This last week our team went and volunteered with a ship full of military doctors. The ship has been going to different countries since April and giving the people free medical care. The LDS church donated a lot of money and has been involved every stop they’ve made by helping supply translators for the doctors. Since most of my team is fluent in Spanish they called us and asked if we could go and help! I of course can’t speak Spanish so I had a different job every day.

We started out in a city called La Union which was where the boat was. The first day I filled out paperwork for each patient that came in. This was interesting because I had to still had to speak a little Spanish so I could fill in all the correct information. Luckily I had Alisha, another girl with HELP, to get me through.

The second day I worked in optometry which was really fun! I didn’t do much, just made sure all the people knew where to wait and where to go. The doctors were really nice which made the day awesome; one even took the time to explain to us what was going on with different people’s eyes!

The third day I worked in the pharmacy. I liked this because I stayed really busy and I was able to practice my Spanish. I had to tell the patients what I was giving them and how often to take the meds. Good thing for me it was written on the bag so really I just had to read it to them. The hardest part was calling the names out when their prescriptions were ready. Some people didn’t even realize I had said their name until the fifth time I said it! Oh well, it was good practice!

The forth day was probably the best one; we went to a new town called Pasaquina. I really liked this place because it was set up differently so everything was closer together. Because of this I was able to talk to a lot of new people and get to know who the people were I was working with. That day I helped people in the lines for internal medicine and then observed a doctor talk with his patients.

Overall this was a really good experience. I was really nervous going into it because I don’t know Spanish and I thought I wasn’t going to be any help. By the end I really didn’t want to leave. This trip made me realize even more that I want to be able to help people like this in the future and that I need to go to nursing school.

First week in El Salvador!

So I made it to El Salvador! This is such a beautiful country and the people have been so nice! Right now there are 10 of us and we are living in a pretty nice house. Our neighborhood is has guards with big guns which you get used to seeing pretty quick because you see security guards with guns everywhere.
I forgot my camera cords so as soon as I can get a card reader I will add pictures :(
The first full day I went out and did eye exams with a non profit here called Fudem. It was a lot of fun to see all the people in the little community we went to.
Every Friday we go volunteer so that is what we did the second day I was here. Building houses is a lot of work and the heat does not help either. But it will be a good experience. After that we went and taught English at the LDS office building. We do that every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Since I do not speak Spanish I am teaching the advanced class so that will be fun!
On monday we went to a couple of orphanages which was been great! The first one was Hogar Providencia which is a boy’s home. We are teaching them English and they were so great! They are so cute and such good boys! The other home is CIPI which is a girls home and most of the girls have been sexually abused so that is sad :(
One of the things we can do is put together our own project. I am trying to put together a workout class for them and that will I will be in charge of a couple times a week! The girls said that they do not get any exercise during the week and they would love to have a class where they can get a work out. So my plan is to teach Pilates and then play soccer and other sports with them!
Today we went with Fudem and handed out flyers at schools so the kids know they can get their eyes checked.
So far it has been really fun and a good experience. I will try to post pictures asap so everything will come together and you can really see what I am doing!

Less then a week!

I leave for El Salvador in on June 10th which is less then a week away! I am really excited but also a little nervous. I don't know what to expect but I'm sure it will be an amazing experience.

New Blog

I am dedicating this blog to all the adventures I will be doing to help people around the world. I am doing an internship this summer in El Salvador with HELP International. This motivated me to start this blog so I could keep everyone updated what we are accomplishing while I'm there. Because international heath has become my passion I will hopefully have many more opportunities to serve people in many different countries. I will be posting here all along the way! If at any time you would like to donate to the cause please let me know!