Week 10

Crazy that I have just over one week left here in Lima, Peru!!! It has been an amazing summer and I can’t believe everything that I have seen, worked on and created while working with MEDLIFE. I am so proud to have served these communities and I can’t wait to see more community development projects that are in the plans, that will help all of the communities in the future

For my second to last week I spent a lot of time in the field again!

I spent one full day of painting three staircases MEDLIFE helped build with a community I now feel apart of. At the end of the day we inaugurated the staircases as a group with the community by smashing champagne bottles! It was so great to be with the community to celebrate and to see how important these staircases are. It was an amazing experience and a great way to end my internship with MEDLIFE.

The following days I visited communities MEDLIFE has been working in to show volunteers the realities our patients live in. It was very sobering to see the realities the people of these communities were living in and we learned a lot about their every day struggles. For us we spent a few hours but for them its a day in day out experience and possibly for their whole life.

In the communities there is no running water. The higher you live up on the mountain side the more you have to pay for water to be delivered. This increase in price is not by the water company but by the drivers, who are taking advantage of the people in these communities. If they don’t pay, they don’t get water. Just one more struggle the community members have to deal with every day.
To end the week, I went to Barranco, the so called hipster district of Lima. I went to my favorite place, the best plant store ever, The Life Style Concept Store. The store is just filled with tons of plants and its so relaxing to just sit down for a bit and think while enjoying all the scenery.

So excited for the last week and few days in Lima!!!

-Ian

About Ian
Hometown: Hamilton, NJ
School: University of Vermont
Major: Biology
Minor: Community & International Development

Ian is a mentor for two awesome mentees Keshon and Kiki, a volunteer at the University of Vermont Medical Center on the pediatric floor, the president of MEDVIDA, his local chapter of MEDLIFE, and a member of the UVM Triathlon club. He loves being outdoors hiking, snowboarding, and camping.

Ian first got involved with MEDLIFE at the University of Vermont by joining his local chapter during Freshman year. He went on his first brigade that summer to Cusco, Peru and it changed his life. During his Sophomore year he became Vice President and Brigades Officer for his chapter. That summer he went on my second brigade to Esmeraldas, Ecuador where he first learned about his current internship in Lima, Peru. In his Junior year he became the President of his chapter at UVM and he is now a MEDLIFE Volunteer Affairs Intern.

His goal for this internship is to connect his Biology major and Community and International Development minor through helping with the planning and implementation of sustainable community development projects that help bring medical access to vulnerable communities.

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