December 24, 2008
Day 5: sight-seeing…which led to RE EVALUATION The trip alternated between 2 clinic days and 1 sight seeing day. So right now we are on our first sight seeing day! We packed up from our hotel (picture) and moved to a freakin RESORT in Pochomil a few hours south. I was talking to Britney and Elisa and they told me that on past GMT trips, the hotels weren’t nice like this. It was weird staying at such nice places but working in the opposite environment.  Ethnic studies class phrases started popping up in my head such as…”the privilege to remove yourself.” We did have that privilege. We worked in poor areas and learned about the people there, and at the end of the day, came back to a flushing toilet and dinner on the beach. When I first heard about the opportunity to come on this trip, I didn’t want to sign up. I didn’t want to be around people who go through the whole trip and what they realize at the end is “Oh yes, God is in this place of ‘darkness’.” I guess it’s good that they come to that realization, but I’m thinking, yea God is everywhere, isn’t that what you tell me every week? It’s crazy when people come in thinking that this is a place of darkness and they are higher up that they people they encounter. Abuse of privilege. On previous mission trips, like working with the homeless, someone told me “You have to do something with what you learned. If you just come in, experience someone else’s life, and leave without taking action of some sort to change something in your community/life/someone else’s community, you are using the people you talked with.” I agree with that. Before the trip began, Dr. Johnson sent out some readings about different views people have on short term mission trips. One article said that you should NOT go to Central America to help because people who travel there to help do more damage than repair. They go in not knowing the language or the culture and impose what they believe is a “solution” to Central America’s “problems.” Another article said that short term missions are pointless because the money groups fundraise to fly out to wherever could have gone a much longer way if they just donated the money to the country. When groups go and paint schools and repair houses, they take jobs from local people who are capable of painting their own walls. Short term missions benefit the people who go, more than the communities in which they arrive. Before I left, my auntie asked me, “Are you going to Nicaragua on one of those trips to make you feel better about what you have back home?” So after the first 2 days in Nicaragua with all these forces and thoughts smashing around in my head, the battle grounds cleared and I re-asked myself why I signed up to come to Nicaragua. 1. I wanted to get out of Berkeley 2. Practice speaking Spanish 3. see a new place 4. kick it with friends People’s reasons why not to go… 1. don’t know the culture/language 2. don’t listen to what the community needs but impose what you think they need 3. plan ticket money could have gone to something else 4. taking people’s jobs So why am I here then? 1. Learn about Nicaragua…bring what I read about Nicaragua from Wikipedia to life - learn the culture 2. See what it’s like to be a doctor—-it’s freakin hard work. To be a good doctor, you have to be able to listen to people and show you care in addition to your job description of administering care. Usually after lunch, I found it a lot harder to listen to the patients. The heat and just the fact of having worked all morning affected me. On the third day or so, Swati and I just wanted to do the caring and listening part without the diagnosing doctor part, meaning we wanted to play with the kids all day. So much respect to all the doctors on the trip!!!! -listen to what the patients need and try to help - heard that donations are needed for more medicine…so we gave them the money we raised from InterVarsity - there is a shortage of doctors in Nicaragua so we aren’t taking jobs, but we slowed down the process of seeing patients b/c we were noobs and it took us 20 times longer to diagnose patients than if the real doctors did it. 3. See a new place and meet new people - Being in a different environment with different people breaks down walls and makes you love in different ways—-ok hecka cheezzz sry but u kno what im sayin -get out of Berkeley! 4. Practice speaking Spanish— Usually I’m really self conscious of trying to speak Spanish around native Spanish speakers, but on the first day of clinic God totally took away all my fear and I was at complete peace! Crazzziness

Day 5: sight-seeing…which led to RE EVALUATION

The trip alternated between 2 clinic days and 1 sight seeing day.

So right now we are on our first sight seeing day! We packed up from our hotel (picture) and moved to a freakin RESORT in Pochomil a few hours south.

I was talking to Britney and Elisa and they told me that on past GMT trips, the hotels weren’t nice like this. It was weird staying at such nice places but working in the opposite environment.  Ethnic studies class phrases started popping up in my head such as…”the privilege to remove yourself.”

We did have that privilege. We worked in poor areas and learned about the people there, and at the end of the day, came back to a flushing toilet and dinner on the beach.

When I first heard about the opportunity to come on this trip, I didn’t want to sign up. I didn’t want to be around people who go through the whole trip and what they realize at the end is “Oh yes, God is in this place of ‘darkness’.” I guess it’s good that they come to that realization, but I’m thinking, yea God is everywhere, isn’t that what you tell me every week? It’s crazy when people come in thinking that this is a place of darkness and they are higher up that they people they encounter. Abuse of privilege.

On previous mission trips, like working with the homeless, someone told me “You have to do something with what you learned. If you just come in, experience someone else’s life, and leave without taking action of some sort to change something in your community/life/someone else’s community, you are using the people you talked with.” I agree with that.

Before the trip began, Dr. Johnson sent out some readings about different views people have on short term mission trips.

One article said that you should NOT go to Central America to help because people who travel there to help do more damage than repair. They go in not knowing the language or the culture and impose what they believe is a “solution” to Central America’s “problems.”

Another article said that short term missions are pointless because the money groups fundraise to fly out to wherever could have gone a much longer way if they just donated the money to the country. When groups go and paint schools and repair houses, they take jobs from local people who are capable of painting their own walls. Short term missions benefit the people who go, more than the communities in which they arrive.

Before I left, my auntie asked me, “Are you going to Nicaragua on one of those trips to make you feel better about what you have back home?”

So after the first 2 days in Nicaragua with all these forces and thoughts smashing around in my head, the battle grounds cleared and I re-asked myself why I signed up to come to Nicaragua.

1. I wanted to get out of Berkeley

2. Practice speaking Spanish

3. see a new place

4. kick it with friends

People’s reasons why not to go…

1. don’t know the culture/language

2. don’t listen to what the community needs but impose what you think they need

3. plan ticket money could have gone to something else

4. taking people’s jobs

So why am I here then?

1. Learn about Nicaragua…bring what I read about Nicaragua from Wikipedia to life

- learn the culture

2. See what it’s like to be a doctor—-it’s freakin hard work. To be a good doctor, you have to be able to listen to people and show you care in addition to your job description of administering care. Usually after lunch, I found it a lot harder to listen to the patients. The heat and just the fact of having worked all morning affected me. On the third day or so, Swati and I just wanted to do the caring and listening part without the diagnosing doctor part, meaning we wanted to play with the kids all day. So much respect to all the doctors on the trip!!!!

-listen to what the patients need and try to help

- heard that donations are needed for more medicine…so we gave them the money we raised from InterVarsity

- there is a shortage of doctors in Nicaragua so we aren’t taking jobs, but we slowed down the process of seeing patients b/c we were noobs and it took us 20 times longer to diagnose patients than if the real doctors did it.

3. See a new place and meet new people

- Being in a different environment with different people breaks down walls and makes you love in different ways—-ok hecka cheezzz sry but u kno what im sayin

-get out of Berkeley!

4. Practice speaking Spanish— Usually I’m really self conscious of trying to speak Spanish around native Spanish speakers, but on the first day of clinic God totally took away all my fear and I was at complete peace! Crazzziness

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