(6/20-21) Vaccines, Por Favor


Our afternoon activity for today was listening to lectures from Dr. Rodolfo Sanchez, a specialist in infectious diseases. We learned about rabies and diseases caused by parasites in Guatemala. Many families, especially in more rural areas, prefer witches or traditional medicine over hospitals, which often doesn’t solve illnesses caused by parasites. It’s so crazy how many of these diseases could be easily fixed with a vaccine or medicine from a doctor, but fear or doubt gets in the way. We also talked about how this problem really is a problem without passports, because many communities in the United States have doubts against vaccines or don’t think they’re necessary. Human stubbornness is one of the most difficult things to surpass.


Oh, forgot to mention. Before heading to the lectures, Sofia, Elaine, and I got ice cream from Pops in Parque Central. HIGHLY recommend. Cheap but amazing ice cream. You have to try the cappuccino chocolate shell with nuts, it was heavenly with the coffee ice cream. 




The afternoon activity for Wednesday was another lecture, except from a traditional midwife, Berta Juarez. It was super interesting to learn of all these natural methods to assist the body during pregnancy and child birth. I never thought the strands of hair on ears of corn would be a source of natural medicine. It’s incredible how resourceful traditional medicine is. I also appreciated how personal and intimate the whole process was. It seemed like the midwife did everything she possibly could to make the mother feel as relaxed and soothed as possible. Western medicine and hospitals have their merits, but the pristine walls, white coats, and all the foreign machines can be daunting. 


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