Viva Nicaragua! Center for Social Justice and Cultural Understanding

In May of 2015, I went on a service trip to Granada, Nicaragua with the College of Allied Health Sciences at the University of Cincinnati. At the time, I just finished my 2nd year as a Doctor of Physical Therapy student. This trip was the first time that PT students were on this trip. There was one other student who had just graduated the day before we left on the trip. We had a faculty member with us and we were piloting this trip to see if there was a need for us in the future.


I have been to multiple countries on various study abroad and service trips, and just like any other, this was one of a kind. Initially this was a trip for social workers and ended up having PT , health science , communication science disorders and nutrition students all on the same trip. Most days we were all separated with various duties assigned from Viva Nicaragua. It was nice when we were able to debrief and see the work completed by other disciplines and the impact made on both ends. A couple days we got to see each other interact and how many different health care students and professions interact.


From a PT perspective, I was really shocked with the amount of education their therapists received. They received 6 years of education compared to our 7 years. I was expecting them to have 2 years of education for their degree as I had previously experienced in Mexico. We went to Corazon Contentos one day and they were very knowledgeable. We weren't sure what to expect since we were piloting this trip. Although we weren't able to help much with that facility from a PT perspective, we were able to see patients in La Solidaridad and other neighboring communities. Many patients we saw had chronic conditions and they were not able receive as much therapy to maximize their function. We went to many homes and were able to educate patients and their families about things to work on. With short trips, we can't work with them as long as we normally do, so there was a lot education done with treatments that they can do. The good thing is that we document and send them what we have for following PT students that follow after us that volunteer with Viva Nicaragua. I wish I could stay there for a longer period of time to fully benefit these patients.


Viva Nicaragua is a great organization that was very accommodating and helpful with so many students. It is a lot of work to have so many people stay in a short period of time which makes everything fast paced. I loved working with them and being in Granada in general. The workers and volunteers are very kind hearted and welcomed us with open arms even though we were only there a week. I still keep in touch with some of the people that I worked with down there. I would love to come back in the future to expand the program with Physical Therapy.


The thing with these service trips, many people thank us at the end for what we contributed for the time we were there. The thing is we are there a week, and sure we help, but I in reality we get more out of it in the end. It is an eye opening experience to experience their culture, live in their town, eat their food, walk their streets, see how they live, and see what we take for granted in every day life. I definitely grew as a person and will always have a big piece of my heart down in Granada and with Viva Nicaragua. I hope Viva Nicaragua keeps doing what they do, improving and expanding to give many people the same opportunities as I was fortunate to have.