My apologies for writing the final blog so late… but alas, when we returned three weeks ago, I was exhausted. After sleeping most of a week, I can honestly say— in my five years of leading medical mission trips, this was one of the hardest trips that weighed heavily on my heart. Was it successful? Yes! Did we accomplish all that we set out to do— another resounding YES! We had an amazing rain boot campaign on Facebook where $6 = 1 pair of boots. We raised $3,000 and pur

I am Jairo, I am from Nicaragua, and I have the chance to share my thoughts with you. Let me begin with the first day of our trip, when we all met at the hotel near the airport, we had an icebreaker where each American member of the team was paired with a Nicaraguan member. In my case, I had the pleasure to interact with Russell and we immediately connected in which we spoke about our families and learned that we both like to help people. We also discovered that we bot

Hi everyone! My name is Celie Shankman, I’m the photographer and child life, and I’ll be taking you through my day today! I woke up at 5:50 A.M., and started eating breakfast at 6. We left the orphanage, where we are staying, at 6:30 and were off! We hit a few bumps in the road during our two-hour journey (literally!). We had to get off the bus three times, but our great bus driver Oscar was amazing through it all! At one point when the team got off the bus, many of the local

What is the capacity of the human heart to love…..to care….to hurt….to rejoice? These are the thoughts that come to me at the end of a long day at clinic on this my second medical mission to Nicaragua. I have once again been awed by the breathtaking beauty and quiet dignity of the people of this country. In my role this time around as one of the assistants to the team pharmacist, I have experienced so many emotions that pass before me like a sensory kaleidoscope of images. I

Fernanda Guevarra, translator and Rabbi Chana Leslie Glazer Why join a medical mission? I will admit I have been holding this question ever since our team leader, Tresha Mandel, invited me to serve as spiritual leader for the Tikkun Olam Nicaragua 2015 trip several months ago. I knew it was the right thing for me to do, but that it was also something I probably wouldn't quite make full sense of until I got there. And even a few days in, I will admit I was still holding