Day 3: Cats In the Cradle

Today was our first visit to La Chureca, the municipal domestic and industrial waste disposal site of Managua, Nicaragua. For those returning this year, La Chureca was a shock of a different kind. Last year, around three thousand individuals rested on an endless sea of trash. We could barely navigate through the smoke and manure surrounding us. Witnessing this sight left the entire team in silence.  The picture below can give you a bit of an idea of what we saw last year: 

This year, we found ourselves asking: “Wait, where are we again? Is this La Chureca?” The Spanish government took over and cleared out much of the trash. It seemed as if nearly 80% of the waste had been disposed of.  However, new questions arose. Where is this trash going? What will the individuals do to acquire money?  The next community we will be visiting, Los Martinez, was previously in a similar situation. However, the trash was moved to La Chureca. It seems that this may perpetuate the cycle so that a new La Chureca may come to be. Roughly fifty percent of the population in Nicaragua lives on less than one dollar a day.  The individuals in this community rely on the trash in order to sustain their families and make a dollar.  How will these individuals acquire a buck now without the availability of jobs and the loss of their old way of living? 

Thank you, Spaniards.

Regardless, the atmosphere remained hopeful. All of the individuals, both sick and healthy, possessed a similar beam of light. All were smiling and eager to talk to us, and receive much needed tickets. While on our house visits, the members of William and Mary Medical Relief divide into three groups of five, each with a translator (YES NUBIA IS BACK!) and a local guide. Going door to door, we assess the situation of the families. In La Chureca, smoke is a major problem and thus most individuals suffer from a cough. The government has been doing a better job distributing anti-parasite treatment, so parasites proved to be less of a problem. Other cases that were found include urinary tract infections, vaginal infections, and fungal infections. Dental tickets were also distributed to those needing a limpieza (cleaning), calza (filling), or an extracción (extraction). Tomorrow we will treat those individuals with tickets, as well as others in need. 

Locals

House Visits

Following the house visits, a doctor who works at the local women's jail arrived to discuss 'natural medicine' with us. We learned that the peel of lemons can be boiled in water and used as an antiseptic for animals. Moreover, the plant aloe vera (sounds familiar, huh?), has many medicinal properties. It is used for burns, itching, constipation, and to treat veracose veins. Oddly enough, it also is used for hair growth. Sonia's aunt lost her hair from an auto-immune disease, put aloe vera on her scalp, and grew gorgeous locks. Danny is trying it out so we shall its magical hair-growing capabilities first hand. The Psyllium plant is also used as a cure for those individuals who have one too many cervesas, since it clenses the liver. It is also a fat burner (psyllium diet, anyone?). I think a lot of us are thinking about starting medicinal gardens after this.

Before dinner, our group discussed the day's events and some of the social and political problems facing those in La Chureca, and Nicaragua in general. One of the major social problems here, and around the globe, is gender inequality. In Nicaragua, female dignity comes with a guy. Females are looked upon as property of the male, and condoms are frowned upon in the culture. Sonia told us about a woman who was found to have cervical cancer. She had twenty five children and was in desperate need of treatment.  However, she refused to get treatment and acknowledge her problem because of her husband. Sonia went to the husband to discuss the dire nature of his wife's problem. He refused, saying that the wife needed to stay home to take care of the kids. Sonia informed him that if she did not get treated, then she would not be there very much longer to take care of the kids. He responded by saying he would just get a new wife. Unfortunately Sonia's pleading did not work, and he pointed to the lower portion of his wife's body and responded, “Nobody touches her but me.” 2 months later, the woman died.

The lack of sex education and safe sexual practice results in the large number of women with cervical cancer, sexually transmitted diseases, and death in Nicaragua. While in La Chureca and Los Martinez, our goal is to educate the individuals to help prevent the increase in this number. There are so many intricacies with the problem of health in Nicaragua.  We have to look into these in order to best educate and try to prevent the spread and acquisition of diseases.

I remain skeptical. (Meg)

Following a spaghetti dinner, we ended our day with a suturing class. We upgraded from last year's chicken to the yellow-green sponges that proved to be feisty patients (we literally had to duck-tape them down to stay still). It is safe to say that some of us can be trusted to suture a wound much more than others (cough, Meg, cough).

John. Hard At Work.

A Pro. Fo Sho.

Spongefest 2011. Aka Suture Graduation.

Reflecting on the day's events generated a sense of excitement and nervousness in our group for our first Clinic Day.  More to come tomorrow.