the casual hang out spots and also have gone to the night life but I can't wait to really get to work at the clinics learning and experiencing. Two years ago I decided to join the team of people who were planning to start Medlife as a club on campus. Now we are the number one new Medlife chapter. Medlife is a non profit organization at different colleges that is run by a national Medlife organization based in Lima, Peru. At first I was hesitant of the program and what they had to offer that would be different and better than what I was already involved in. I have been looking for the answer to that question since the beginning and my reasoning seems to be getting more and more strong every day. So here's why I joined medlife: medlife is an organization that not only focuses on medicine but also public health. This was one of the first selling points to myself because going to other countries you realize how different the health system is there and it shows how important it is to be helping the community with public health as well as us as students learning about public health and what are the differences in the health systems themselves. Secondly, the organization not only works with general doctors but doctors of multiple different types giving people much better quality of health service. This way the people within the community are offered more specialized care based on what they need as well as doctors (who are found from the area so that they are familiar with the area and diseases) that are more experienced in speculated areas. The last point that really took me a while to find was the fact that Medlife puts its importance in the patient experience. One thing that I have realized that I really appreciate is that Medlife isn't a business that caters to their students (however we are very well taken care of), medlife is focusing on the patients and the communities that we are providing care to. For example although as students we can't diagnose many organizations take advantage of being in a rural areas and let the students attempt at things only a certified doctor can do. If the clinics do follow the rules then the students are only giving away Advil and Tylenol which of coarse is useful but doesn't fix their problems once the medicine is done. Medlife respects the people and doesn't try to create a more memorable experience by being dishonest. The ethical boundaries that can be broken can cost someone an admission to med-school! It's an organization that brings real doctors and dentists and uses as many procedures to give future care and preventative care. Medlife makes it possible for a patient to have follow up procedures after we leave the clinic. For this reason and the fact that there are developmental projects in the community to place infrastructure where needed, Medlife gives students the opportunity to make a difference and provide help even when we leave the 10 day trip. I'm excited to learn about the community, get a feel for the culture, and as I have already been doing, improve on my español!