Jul
19
A Different 4th of July Celebration for Physicians for Peace Volunteers
Sent by Marlee McDonald:
Instead of staying in Boston, MA and Norfolk, VA to celebrate this year's US Independence Day, Sandra Mueller and I boarded a plane to Nicaragua. Although, this is of course, always a huge celebration in the United States, we knew that we would have enough time to celebrate after arriving to Nicaragua, especially with the semifinal games of the World Cup taking place! After all, we were on a mission... A Dental Mission, to be more exact, with a non-profit organization called Physicians for Peace.
Sandra Mueller and I have know each other for quite a while. She was my spanish teacher at Blair Middle School in 2003, and we have stayed in touch over the years. She currently teaches spanish classes at St. Patrick’s Catholic school during the day and dental assistant classes at Everett University at night. She traveled to la Universidad Autónoma de Nicaragua (la UNAN) to work at the University for two months in 2003 with Dr. Sacs and faculty. Since then, the dental assistant program (and soon to be added hygienist program) has truly come to life, and our goal on this trip is to make all of the revisions to the current written curriculum so that it may be presented in September 2010 to commence for the February, 2011 semester.
It is a very unique project that we are doing, and I feel very proud to be a part of it, because in almost all of Latin America, much different to the how the tasks are distributed among the dental assistant and hygienist the United States, the dentist does everything, and neither the position of Dental Assistant nor Dental Hygienist exists here in South and Central America. The Dental Assistant and later Hygienist program will be the first of its kind in all of Nicaragua and possibly Latin America, and this is all thanks to Physicians for Peace!
It is a very unique project that we are doing, and I feel very proud to be a part of it, because in almost all of Latin America, much different to the how the tasks are distributed among the dental assistant and hygienist the United States, the dentist does everything, and neither the position of Dental Assistant nor Dental Hygienist exists here in South and Central America. The Dental Assistant and later Hygienist program will be the first of its kind in all of Nicaragua and possibly Latin America, and this is all thanks to Physicians for Peace!
Uniting at the Airport in Atlanta, GA.,
Sandra and I headed to Managua, the capital of Nicaragua, where we would spend the night with Lia and Eduardo, friends of Sandra who used to live in Virginia Beach, VA, but have recently moved back to Nicaragua. Upon arrival at their enchanting home, Sandra and I were greeted with much love and a warm "torta" of chicken and vegetables. After talking for quite a while, we enjoyed a good night's rest which was very welcome after traveling all day, added to the two hour time difference, which had begun to catch up to us as well. As we slept peacefully, we dreamed about all of the exciting events to happen within the coming week...!
Sandra and I headed to Managua, the capital of Nicaragua, where we would spend the night with Lia and Eduardo, friends of Sandra who used to live in Virginia Beach, VA, but have recently moved back to Nicaragua. Upon arrival at their enchanting home, Sandra and I were greeted with much love and a warm "torta" of chicken and vegetables. After talking for quite a while, we enjoyed a good night's rest which was very welcome after traveling all day, added to the two hour time difference, which had begun to catch up to us as well. As we slept peacefully, we dreamed about all of the exciting events to happen within the coming week...!
