Within the village of Grande Vuelta, we visited a school to take part in medical campaigns and conduct needs assessment for the second day of our M-HEAL SANA alternative spring break trip. The day was full of responsibilities for everyone in the group: dispensing antihelminthics and vitamins, distributing tooth brushes & toothpaste, performing public health skits, and teaching proper hand washing & hygiene. As a near-native Spanish speaker, I have enjoyed the opportunities I have had to break down language barriers present between my group and the local medical personnel. However, there was one instance where body language dominated the interactions between my group and the local children…
We found ourselves on the playground after performing our final public health skits for the day when suddenly a boy threw a soccer ball onto the ‘cancha’ or soccer field. I looked at the children around me and shouted, “¡Vámonos a todos!” or “Come on over everyone!” What started as a few practice kicks soon turned into a full-fledged soccer game, in which a local boy and I served as goalies. During the pick-up game, I saw children laughing, running, and shooting the soccer ball. What a stark contrast this was to the crying, fidgeting, and kicking I witnessed from the children in the clinic! Even though the children were taking kicks on my goalpost, it was still a relief to see their smiling faces rather than the grimacing faces we saw them make when we handed out albendazole, an antihelminthic used to eradicate intestinal parasites residing within many of the children. Perhaps, the hardest laugh I had of the entire trip was when I went to go save one shot from making it into the goalpost. As I kicked the ball, I watched as it flew away from my goalpost but saw several of my group members and local children point and laugh at me… my scrubs were ripped down the middle – you know where the sun doesn’t shine. While I remained ‘decent’ during the experience, I could not help but laugh with the rest of them because I was genuinely embarrassed but was having a great time away from the clinic.
- Eric Cosky