Nicaragua 2009 - Bureaucracy and Surfing (not at the same time..) June 19, 2009
Posted by jennie on June 19th, 2009
This week Alden, Dr. Garcia and I worked hard on gathering all the information necessary to present our program plan to the government folks in Managua. In order to get the center approved, they have to have a plan (like a strategic plan), copies of Alden and Federico’s medical licenses, building plans for the center, disaster plans, photos, and many other documents. We spent many hours huddled around my computer so we could work on draft after draft of the ‘strategic’ plan.
On Wednesday we traveled to Rivas (one hour away) for an appointment with a director at the local MINSA office (MINSA = Ministerio de Salud, or Ministry of Health). There are different levels of MINSA offices, just like we have county and state health departments in the U.S. The Rivas MINSA office is a non-descript looking building in the middle of town. We were ushered into a small room where the 3 of us sat around a table while the director - a chubby man who seems to wear a permanent scowl on his face - looked over our paperwork, without saying a word to us for nearly 5 MINUTES! I swear, I almost started making faces at Alden and Carmen, but I thought better of it. Finally, he spoke, and he was mostly pleased with our work! He gave us some feedback and a few suggestions and we were off, ready to make some corrections and bring our plan to MINSA in Managua! One thing about the visit that I found especially funny was that during the visit, I had to use the bathroom, so I was directed to a dirty, cramped room with a toilet in it. When I went to the sink (outside the bathroom, in the hallway) to wash my hands (like a good PT and public health student) I realized there was no WATER! Here was this dude scowling at us who had the power to deny our plan for a center delivering health services and he worked in a building without running water… At least it wasn’t a clinic I suppose. On a serious note, Nicaragua is a resource poor country, so this experience was not totally surprising. But, I had to smile at the situation anyway.
I’ve really enjoyed working with Alden and Carmen. The 3 of us work well together. Alden is just learning Spanish, so I am a big help to her since Carmen does not speak any English. We all have different skills and strengths. I find myself using a lot of my communication skills learned in PBL during this process. I’m also finding that I am a good editor; something I hadn’t recognized in myself before.
Carmen went to deliver our plan to Managua today. Now, Alden and I are going to start working on preparation for meetings with community leaders and creation of clinic documents and educational materials.
On Thursday I got to enjoy some of the surf that San Juan del Sur is known for. A few days ago, Alden introduced me to Jessica, an American girl who has been living here for a few months teaching at a women’s surf camp. She has some time off and is staying here at the Finca with her family, who just came to visit for a few weeks from the Lake Tahoe area. We went to a beach called Remanzo, a short drive from SJDS, with her Mom, sister, and a friend. I hadn’t been surfing since 2 years ago when I was in Panama. Boy, is surfing hard work. Jessica helped me and her friend Noel and gave us lots of good reminders and tips. But over the course of 2 hours, I only was able to stand up twice! It is a ton of work to paddle out through waves crashing over you, just to try unsuccessfully to catch a wave! It was super fun just to be out there in the water, to get some sun and meet some new people though!… And the experience made me want to take some real lessons, where I can learn more about the dynamics of the waves (like that, Mike?) because besides the physicality of the sport, it is all about being able to read what the water is doing.