Saying Good-Bye by Samantha Lawton

Figure 1. Hilario, vet promoter and project supporter, and I working on a chicken coop.

It’s now three days before I leave Sabana Grande and I am unsure when I will be coming back. Next year I move straight into the clinical year of my veterinary degree, which means I have no summer break and no time to travel to Nicaragua. The projects we have worked on this year will pass onto other students who have worked with us throughout the year and are very familiar with our partnerships and objectives.

I am very sad to be leaving this community; when I stepped off the bus this summer I felt instantly at ease. We had survived the bus journey (sometimes difficult to imagine for those of us who get motion sick) and arrived to a group of familiar faces. People in Sabana Grande have been incredibly open to new ideas, to the strange people walking around, and to a multitude of questions about their animals. With the workshop attendees and my homestay families I have shared many laughs, especially on account of my horribly accented Spanish. Our community partners have helped support me through many frustrations and everyone in town has taught me about farming, rural medicine and teaching.

 

Figure 2 The beautiful Sabana Grande early in the wet season.

My experiences in Sabana Grande have made it clear to me – I want to work in development, I want to experience other cultures, and I want to exchange knowledge with other people. This project has empowered me tremendously, and I now want to use the skills I have learned to empower others. I hope I can return to my friends in Sabana Grande in the future, sit down over an egg breakfast, and discuss all that we have done since we last met.