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Saturday, June 16th, we visited 3 communities in conjunction with representatives from PLAN Internacional. PLAN is an international organization that seeks to educate impoverished communities and helps to raise their standards of health via community development. We first went to a community called El Tombe. PLAN has been working with them for 3 years now. We first stopped in at their church, which is where much of the health intervention takes place.
While there, we toured a local home. The house, which was built with PLAN’s help, was made of cane and had a metal roof. It was elevated on stilts for protection against severe flooding which has plagued the area.
These natural disasters are caused in part by the El Niņo phenomenon. We also saw a school that was previously on stilts; it is now buried up to its roof.
We next headed to San Ramon, a community that has thus far had no intervention. We could only take the vehicles so far because of rough terrain, so we had to hike about 30 minutes to reach the community. The community was secluded and very spread out. It is disturbing to think what would happen in an emergency, as the only transportation is either by foot or by animal. While in San Ramon, we visited with a few families. The people are very warm and welcoming. It is wonderful to see that they are so happy with what they have, even if it is so little by our standards.
The water these people use for drinking, bathing, cooking, etc. is contained in a pit dug in the ground, or it is hauled in from the river that runs nearby. It either remains stagnant in the pits or in plastic or metal barrels until it is used. This is the probable breeding ground for many of the malaria and dengue fever-carrying mosquitos.
The third community we visited was Rio Caņa. We had to hike through some jungle-like territory, and cross a hanging bridge of wooden planks with large gaps to get there. Once there, we visited a couple of homes and observed the presence of mosquito breeding grounds and how containers that fill with rainwater can increase the risk of contracting malaria and dengue fever. It is disheartening to know that with just a little effort, many of these tropical diseases could be prevented. Of course, this is why we’re here, to learn how to help. After visiting, the group shared a few seeds of some cacao plants found growing in the area. Very interesting!! I just keep learning.
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