You are currently browsing the archives for May, 2011.

Community Health Education

posted in: 2011, Laos - No Comments

2:36 pm 2:36 pm

Peggy Jean Craig

Peggy Jean Craig

This was our first week to go out to the field. On Thursday afternoon, Heather, the other Emory intern, and I rode with three other IRD staff out to Dongnakham village in Sai Buatong district, Laos, where IRD was conducting a community health education training for the first time. The trainings cover information about hygiene, nutrition, and sanitation. The village is about an hour away from the IRD office in Gnomolat, with about half of the journey on a dirt road.

As we pulled up to the house we would use to conduct the training, the first thing I noticed was all of the children playing under the house. Lao houses in the low and middle lands are built on stilts off of the ground so they won’t flood during rainy season. The space below the house is used to park motorbikes, hang hammocks, or serve as a place for kids to play – all three of which were happening simultaneously here. READ MORE

First thoughts from Tumaco

posted in: 2011, Colombia - No Comments

12:53 pm 12:53 pm

Lisandro Torre

I’m finally in Tumaco and it’s all starting to come together. I got picked up at 4:30 in the morning on Wednesday and taken to the airport to catch my 6 am flight to Cali, landed at 7:15 and hopped on the 7:35 flight to Tumaco to arrive at 8am. A two-hour flight that takes over 25 hours to do overland. As soon as I landed I felt at home and much more comfortable than in Bogota. I’ve been thinking a lot about how to describe Tumaco, or how to contextualize it for myself and I end up comparing a lot of things to Uganda. It’s not the same, but it is the only other experience I’ve had working abroad and I can’t help but to compare the two. I apologize ahead of time if that’s annoying.

Tumaco Street Scene

Tumaco Street Scene

Tumaco is completely different than Bogota. In Uganda (it starts) Kampala was different from Bududa, but they were still a lot alike – you could see how both places fit together in the same country. Tumaco is a different world from Bogota and it’s noticeable immediately. It’s hot—and sticky hot—and sunny. My ride was immediately there and rather than sketchy people asking to take me somewhere or to some hotel, a bunch of kids followed us to the car, opened our door and begged for a tip. Fewer cars, a ton more motorcycles (and there were a fair amount in Bogota), no helmets, no seatbelts, kids riding on the front of motorcycles (women don’t side saddle here), fewer traffic lights, bumpier roads, no tall buildings, a lot more litter, shacks. It feels like another country and I would believe that it was except the Colombian military is everywhere. READ MORE