March 25, 2013
Hola! First, I would like to say that I am a science major with horrible grammar so I apologize ahead of time. We started our first day of service at the lovely hour of 6:30. After the adventure of trying to find the trash bin, we all packed into our two vans and headed out to, Los Pasos (with a quick pit stop at Starbucks to gain energy). Los Pasos is a Hispanic community center that works on preventative healthcare issues from sex education for teens to domestic abuse to health education for children. After a great bienvenidos from the wonderful women who work at Los Pasos, we broke into seperate groups. We made games for education and information cards. Jazmin and Landon were beasts at making brochures. Then we ate a most delightful lunch of home made cooking (aka sandwhiches and chips).
Afterwards we said farewell and set forth towards the medical clinic we are going to work at in the afternoon. Southern hospitality is still alive here in Columbia (South Carolina- not Missouri) because in los Pasos and the medical clinic. Plus, the church we are staying at is serving us a free Sourthern style dinner wed. that is literally the talk of the town. Upon arriving at the med clinic we were greeted warmly by a director who toured us all three of the buildings (pediatrics, family practice, and obgyn. The clothespin game escalated to an all out war, with Maddie ending up with four clothespins unsuspectingly on her back. Then we split into three groups of four and went to the three clinics to aide in translating paperwork and information for the Spanish speaking patients. We learned a ton about the workings of a clinic and the great lesson of patience. I had trouble with speaking, but estoy tratando... Afterwards, we drove to a park to hold reflections and learned that Nate/Matt wants to become the future Tarzan. Although today is only the first day of volunteer work, I can already tell that this week is going to be amazing. What we are working with in Los Pasos is education tools that will be used even after we leave the state. Us Mizzou students are leaving behind a sort of legacy that will be used to help others. And that's pretty cool. I have always been the person that loves to interact with people, but today I think I learned that you can't always be running around playing with the cute little kids (although I know I will always be doing plenty of that). Creating lesson plans and education tools are just as important (and just as fun). That being said, I'm very excited for the rest of the week! Adios los ASBers.
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