Day 3 Nicaragua

Hola!!! Day 3…Nicaragua….today we went to a small village outside of Nicaragua and ran a health clinic. We took vitals and gave out medications to help the local residents. We also gave all the children stuffed animals and candy!!

Seriously…how cute!!!!!

We made a home visit to a gentleman that has recently become a widow and has been feeling sick. This is the gated entrance to his home. Almost everyone that has a home has barbed wire and a large gate around it. 

This is just a view looking down the street in his neighborhood.

This is a view looking up the street.



As a thank you for the home visit; the gentleman’s daughter made everyone an amazing fruit salad cup using the fruits from their yard. You can see my mom holding hers in the picture below. It was delicious!

We stopped at the store again and replenished our supply of candy, toys and medicine!

Then we returned to Seeds of Hope and each one of us took a turn and talked to the kids about why we wanted to be a nurse and how they should work hard in life and they can be whatever they choose to be. This is how we found the kids when we arrived…lol!!!

As you can see here, my mom went first…

Here’s a closer view…

And then I went ( don’t have a picture of me) and then Jeremy … he is in my nursing class.

And then Mr. Collins went. And the Shawne went.

We also demonstrated basic first aid and what to to help if you ever see an accident or injury in public. The kids enjoyed listening to Shawne’s heart with the stethoscope.

Afterwards we returned to the hotel and realized that the babies had left the pot nest…here is Jeremy sitting next to one of the newly fledged babies (see him on the window ledge)?

Closer view…


In the evening we went for a nightcap at Q’tal. The others, mom included, wanted to try the local rum called Flor de Cana. They all had a shot and beer…I had tea!! Lol

Here’s the cheers…

We watched as this dog waited patiently for any scraps. Animals without owners are ALL over Nicaragua. It is heartbreaking…very hungry dogs and cats. Also cows and horses are tied to the roadside and sometimes just left wandering to survive on their own. Some children too.

She slipped him a little something when she was finished…melted my heart!!

For dinner we ate at Pan De Vita in Granada. The restaurant was just a few blocks down from our hotel and we heard they had filtered water so it was safe for Americans to drink. The food was delicious!! When we first arrived we saw a couple at a table next to us getting their food. It looked delicious so we politely asked what they were eating. We ended up chatting with them and found out they were from McKeesport, PA which is a suburb of Pittsburgh! Turns out they were neighbors with us all until they retired and they now live full time in Nicaragua. Meet Barb and Ralph!!! Such a small world!! This picture around the table starting in the front…my teacher in the brown shirt, mom, me, Ralph, Barb, Jeremy, and Shawne.

I hope you all are shaving a phenomenal week! Sending so many hugs and so much love!!

Day 2 Nicaragua

Hello everyone! I hope everyone is having an amazing week! I just wanted to give you a rundown of our Day Two in Nicaragua. Today is Friday and we will be going to a small town called Niquinonomo, in the morning, to provide medical care to the underprivileged in that area.

This is the setup we had for the day. This is a small church in Nicaragua. There is a roof on half of the outdoor church and the rest is uncovered. We had a table taking vitals and a table asking what issues the person was currently experiencing. Then the pharmacy table would give the patient the medications they needed.

In this photo they are setting up the pharmacy. Left to right is Laura Stockton (Straight Street Nicaragua), Dennis (my professor), Shawne (fellow student), and Jeremy (fellow student).

Two lovely “pharmacists” my mother and Laura…


Angel (employee of Straight Street) and Dennis Collins (my professor)…




A group photo in front of the Niquinonomo sign in town…


We all wanted to exchange some American money for Nicaraguan cordobas. The exchange rate here is 35 cordoba is equal one American dollar. Angel, the gentleman that works for Street Street in Nicaragua, has a brother who is a exchanger on the street. So we drove through in our van and his brother ran up to the back of the van and we began exchanging monies.  Imagine that job… Holding a huge wad of cash and exchanging money on the street. It’s very dangerous and many of the exchangers have actually been shot and robbed. Angel is in the blue in the van and his brother is in the Blue Jays jacket.


He let Shawne hold his wad of cash… According to Angel this could be over $5000 in his hand.




This is a view from inside the mission. Everybody’s house is partially outside so when it rains it rains right into the middle of your home and there’s a big drain in the bottom. The Mission has this beautiful fountain in the middle as well. As you can see there’s barbed wire around the homes to keep everybody safe from people breaking in.


 We made a stop at the pharmacy to buy a whole bunch of medication with our donated money. Most of us had monies donated from family and friends… We have been able to provide a lot of much-needed medication to the people in this area. This is the pharmacist with Jeremy… He thought it would be fun for Jeremy to hold the turtle. Lol

One of my wonderful best friends Mariela requested that her donated money be sent only on the children. This is our first children run. We bought lots of candy and toys for the kids. With the amount of money she gave us we will be able to do one of these runs each day before we go to these towns.


In the afternoon after the clinic we had lunch at the mission and then we went back to a school called seeds of hope. The school was put into place to help troubled children. It’s kids who had some kind of an issue with school. Many times it’s because their parents cannot afford uniforms. When the children go to public schools here they have to wear a uniform… If your parents cannot afford a uniform you are sent home. So this whole does not only cover children that have behavior issues it’s more than likely they just have issues purchasing a uniform or adhering to the rules of the public school. These kids are amazing! We had a blast with them!

Our role was to demonstrate first aid and what to do if they see an accident on the street.


The little boy in the white shirt looking back in this picture reminded my mother and I both so much of my nephew Brody. He was so happy and fun and smiling all the time!


In the blue shirt in the front of the classroom is Blanca. She works with Straight Street Nicaragua along with Angel. She is a translator… She is what allows us to talk with the children. She is a fantastic person as well!


This is the children and Angel demonstrating back what they learned today. They were pretending this little boy was in an accident and was bleeding on the road.


These children were putting a tourniquet on his leg to show what to do in the event of an accident. It was a great teach back of everything that we had taught them in this lesson today.




These adorable little birdies were outside of our door. Mom came and fed them constantly the day that we moved in. They appeared ready to takeoff soon…



Angel taught us all about this fish. Apparently they catch them in a local lake. They are huge… some as large as people! They are called sabalo and they have a dark fleshy meat.
 

That’s my day to recap! It’s been eventful and I am realizing more and more every our how truly blessed we are in the United States of America.