For my Senior Capstone project, I will be volunteering with a non-profit organization called FIMRC (Foundation For International Medical Relief of Children) and traveling to the Dominican Republic. There I will participate in clinical and health education aspects of operation in their project site called Restauración. Since many people that live there have trouble affording health care, the three main focuses that resources go towards in this particular site are clinical involvement, health education, and special initiatives. My plan is to arrive on May 14 and depart on the morning of May 20 for a total of 6 days, which will encompass the 60 hours of fieldwork required for my Capstone Project. I have been in contact with the volunteer coordinator, and since there are staff members that are on-site year round, the manager of the site that I am volunteering at will be my mentor for this project. My first step is to begin fundraising, which I will do through an account that is provided by FIMRC. I have always dreamt of being able to help others in need by volunteering on a mission trip, and I am very interested in majoring in Health and Nutrition. I am looking forward to this project and I am excited that I get the opportunity to learn more about the Public Health/Health Education field through a hands-on experience!
First Blog Post - 10/21/16 I just recieved an e-mail back from the organization that I will be traveling with, the Foundation of International Medical Relief (FIRMC). After I informed the volunteer coordinator about my interests and the Capstone project, she confirmed that their program in the Dominican Republic would be the best pick for me. So I have decided on a location!
10/30/16 I replied to the e-mail, and the coordinator told me that the next step is to open a profile on FIRMC's website. This account also comes with a fundraising account similar to "Go Fund Me," but it is linked to this specific organization. Once I created this page, it showed the total amount of money I have to raise for this trip - $1,586. I have some fundraising to do, and I plan on posting this fundraising page on my Facebook profile.
11/7/16 I posted the fundraising account on my Facebook (https://volunteer.fimrc.org/donations/jessica-ammon-volunteer-trip-to-restauracion-dominican-republic-1), so we'll see what donations I recieve. I just called the volunteer coordinator with all my (mostly my mom's) questions just to be able to communicate faster than e-mail. She clarified multiple things for me, such as the next step: buying a plane ticket. This is when I set my trip date as May 16- May 26, 2017! It is starting to feel real, and I have always dreamt of going on a mission trip.
11/15/16 So far I have recieved $300 dollars towards the trip, and I am so thankful for any amount that is contributed. I now have my FIRMC profile further detailed with my trip information and my insurance information. The deadline for all materials is February 1st.
12/2/16 I am very excited about this trip and want to be as prepared as possible. After asking the volunteer coordinator how I can further prepare for the trip, she told me that it would be helpful if I studied some basic Spanish in order to communicate with the patients and people at Project Restauracion, the Dominican Republic site. I have a Rosetta Stone program from when I took Spanish a couple of years ago, so I plan to begin to practice with this a little bit every day.
12/26/16 I have now recieved a total of $400 towards my trip. It is getting closer! So far, it is just me signed up for these dates, and since I would ideally want to have fellow volunteers with me, the coordinator is going to keep me updated about when people sign up. I hope that college or high school students sign up so I have some fellow volunteers to work with to get the full experience!
1/5/17 I have been studying some Spanish every day as well as staying in contact with the volunteer coordinator. Although there are no other volunteers signed up yet, I have begun to take this fact into a positive light because if I am the volunteer then I will get to help more. The coordinator told me that there is a clinic manager that is there year round, so this person will act as my advisor. I will be contacting her soon.
1/11/17 I have learned more information about the specific process of my arrival. When I arrive at the airport I will be picked up by a car that will drive me three hours to the project site. There I will stay with a host family, in a village where apparently everyone is very welcoming and caring. Since I will be volunteering in the clinics, I plan on posting blog posts about each day and what it entailed.
2/10/17 I sent out an e-mail to my friends and family notifying them about my trip.
2/24/17 Wow! I have raised almost all of my trip funds - I am now about 3/4 of the way there.
3/6/17 I am so blessed to have such thoughtful family and family friends, I have reached my total funds plus some extra. The volunteer coordinator said that I can use these extra funds for a future FIMRC trip in the future and keep it in my account. It is feeling very real now and I am so excited.
3/23/17 I have been sent my departure packet which gives me all the details about the trip. It tells me what to pack and what to expect. I have to buy this special insect repellent with a much stronger level of resistance than normal. My mom is very worried about everything going perfectly, as usual.
4/1/17 The countdown begins! There is about two weeks before my trip. The project manager sent me a picture of my host mom, Cuca, who I will be living with while I am there. She does not speak any English, just like the rest of the people that live there. I hope I do not find it too hard to communicate.
4/12/17 I am all packed. I am feeling both nervous and excited for my trip. We are leaving my house at 5 a.m. on Sunday morning and I am flying from Dulles to Puerto Rico and then to the Dominican Republic.
4/14/17 I arrived to Santo Domingo airport at around 3:00. The driver was waiting for me outside along with the program director. I got in the car and it was a three and a half hour drive from the airport to Restauracion. When we finally got to the small village, it was a completely new experience for me already. I had never seen a village like this - with dirt roads, simple houses, and everyone was outside. I was led to my host mom's house where I would be staying, and I immediately felt out of my comfort zone because I was unable to speak Spanish and communicate with anyone. I was brought to a woman's house for dinner, where I sat in silence as she cooked. It felt like a different world at first. After that, I had to walk back to my host mom's house, and my sense of direction is terrible first of all. But it was dark outside because the street lights did not work that night and I found myself lost in the street. There were people everywhere who I could not communicate with so I did not know who to trust. Looking back on this day, I overreacted and misjudged just how safe the village was. But this was only my first night and it was something I'd never experienced before.
4/15/17 The next morning I woke up feeling much better and made my way to the FIMRC headquarters where we would meet every morning at 8:00 to begin our medical routines. I immediately realized that this trip was a perfect one for medical students, doctors, or even just people who spoke fluent Spanish. At this point in time I did not think I'd get much out of it, but boy was I wrong. The medical students who were there were working on health programs to create for the people of Restauracion. For example, one of them was making a breastfeeding powerpoint to present to a group of women. The intern who was doing that majored in exactly what I wanted to major in, Health and Nutrition. Anyway, the first day I went to the hospital to observe, and I was very struck by how unsanitary it appeared. There was just a dirty feeling and the beds looked gross. Just comparing it to the good conditions we are so lucky to have in America made me sad. I could not understand most of what they were saying but I still learned a lot from what I saw. After that I went on a home visit that consisted of providing nutrition information to local diabetes and hypertension patients. It was very informational.
4/16/17 I woke up and helped them sort medicine and package different things around the office. I went on another home visit and this time it consisted of walking to a village that was 30 minutes away, so it was like a hike. They built there own tools in this village and used animals to get around, as opposed to Restauracion's heavy use of motor bikes. When we called the lady out for her "home" visit (we did it outside), she came out of her hut clutching a featherless dead chicken hanging upside down in her hand. It was definitely a new experience. After this home visit, we began to walk back to Restauracion. On the way back, two men passed us on their motorbikes. They offered us a ride, and I am so scared of motorcycles. But me and another volunteer both got on the back of one tiny motorbike. They drove us a ways on the rocky, bumpy rode. It was so fun.
4/17/17 The next day I went on another hospital visit. This time I witnessed something that I was very shocked by. Just for a little background: Restauracion is right next to the border of Haiti. In the 90's, the government of the Dominican Republic wanted to clear the Dominican Republic of Haitians, who have a noticeably different appearance than the Dominicans due to their darker complexion. At this point in time, Haitians faced serious discrimination and danger if they were seen in the Dominican Republic. They were dehumanized and if they ever did cross the border into the DR, they most likely were there just to work awful and low level jobs, doing their dirty work. Since then, lawsuits and such have turned the DR around and this discrimination and colorism has appeared to have died down. However, this separation continues to be an underlying issue in their society. To learn more about this problem today, visit https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2015/06/16/the-bloody-origins-of-the-dominican-republics-ethnic-cleansing-of-haitians/?utm_term=.ea838a7935f8. Fast forward to my hospital visit. I was standing in the corner observing the doctors; a Dominican man and woman, and it was a typical busy work day for them. People were rushing in from about 8:00 to 11:30. The etiquette is much different then it is in the states and people are always pouring in and out. All of a sudden, an old woman and a middle-aged women both walk into the room. The younger woman was the translator for the older woman because she only spoke Creole, which is what they speak in Haiti. This is another factor that is a cause for separation among the people of the DR. The translator was not able to translate for her mother very well into Spanish, and the doctors were being rude to their faces. They were laughing at them and getting frustrated when they could not understand what they were saying. Instead of helping them, they asked them to go back outside and wait in the waiting room again as they helped another patient before them. When they left the room, the doctors put doctor's masks over their noses and were talking about them, acting as if they smelled bad. I have never seen first-hand discrimination like this in my life. So, this is a prime example of the discrimination that still occurs there.
4/18/17 Today there was a diabetes and hypertension check that FIMRC does every Thursday and I learned how to take blood pressure and prick fingers to test blood sugar. I kept trying to hear the heartbeat on the blood pressure thing but I was not able to pick up the sound, so I stuck to the finger pricking. It was a very interesting and cool experience that I would not have received as easily in the US. The way it would work was the patients would get their blood pressure and sugar taken and then would be led inside to talk to a doctor from the Capital. He would prescribe them the appropriate amount and type of medicine and then they would be given the medicine on their way out. It was amazing to be apart of this experience, packaging the medication as well, because otherwise these people would not have access to free medication. This really improves their quality of life and what FIMRC is doing is absolutely amazing. That night when I went back to my host mom's house, a 23 year old man came to talk to me and was the first person who I'd heard speak English. He was from Haiti and knew how to speak English, Spanish and Creole. I really learned the value of language because here I was trying to learn Spanish to communicate with the locals which is something that is very important to me.
4/19/17 On the last day I went on one more home visit and I got to read different informative articles about different health topics. I learned about Social determinants of health and how health is not just physical but also mental and social health. These are factors that can change the healthcare that one has access to and the extent to which they're treated. I also met people that night who made it hard to leave. There were the happiest, kindest, and most loving people that I have ever met in that little town of Restauracion. One child insisted that he gave me his sunglasses, and I was taken aback by how sharing was not even something that had to be taught, it was instilled in them. To them, what they have is more than enough, and their top priority is loving others and making you feel welcome. I think that everyone could learn something from this. This experience truly changed my life.
4/20/17 Returned home - I began traveling at 10 a.m. and got back at 10 p.m.