I want to dedicate
this post to my dear friend Ilana and the amazing work she is doing in her
community nestled in the mountainous jungles of northern Nicaragua. Ilana and I
clicked during our pre-service training and have been by each other’s sides, or
at least at the other end of the phone, ever since. We both ended up in small
northern towns in the mountains. Her town is a bit more rural though, and a lot
more green. She is on the edge of the Northern Autonomous region and the
country’s largest nature reserves. In
her town she has a local radio program where she invites people to talk about
their lives and how their decisions have impacted their health and well being, like
using family planning methods, sexuality, and giving birth. She has worked with
organizations to facilitate a bridge being built on the road to a rural village
outside of her town, murals of world maps painted for students to learn about
geography, and has worked extensively with youth, women, and agricultural
workers. She is truly an inspiration to me.
Her current project is
what brings me to write this post. The health center in Ilana’s town lacks many
resources, like health centers around the country. When Ilana asked her health
center director and staff what would make the biggest difference in their
health center, they told her...
