July 4, 2009
Happy 4th of July!
I am so excited to be enroute to Nicaragua on this Saturday aftenoon. I had a wave of nostalgia while packing all of my rain gear, keens, bringing the travel backpack out. Reading the blogs of the UD students who are currently in Nicaragua has been inspiring and motivating, I’m excited to head back!
I keep thinking about that quote “You never step in the same river twice”—I think it might actually be from Pocahontas—I’m willing to admit my attachment to Disney films 
I know that I am returning to the same community and will be greeted by many familiar faces, which is so comforting. However, as much as I am looking forward to seeing the familiar faces and be back in the community, I am equally as excited to experience many of the changes that are taking place! The final allocation of the SEED Award is being used to establish Las Mujeres Solares as a cooperative—which is an incredible step towards the business development! Not to mention, I can’t even imagine how much Cherling, the darling grandaughter of Maria Antonia who I lived with last summer, must have grown in one year!
Another exciting development for this trip is Lauren Dokes, Salud del Sol, Inc. Director of Finance, will be traveling with me to Nicaragua! This will be Lauren’s first trip to Nicaragua and I think it will be an incredible experience for her and the rest of our team.
It will be a packed week, full of catching up with the women of Las Mujeres Solares, the field team of Salud del Sol, Inc., and the leadership team of Grupo Fenix. We have also been able to set up meetings with people and organizations that we met last summer, such as the energetic Rotary Club of Ocotal, the Jubilee House Community of Ciudad Sandino, and hopefully we will have the chance to meet with the students from the UNI that are researching a model of the solar autoclave in Managua.
In addition to work with Salud del Sol, Inc., I also will be working with a project through the Innovations in International Health Program of MIT. The Inter American Development Bank is funding a project to teach innovative biomedical training kits to doctors within the CIES School of Public Health in Managua. For the past few weeks, Jose Gomez and Lisa Schlecht have been developing training kits including a variety of technologies to bring to Nicaragua. The goal of the kits is to demystify various medical technologies such as microfluidics, diagnotistics testing and nebulizers to encourage doctors to adapt their equipment to their own needs or to repair equipment on their own. It’s quite an exciting project and I’m excited to be a part of it!
Thanks for reading, and check back often for updates and thoughts from Nicaragua!
-Anna
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Great work! I am excited for you too!!
Dear Anna, Wed.,July 15, ‘09 Hi , Look at you, and all the great things you are doing!!! Well I think it’s cool. Keep up the great work!! Love,Aunt Penny