PINCC in El Salvador

11/10/2013

We had a sweet rest (with hot showers!) at the lovely Casa Tazumal in San Salvador before heading out today for the long trip to Cacaopera ...in the mountainous rainforest near the Honduran border.  We are all very up for a rewarding week with the women of Cacaopera

Two Leaves and a Bud

Our PINCC team is offering a cervical cancer screening clinic this week at the Dagapur Tea Estate Plantation. It is located in the city of Siliguri, West Bengal, India. People live and work on the plantation, often for generations. Their work consists of tending, harvesting and processing Darjeeling Tea which is sold around the planet. We are told they make approximately $1.50 per day. The plants are over 85 years old. To sustain the health and productivity of the tea bushes, the workers pick only 'two leaves and a bud'. 

I (Leonie Wolff RN, Vedic Master) am currently training with Lauren Sokolik ARNP to be the co-administrators of PINCC India. We are following in the footsteps of John Adams who is leaving us with an extraordinary wealth of planning and experience. He makes our way so much easier.

Our clinic is being held at the Dagapur Tea Estate Hospital, a health care building that offers good space for us to work in. But before we arrived the 'hospital' was empty of anyone to offer services. I am not sure for how long but "the doctor went away". Our 'administrative office' for this clinic is on the front porch and front yard. It is where we and our Sumita Cancer Society volunteers register, offer pre-exam education and post exam teaching. As our table is on the porch I have a beautiful view of the tea plantation and can watch the comings and goings of both the women attending clinic and all the people of the plantation community as they move about their day. 

These people live in an interestingly sheltered and beautiful world compared to many of the poor and urban residents of Siliguri. The tea plantation is beautiful and due to the sheer size expansively empty compared to the crowded conditions in the city. 

I notice the people of this community intently watching us. I imagine we must look like alien space visitors. I place myself in their eyes. The empty 'hospital' building is cleaned up and full of life (it is quite apparent it looked different before our arrival, the ditch in front of it is the only clean one in the area and the grounds have been racked and weeded). And although we wear the clothes of India to 'fit in' we are well fed, white people. The iPhone I take photos with represents what would take years for them to pay for and for these illiterate people, unimaginable technology. We pull out 'snacks' from our bags and drink water from bottles that to them represent a wealth of nourishment. As intently as they examine me, I wonder of life in their world.  

I meditate every morning and set an intention for the day. My intent is connection. Today is the third day of clinic. The first day I was distracted by establishing 'the process'. At one point (too) late in the day, I slowed myself down to look into eyes. Yesterday was better… Today will be even better. Today I also am bringing them some snacks. We are treated like special guests. Tea is served to us on a regular basis, I want to serve them. 

We arrive with our western time tables and expectations. We arrive with goals and expected outcomes. They are teaching me… Two leaves and a bud. Pinch off just a bit. That allows the plant to continue to grow and even thrive. For many of them I will be the first western woman's eyes they have ever looked into. I will be the first white woman who they ever touched as I offer my hands to them in namaste. My intent is simple. Connection. Namaste.

--
What happens when your soul begins to awake in this world... To your deep need to love & serve life? Oh, The Beloved will send you... Wonderful & Wild companions!  ~Hafiz

"This Is India!"

This is PINCC's first week of training at the Sumitra Cancer Society and 8 of us have survived the 24 hour + travel to reach a remote part of Northeastern India. We look at one another, exhausted, but enthused to be here "We Made It!" was exclaimed. After 2 months of roadblocks getting our newly required employment VISAs for volunteer work in India, I think we were all in a state of disbelief that we were really here. "T-I-I," our courageous and dedicated leader Rhoda Nussbam, MD reminds us, "This Is India."

 

Our first day was an auspicious one, arriving in time for Diwali, the country's well-known festival of lights, celebration, family, and FIREWORKS! The hotel had a delightful celebration that we were included in, a festive way to kick off the first week of training at this new site.

 

Today was our first day of official meetings and we were impressed by the preparedness of our Sumitra Counterparts- photocopies have been made, supplies gathered, trainees prepared, and the clinic organized for the camp- so far things are going smoothly. The Sumitra Office is a buzz of activity today as introductions are made, to-do lists are reviewed, and chai is served in small Dixie cups. We all start to relax a bit more as we gain confidence in the Sumitra organization's ability to meet our expectations for the camp.

 

This trip has special implications for PINCC India, in that the husband and wife team leaders who initiated PINCC's work in India about 5 years ago, Rhoda Nussbaum and John Adams, are passing the baton to a new group who will be taking over the India programs from here on out. John and Rhoda successfully developed two Cervical Cancer screening programs during their tenure and women's lives continue to be saved thanks to their dedication and expertise in medicine, organizational development, and persistence to work through the ever present challenges of working in India- "T-I-I!"

~Lauren Sokolik, MSN, FNP, Training for Administrative Role for PINCC India

Nov 4, 2013

John and Rhoda Celebrating Diwali Festival of Lights

Day One: Siliguri, West Bengal, India: Core Team Members

Photo - walking to work

Photo by Krisit Tatarian.

Leon, First Two Days

 Leon, Nicaragua,  First Two Days

Day 2 of the final Leon site visit and its amazing the difference from Day 1. For experienced PINCC volunteers this is probably a given, but as a first timer - it is really impressive!

The beauty of Day 1 however was the greeting our returning volunteers received from the hospital staff and trainees. Even for volunteers from years ago it was the welcoming of long lost friends and beautiful to see. The ensuing chaos was expected but everyone kept moving, kept calm, and by the end, 35 patients had been seen and several procedures done.

Day 2 was transformative though and beyond being impressed by tasks completed, I can now see the real magic that is happening here. Trainees who were unable discern what they were looking for on exams or in pt histories are showing remarkable vision even in one day of training. And volunteer trainers have achieved a much greater level of comfort in their roles as teachers, smiling, joking and cheering their students successes. A week seems time such a short time to be here but I am getting a sense of what can be accomplished in as little as that.

Of course every trek has its bumps scattered in the path so...from equipment held hostage at the airport, a computer that continues to digest inputted info to some invisible file but then eventually, thankfully, spits it out exactly where it should be; to our new favorite question "which is the room that had the nitrous leak???"; there are so many opportunities to go with laughter instead if dismay, and i love that this group choices laughter! Carol is an inspiring mentor in this regard and our Ambassador, Baby Nehru is a constant source of smiles and love!

I am grateful for the opportunity to be part of all of it and can't wait to see how the week unfolds!
Kristi RN, 1st time volunteer

A moment of silence for Kenya

PINCC is deeply saddened by the violent attack at the Westgate shopping center in Nairobi, Kenya, very near where we have worked.  It has touched many of our friends and colleagues there.

Please keep the men, women and children that have died or been injured there and their families in your hearts and thoughts. We are hoping for the community's speedy recovery from this tragic attack. It is our hope too that the conflict that has led to such a terrible act will at last be resolved and that
better security measures will protect the innocent in future.  We reaffirm our commitment to bringing care and education to medical sites in Kenya, and making life-saving cervical cancer screening and treatment available to women there.

We invite you to express your  comments of compassion and peace on PINCC's Facebook page.


Let Peace Prevail.

Kay Taylor
Executive Director PINCC

Thank You

Dear Volunteers,

 Having just spent three glorious days floating in, on and through the Indian Ocean,  I am heading back to Nairobi later this afternoon with a spring in my step. I'll  finish the last bits of work and then on to the United States Wednesday night.

So much has happened in the last six weeks that I find hard to take it all in. Starting two new sites in Cameroon and another in Kibera has been quite the adventure and, as expected, the two “second-visit” sites in Kenya held their own fair share of roller coaster moments.

Through it all, every set of volunteers was simply extraordinary. There were twenty-three of you who came and went over the course of the trip.  I am not quite sure how we started referring to the two teenagers in Cameroon as “the babies”, nor how Evan took on the role of beloved little brother of the younger set, but everyone seemed to take each day in stride. Amy modeling her new fashions in the chaos of departure from Kumba, Christina's braids, Leon's pink gloves, Virginia making the rounds of every exam room in Bungoma and Tabitha Clinic, Melissa training with every breath and smile, volunteers walking into Kibera, rising above set-backs in Kiambu, learning a task and then training new volunteers as they arrived; you all seemed graciously born to the work.

This was a resilient group of volunteers and clearly PINCC work is not for the faint-hearted. Leaping into the unknown in Cameroon, coping with the absence of  an International Terminal in Nairobi, finding your way in one new place after another--you rose to the challenge multiple times every day.  And many good things happened every day.  Training was begun, a surprising number of trainees were certified for such early visits and solid progress was made at each site.  None of that would have happened if each of you had not given your all every day.  I am inspired by, and grateful for, your example.   You have a special place in my heart and my most sincere thanks.  I miss you and  hope to see you again soon!

 Love, Carol
--

Carol Cruickshank, CNM, Program Director

Prevention International: No Cervical Cancer 

http://www.pincc.org/

Day 2, Kiambu District Hospital, Kenya

 

Tuesday was our second day at Kiambu District Hospital.  The site is a large public hospital just north of Nairobi.  PINCC's first visit here was in January so this is the second visit to this site.  The hospital is a collection of old one story cement buildings connected by covered walkways.  The walls are scattered with slightly frayed public health posters about HIV, TB, nutrition and sexual violence.  There are even a few dispensers of free condoms that are periodically restocked.  As we arrive, lines are forming at the various outpatient clinics and services - xray, lab, chest clinic, maternal child health, HIV, and family planning.  The men, women and children, dressed mostly in western dress accessorized with traditional fabrics and shawls gaze at us with curiosity and a few shy smiles as we walk by to set up our clinics. 

 Our trainees for VIA screening exams are mostly nurses.  Many had not previously performed pelvic exams but what they lacked in experience, they have made up for with enthusiasm.  They have been attentive students and have made great strides over these past two days.  Our patients vary in age from 20's to 50's.  Many have been referred from the HIV clinic where they have access to free anti-retroviral medications.  Many have never had any form of cervical cancer screening before.

 We are fortunate at this site to have a skilled gynecologist  who has taken the initiative to try to create a screening program for the region.The logistical hurdles have been significant but Carol and several key members of the Kiambu Hospital staff are tackling them each one by one.  Carol's commitment to this project and amazing skills of gentle persuasion have inspired us all. We are tired tonight but we will all return tomorrow refreshed and ready for our next clinic day. 

Dr. Jean Talbert, Gynecologist, PINCC Volunteer