Have you ever dreamed of something that seemed more and more unlikely as you grew up? As a kid I spent my life moving around and had the amazing opportunity to meet so many people and experience a lot of different cultures. So much so that when I’d return to my home country, Guatemala, people would think I was a foreigner. I traveled throughout the Americas and grew up with different people throughout Latin America. As I approached adulthood I realized what a happy and festive culture Latinos had, and how lucky I was to grow up experiencing all aspects of Latin American countries. When it was time to pick a career I always dreamed I would pick something that I could use to give back to “my people” one day. People in Latin America that helped shaped who I am today, but whom I hadn’t had an opportunity to repay for all they had done for me, the wonderful childhood memories they had given me, the open mindedness that they instilled in me, and the idea that everyone is your friend and your family. Fast forward to decades later and here I am in Nicaragua, taking part of a dream that seemed so distant and far-fetched just a couple of months ago. As each day goes back it feels like I am learning more from Nicaraguans than I am able to help them. We have had ups and downs but I am soaking in every moment and each second that goes by helps me remember how blessed I am to be able to participate in this adventure. And every morning when I wake up tired and exhausted, feeling like I can’t speak English or Spanish anymore because I’m so tired, it only takes a wave from a patient or a “Buenos Dias”, “Hola” or a simple smile to remember why I am doing what I am doing. Without trying to feel tacky I feel so blessed and happy to be able to make one of my childhood dreams come true and finally help give back to a culture that I am very proud of calling my own. I finally had the opportunity to work with amputees, a population I had always been interested in working with and never did I think I’d come do it here. Everyday people are so thankful that we came to help, when in fact they have no idea how much they are doing for me as a professional, but more importantly as an individual. Though we are half way through this adventure, this experience has been one in a life time and I cannot way to keep this dream continuing as often as I can.
One of the most amazing experiences was being able to interact with the students at UNICA, the Catholica University in Managua. Our experienced seemed a little different than the other groups, based on feedback that I’ve received, mainly because it was PT students interacting with medical students, nutrition students and local PT’s. Again, as much as it seemed that our purpose was there to help teach the students about what we can do as PT’s in the United States, I feel like I learned a lot by listening to the patients and having open discussions about topics that we may be biased to. It was very nice to see how much they enjoyed listening to our point of view. Personally, I think the open discussion was possible due to the fact that students were teaching students. No one took themselves too seriously, and every now and then one of the Nicaraguan students would perfect a skill that took me months of practicing to get, which in the end we would all just laugh about. These students are amazing and are so eager to learn and listen to different points of views, which was just a reminder of how close minded we may be sometimes. It was a great wake up call to remember to keep your mind open and that team work is the best work.
