They woke before dawn on a chilly January day, flew out of Boston and over Cuba, drove past volcanoes, and went to sleep to the sound of wind in the palm trees and the orderly waves of the Pacific booming in the background. Ten nursing and physical therapy students descended on the fishing port of San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua.

Their mission was to spend two weeks volunteering in public health clinics and immersing themselves in the life of a vibrant, struggling community. The connection between Simmons and San Juan del Sur is a personal one for me. For the past 14 years, I have been working with others in my hometown of Newton, MA, on a Sister City Project with San Juan del Sur. My wife, Margaret, and I go down to Nicaragua every January to renew old friendships and begin school construction projects financed by the project members in Newton. So connecting Simmons students with our public health colleagues in San Juan was a piece of cake.

There are two clinics in San Juan: the non-governmental Servicios Medicos Comunales, and the government-run Centro de Salud. Our students were welcomed into both and immediately put to work.

With the help of the very capable Nursing Professor Angela Patterson '88HS, the students weighed and measured babies in farmhouses with dirt floors and chickens underfoot; they gave impromptu talks about sanitation and hygiene in villages with no running water; interviewed pregnant women (some as young as 15); administered physical therapy to peasants in tin-roofed huts; translated for visiting optometrists from Boston; and helped dispense more than 3,000 pairs of recycled eyeglasses.

They also lived with families in town — two to a home — and fell in love with the people, the Spanish language (no English spoken!), and the national dish of Nicaragua, the savory mixture of rice and beans called gallo pinto, or “painted rooster.”

During their work, the students were organized into teams. One group might be giving a talk to families about the papiloma virus at an in-town clinic, while another was bouncing over a dirt road to conduct a prenatal and well-baby clinic in some backwoods community.   While this was happening, a third group, made up of graduate and undergraduate physical therapy students, might be visiting a shut-in confined to her homemade wheelchair in one of the poorer barrios.

Among the images that stick in my mind are: Jennifer Bayer '02 leaning toward a country woman in the village of Sapoá and explaining in her slow, deliberate Spanish when to use — and not to use — her new eyeglasses, while a few feet away Sue DeGiacomo '02 holds an old man's hand to reduce his anxiety during an eye exam. I can see Mary Dailey '03 leaning on a windowsill in the settlement called Pochote, chatting with an elderly woman who had put on her best dress for the arrival of the visiting medical team, and Elaine Capers '02 taking down names, birthdates, weights, and heights of babies under the precarious roof of an isolated farmhouse. I recall I. V. Lacaillade '02, '03HS and Whitney Osborn '01 providing physical therapy to a smiling farmer with a sprained ankle, and Angela swinging and rocking a delighted baby in a clinic held in a rural schoolhouse. I can see the delighted faces of Lynn Schiebe '04 and Lesley McShea '04 as they spin cartwheels on the beach.

When the optometrists and ophthalmologists of VOSH (Volunteers in Optometric Service to Humanity) arrived the second week, our students were drafted to register patients, conduct eye exams, and translate for the doctors. Most exciting of all was learning how to select the most appropriate pair of used glasses from the immense inventory the Sister City Project had sent down.

It was an amazing experience for the students to help fit these glasses on the faces of people who had never seen clearly in their lives. One elderly woman laughed with delight as a student helped her with a pair of glasses and the world suddenly leapt into focus.

During our stay, Angela was the academic supervisor and I was the chauffeur, but mainly our students learned from the dedicated healthcare professionals — both Nicaraguan and American — they came in contact with. Yet they also learned a great deal from ordinary Nicaraguan people. They learned about dignity, patience, tenacity, and love of family.

One high point of our trip was a visit by a Simmons alumna who lives and works in Nicaragua. Janet “Tita” Picado '79 is employed by the Ministry of Health as co-director of a major nutrition program in the north of the country. Tita and three of her colleagues came down from Managua to give us a fascinating presentation, stressing how good nutrition depends not only on access to food, but also on the proper use of the foodstuffs already available to people.

In the evenings after dinner, the students would walk down to one of the Internet bars — like The Iguana or Ricardo's — to touch base with family and friends via e-mail, and perhaps sample the excellent local beer, Victoria, or one of the multi-fruit smoothies called Refrescos. San Juan del Sur is a strolling town, so after a while our students got used to greeting new acquaintances in the street and sometimes even inviting them to share an ice cream cone at El Globo.  

The volunteer work went on six days a week, but we found time to enjoy ourselves as well. San Juan del Sur has some of the most beautiful beaches in the world, and on the day before our departure, we treated ourselves to an all-day cruise down the coast on the elegant sailing ship Pelican Eyes. The ship was captained by a lively American, Chris Berry, who lives in San Juan. During the cruise, we swam ashore to a secluded beach called Brasilito, where Chris's advance team had set up a gourmet lunch. After lunch some of us walked through the woods to the National Park at La Flor, where the sea turtles lay their eggs.

One feature of the two weeks was the omnipresent video camera that I lugged everywhere, recording hours and hours of footage. Our motto during the two weeks was: “If it's not on videotape, it didn't happen.” I also asked the students to keep journals of their experiences. Some of their writings are excerpted here. If all goes as planned, the Simmons/San Juan del Sur program will become a permanent part of the life of the College.

Our January trip was organized with the help of many people such as Judy Beal, dean of graduate nursing; Angela Patterson; and Director of Foreign Study Janet Chumley. I also want to thank the Scott/Ross Center for Community Service, which provided funds for the trip. Kudos to donor Emily Scott Pottruck '78, Sociology Professor Steve London, and to Jeremy Poehnert, administrative coordinator of the Scott/Ross Center.

Watch out, world, here comes Simmons!

David Gullette has taught English at Simmons since 1967. His interest in Nicaragua is reflected in two books he has written: Nicaraguan Peasant Poetry from Solentiname (1988) and ¡GASPAR! A Spanish Poet/Priest in the Nicaraguan Revolution (1994). To learn more about the Newton/San Juan del Sur Sister City Project, visit www.newtonsanjuan.org. If you'd like a copy of the video about the Simmons/San Juan del Sur January trip, e-mail david.gullette@simmons.edu.

Photograph by David Gullette