TESTIMONIAL

I had a wonderful experience volunteering at a clicic for mental health in Peru. The best part was the freedom of my job. I began, with beginners Spanish, making art with the lowest functioning patients. As my Spanish improved, I changed my schedule to incorporate some psychology workshops with the higher functioning patients. Observing the workshops at first, I learned about the focus of the group and before I knew it, I was leading the workshop when the nurse was not present. My vocabulary grew with the increased responsibility and my relations with the patients grew as well. After two months I had been through good days and bad but, over all I made a lot of friends (I even went to a Grupo 5 concert with my co-workers), learned a lot about the mental health system in Peru, and used my Spanish in a social services setting. What i will look back on is the strong bond I built with the patients, and the many friends I have at the project. Both are wonderful people to work with.

I chose Peru because I wanted to gain fluency in the Spanish language and felt that Cusco would be a great place to learn. On top of that, I have always wanted to go to South America and explore the Sacred Valley. I begin my day at about 8 in the morning and get to choose which doctor I work with during the day or I work in triage. Triage is where they view all patients that come in and give basic nursing care. I spend my day working with a variety of patients of all ages and illnesses and see a variety of acute sickness and injury. Working in the clinic has helped me learn and improve my knowledge of medical spanish. I have gotten to see first hand how the medical system works in Peru and am more trained in the medical issues that are currently effecting this country. My hope is to present a positive example of a medical student and be able to teach some of the people here the preventative medical methods that are available to them. This can hopefully influence them in their future to make healthier choices. My desire is that through my work at the clinic I will be able to contribute my knowledge to the Peruvian medical system. I hope that as my Spanish improves and I become more fluent, I will be able to help a more diverse range of people from all over the world. Doing medical volunteer work in Peru has given me a new international perspective to medical care that will help my future work and career goals both abroad and in the United States.

I am a volunteer in an after-school project. When I first came to the project I was full of inspiration and motivation to change the future lives of these kids. After spending a few days there I realized that the most important thing for these children at this moment, need to have some fun for a few hours. Sadly, most of them have to go and sell products on the streets in order to survive. This project gives the kids a chance to let go and just be KID as opposed to meeting some of them on the streets where they work long hours in order to make a little bit of money for food. One child told me that he was not aloud to return home until everything he had had to sell was sold. For this there were nights he didnīt go home until 3 or 4 in the morning. It made me realice that the 4 hours that they receive after school gives them a chance to relax before they have to deal with the adult side of life once again. My main objective, with the help of other volunteers, was to get them to paint the walls of the project which at the time were very dull. We had a great time painting the walls and bringing some color into the project and into the childrenīs lives.