Thoughts from Oaxaca: Day Four

I'll try to keep today's post short and just brush up on the highlights, but I can't guarantee that I won't ramble on. Let's get after it!

- Today was the first day of volunteering for the program. Lauren, Shan-Shan, and I all chose to volunteer for a really cool organization called Oaxaca Streetchildren Grassroots. They help local children who would otherwise be selling goods on the street to get off the street and into the classroom by providing the money and resources they need to enter into the school system. Their families are often very, very, very poor and cannot afford to give them an education. Additionally, they are often from the pueblos outside of the city, many of which require a 30 to 45 minute bus ride into town. The organization relies on sponsors to send money to support the children and make sure they can buy school uniforms and make it to the center. We went to their main location, El Centro de Esperanza Infantil, and went through a brief orientation, learning about the mission of the center and about the options we would have to assist them. There were plenty of volunteers around, and we quickly found work sorting letters from the kids to their sponsors. I skimmed through a couple of the letters as I packed them into envelopes. The kids were so appreciative of the support, and you could really sense the genuineness in their writing. One little boy even said he prayed for the sponsor everyday, thanking them for their support and hoping that they would be safe and in good health for years to come. Very sweet to read!

- Language classes are continuing to go well. I am continuing to understand more and speak more as well. My confidence is growing every day too. The instructors at Becari are so great. Manuel and Andrea are engaging, and make the material fun to learn. They keep all of us involved and routinely ask for our participation. Even though they always assign tarea for the next day, I look forward to class and can't wait to learn more tomorrow.

- During our conversation lesson with Andrea, we talked about the healthcare system of Mexico. One thing that I thought was pretty cool was that some of their insurance plans have a huge list of procedures they cover. Doctors check what number of plan the patient has (if they have one) and then can see if the procedure they need to perform is covered by the patient's insurance. So for example, if I would've been a Mexican citizen with Andrea's coverage, my appendectomy would've costed me a grand total of...nothing. Sounds a lot better than the $30,000 hospital bill I had!!! Even procedures that aren't covered are so much more inexpensive than in the states. Manuel had two surgeries last year that weren't covered by his insurance, and paid around $4,000 pesos, which is the equivalent of around $400 US dollars, more or less. Unheard of in America! Heck, in America $400 is just enough for a wound dressing change (jk, but you get the point).

In the evening, I walked around Oaxaca and took some pictures of the scenery. La iglesia de Santo Domingo is so beautiful, and the interior is remarkably detailed. It is truly a sight to see. Here are a couple pictures of this historic church.