Week 2 is complete... And we're off!

Monday was one of my favorite days this week.  We were given the opportunity to visit two NGO's, WEAVE and N Street.  Both of these organizations were advocating mainly for women in the Washington DC area.  WEAVE (Washington Empowered Against Violence) was both a legal and a social services agency that targeted victims of domestic violence.  What I found to be very interesting in this visit was their work with illegal immigrants.  In the case of marriages between an illegal immigrant and a US citizen, there is a great power imbalance between spouses which most often leads to some form of domestic violence (where the US citizen takes advantage of their partner).  It was very interesting to hear the agent tell us about her work in trying to defend the victim while also trying to prevent their deportation, a very difficult task indeed.  

N Street, our second NGO, was a shelter for homeless and low income women.  This shelter provided beds, laundry service, showers, two meals a day, social services such as aid in job searches or education, and most importantly free basic health care services such as physicals, dental cleanings, and even counseling services.  Only one or two registered nurses work on salaries and the rest of the workers here are all volunteers.  The most memorable part of our visit was when we got to hear wellness center volunteers tell their stories.  Virginia Mae was originally from Missouri and due to a series of unfortunate events she lost her job as well as any support from her husband and was left on the street with nothing but the clothes on her body.  Somehow she was able to make her way up to DC where she thought chances of prospering were much higher.  During this time she was also diagnosed with cancer.  She began wandering the streets in search for a place to stay.  But she didn't know where to go because she had never been homeless before (which is usually the case for most homeless individuals in the US).  She found a park and what seemed to be an empty park bench, however another homeless lady had occupied that bench.  But luckily for Virginia, the homeless lady was willing to share the bench with her if she only promised to do one thing.  The lady told her to go visit N Street, a homeless shelter for women.  So Virginia went of course and received a lot of aid from the shelter, she was able to find work there as a volunteer and N Street also helped her find other jobs as well as provide her with the medical attention she needed.  When she went back to look for the lady at the park, she was no longer there.  To this day Virginia continues to look but she has yet to catch sight of her.  Virginia believes this lady was an angel sent from above to help her regain her life.  Thanks to N street and the guidance of a homeless woman, she was able to fight her cancer and regain her life.  "When you are down that doesn't mean you are useless, you can still get up and help somebody else." - Virginia Mae

I'm skipping Tuesday for the sake of time and space but also because all we did was class (too normal to be entertaining).  So, with that said, I am going to talk about Wednesday, which was my second favorite day this week.  Wednesday was our Civic Engagement day, in other words it was the day in which we were sent to Capitol Hill to lobby a bill (by ourselves!).  We were sent to convince members of the House of Representatives to co-sign the Global Sexual and Reproductive Health Act.  This bill was written in 2011 and its aim is to improve issues of sexual and reproductive health internationally.  For example access to pre- and post- natal care, HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention, violence against women, and sex education are all aspects of reproductive health that this bill aims at improving.  There are many alarming statistics on infant and mother mortality rates which can be reduced if sexual education and awareness were spread internationally.  So in order to accomplish this task, our class was split up into state groups, and sent off to meet with House members.  I formed part of the Massachusetts group who met with two Congressmen.  I have to admit, we were a bit nervous going into it, but due to our passionate views on the issue and our general appreciation for public health, we were able to convince both of our representatives to co-sign the bill!!  Wow!  I never in my life thought I would have an opportunity like this one, to form part of this governmental support for health policy.  It was truly amazing to know that as average citizens/students we have the ability to meet with members of congress and by simply engaging them in conversations about our views on health, we can gain their support and ultimately change current policy.  (The two buildings above and below, are House buildings on Capitol Hill; the buildings where we met our members of congress).

Very quickly... one thing I forgot to mention is that this week dinner has been cooked for us by country groups.  At the beginning of the program we were all split into country groups ( DC, Brazil, Viet Nam, and South Africa) and each group has been in charge of dinner for one night.  Wednesday night was my night (South Africa group) and I just wanted to boast about my fabulous dessert-making skills.  I was in charge of finding and preparing a traditional South African dessert for 35 people and my creation was Malva Pudding (shown below).  All I can say is that it was delicious! Maybe I can make it again when I return to the states =)

Thursday was our last official day of class in DC and we celebrated by moving our lecture to a neighborhood of DC called Dupont Circle.  It was a very cute town with interesting architecture and housing schemes (see below).  The town had a very homey and New Englandy feel to it.  I liked it.

After class we had our alumni dinner at a nearby Morrocan restaurant called Marrakesh. It was very fancy and elegant (see below).  I got a chance to meet a lot of alumni from as long ago as 2000 and from as recent as 2011.  And I was amazed to hear how much IHP has influenced their life since then.  It was very empowering and motivating to hear them talk about their experiences and I couldn't wait to get started on mine!

Friday was our final day of scheduled events in DC, which mostly consisted of program evaluations and reflections.  It was hard to believe that our first two weeks were over and that we were now about to embark on a new journey in Brazil.  I learned a lot more than I ever expected to learn about the health care system and any other aspects of life relating to health in the US.  It was amazing to see how many disparities there were within DC alone, and not to mention all of the ones that exist within our entire country.  There is definitely a lot more left for me to learn, and I can't wait to take on that challenge.  In order to make any advancements in health and in medicine I find it crucial to understand all of the underlying social, economical, political, and cultural conflicts between different groups of people, and I hope that this program helps me understand and connect all of these aspects better.  Below I have a picture of my luggage (aka everything I will own for the next 3 or so months).  I think I did pretttty good.  But I couldn't have done it without the bags... Thanks DeLeon Family!!! 

Ahh.... Saturday!  The day has finally arrived.  Ready to spend an entire day flying (from 1pm to 3am), hope I didn't forget anything important.  Good-bye DC it was a pleasure coming to visit - Bon voyage!