GROW Trip Reflection

This past summer Ryan Thomas had the privilege of being one of the GROW interns at our partner Clinica Ana Manganaro (CAM).  Here, he reflects on his experiences working in Guarjila, El Salvador.

WHAT IS GROW?
        This Summer, over 60 students from 26 different GlobeMed chapters sent members abroad to work on-site alongside their grassroots partners for 3 - 8 weeks at a time. GROW (Grassroots On-site Work) Internships are a crucial component of the GlobeMed model, with a purpose to strengthen the relationship between the chapter and partner organization through a transformative learning experience that makes a positive impact on the partner's community.  After collaborating with their partner organizations on public health projects and planning the year of partnership ahead, students return to their chapters and campuses as improved advocates for their partners' work, equipped with the tools and passion to better leverage university resources for those denied access to clean water, proper nutrition, education and access to quality healthcare.

Reflect on the most meaningful experiences or stories from your time with your partner organization. What personal impact did it have on you?

        Not more than 20 years ago, the people of El Salvador had to live through one of the most violent, longstanding wars in history. The battle raged in both neighborhoods and cities, and whole households and family members were lost; the people lived through a nightmare. Boys were taken to be child soldiers on both sides of the conflict by the time they turned twelve. Families were destroyed as homes and villages throughout the country were wiped out. The people who remained sought shelter in Honduras, but conditions were just as horrific, as massacres and abuse followed the people into the refugee camps. When the war was over, those family members that were left were reunited, but what they returned to in El Salvador was disaster.

        But Salvadorans are resilient. Even in the most terrible circumstances, individuals have the ability to act to make a change. For the people of Guarjila, this change came through the work of physician Ana Manganaro and Padre Jon Cortina, two individuals who took it upon themselves to build a clinic, empower a workforce, and serve a crippled nation.

        While the history itself is inspirational, the kindness and spirit of the people is what moved me most. Guarjila is a selfless community with a people that embraced our presence with open arms. We walked the streets safely, striking conversations with anyone who crossed our paths, celebrating their culture, and most importantly understanding the resilience of the human condition. We often questioned what we had individually done to deserve such unparalleled treatment. We could have come as strange students from the states and left the same way. However, the people allowed us in and we became a part of their community; we didn't want to leave.

How has your understanding of global health been strengthened by the trip?
          I now realize that as much as I had worked with GlobeMed for the year since it was founded, I really didn't have a clear understanding of what global health truly was. Sure the idea of having access to adequate health care is primary when understanding global health, but what it really means is something much more intimate and personal. When I became a part of GlobeMed, I would always describe it to others as a network of universities and students working under the supervision of a national office to raise funds for the movement for global health equity. A generic answer, I know, and I thought it covered all the bases. What it lacks, however, is the fact that we are working with not for our partners, who took on the responsibility of promoting health equity long before we did.

         That could only be apparent to me once I actually walked through the gate outside the clinic and saw the multitude of patients seeking medical aid from a group of selfless nurses, health promoters, chemists, and doctors, who as I saw it, embodied global health in a way I could never imagine. There is an archive full of patient files and family pedigrees, identifying all details from the extent of education of each family member to any history of mental illness or incapacity. This is adjacent to a lab that works with no A/C and very little ventilation to analyze blood, urine, and stool samples of patients, opening the door to diagnosing why the patients are there in the first place. Consultation rooms are occupied by doctors who make a 3 hour commute every weekend from a remarkably different life in a city where latrines are unheard of. They work for salaries that often don't seem to justify the years of schooling and work they have to go through. Working right alongside the doctors are the nurses, most of whom are residents of Guarjila; they have been at the clinic the longest and had to learn how to be health care providers in the middle of a violent civil war, taking on positions as surgeons and pharmacists at different points in their lives. In spite of it all, the clinic staff is like one big family, celebrating holidays and birthdays with cakes, drinks, and dancing with the expertise to mobilize together to face whatever problems threatened the community. Global health is Clinica Ana Manganaro and its staff who have vowed to preserve life by providing health.