REALLY

We entitled our community health and cultural diversity experience "Really"
because we had so many momment's where we would just look at each other and say, "Really???"

Here we are cleaning a wound of a man who had skin cancer
(I guess it had maggots in it before we got to it.) His bed was crawling
with ants and was wet with urine. He also had piglets and kittens
running in and out of his room as we cleaned it. So much for a "sterile" environment.

This was taken at our education fair in the town square in Madelena.
Carol is a nursing student at Fanor who also helped us translate and
the man on the right was the town's Dentist.

This was at a very poor part in Fortaleza. I hung out with these cute 3
kids while we took care of their neighbor because the house was not big
enough for more than 4 of us to be in there at a time. We asked them what
they had had for breakfast and they said gum. They didn't remember eating
lunch. We brought them fruit the next day and the little boy in the middle
ate two apples and an orange before I could even blink.

Really, need I say more, I fell in love with this little boy the minute
I saw him. He was obsessed with our camera's.

One of the many creepy frogs that was attracted to me.

These little cuties were with their mom at the clinic who was

pregnant. The littlest one kept saying, "hey woman" to me.

This is Nilton. He was blind and lived alone. I walked up to meet

him and all the sudden he started talking in English!!! It surprised

me. Before I left he went into his home and found a piece of paper

and asked me to write my name on it. He said, "Linzi Brown, like

Charlie Brown." He told me to come back and to never forget him.

I am pretty sure I never will.

As I sit here I am trying to think about what I could write that would even begin to share my experience from these past 3 weeks. I have so many stories to tell about how my life was touched. I saw true poverty and I will never forget that. I met the most loving, giving people. I saw patients with diseases and afflictions that I may never see again in my nursing career.

We spent our first week in Fortaleza, the 2nd week in Madelana, Macaoca, and Union (very small, rural areas), and our 3rd week back in Fortaleza. In short, here is what we did:

-We went on home visits where we did patient assessments, wound cleanings, and teaching.

-Visisted the prison and did presentations on safe sex practices and STD's and gave vaccines.

-Worked in community clinics doing well child exams, pre-natal exams, pelvic exams, pap smears, wound cleanings, vaccines, and suture removals.

- Went into elementary schools and taught about dental hygiene, washing hands, and eating nutritious foods.

- Went to secondary schools (ages 12-18) and taught about safe sexual practices, STD's, and what responsibilities come along with having a baby. (Brazilian people are very open about these things, my jaw dropped at what we were teaching 12 years olds. I told the Brazilian professor that we would have been arrested in America!)

- We got to experience Brazil. The people, the amazing beaches, surfing, the crazy driving, the endless garbage everywhere, the delicious fruit.

-We learned that the fight for health care is a global issue, small and simple interventions make a difference, modern technology is not the only way to save lives, flushing toilet paper and hot water are luxuries, "Brazilian Time"runs about 2 hours late, language barriers are difficult-but can be over come, people do want to take care of themselves and their loves ones-they just need the education and empowerment to do so, and so much more.

Pictures are worth 1,000 words, so here are a few until I get a slide show made of the rest!