Rebecca Kramb

The best day I had at Primeros Pasos was the day Melanie [volunteer] , Eline [volunteer] and I accompanied Monica, the nutrition specialist, into the community. To get the community, we had to take a chicken bus down a very rugged mountainous road, and at one point during the ride I was convinced the old bus would just break apart on the rough road.

When we got to the community, the sun was shining bright on the mountains and all around the vegetation was green and lush. Many of the mothers with their children had gathered to participate in the nutrition assessment for their children. The people were very warm and welcoming, and their sweet smiles made us feel at home. The children were weighed and their height was measured, then Monica would look at the WHO chart for nutrition and would look for signs of malnutrition, which is very common in the indigenous Mayan communities, because of lack of access to clean water and the prevalence of parasites. The mothers were then given water bottles, nutritional supplement for water, and food.

A doctor was present to see the cases that needed medical attention. There were around 75 people at the event, so it was quite popular in the small town near Xela. On this day, I really appreciated the opportunity Primeros Pasos gave me by allowing me to go into the community.