Chris Yuko, one of the founding members of MPI,
gives us a look into his Manna experience and the exciting Clinic Project. Take a few minutes to read it. You’ll be glad you
did.
"How would I explain my introduction into
Nicaragua? Here’s a try: Imagine yourself standing at the edge of a gnarly section of river, class five rapids, water
rushing by. Then you take one definitive step into the rapids and you are swept away before you can comprehend what just
happened to you. It is a whole new and powerful world around you. This was MPI pre-arrival, about to enter the untamed country of Nicaragua. We
were bombarded with more need than we had ever experienced, were overwhelmed with the quantity and variety of projects to be pursued, and were
constantly questioning exactly where and how to start. So, we opted to start small, although you will see that often the plans we make do
not unfold like we plan. Often the currents go big.
After four months of setting up MPI’s core
initiatives in Fall 2004, the Manna medical team really felt that we could do more with the status quo health system in Nicaragua. We had
big dreams of building clinics, or hospitals, or anything that would provide direct treatments and cures for the people. But, we were fresh out of
college and seemingly had no way of beginning this process.
So what did we do? We called up the Surgeon
General in Washington D.C (a member of our team had interned there for a semester), and we asked about funding for a medical clinic in
Nicaragua. What else, right? I think back and laugh at how young and ignorant we must have seemed. Luckily, the call led
us to the Director of Project HOPE, and the beginning of our dreams becoming reality. While HOPE couldn't offer us funding for a clinic,
they did offer us the unique opportunity to head up a clinic construction project, alongside Project HOPE, based off of a self-sustainable clinic
model recently implemented in the Dominican Republic. We flew to the DR, saw the model in operation, learned the processes involved, and then
returned to Nicaragua.
That was in January of 2005. Today is October 25,
2006. The lessons learned are invaluable. The Nicaraguan Director of Project HOPE has taught me more about business etiquette than
anyone before. The Nicaraguan government has taught me more about patience than anyone prior. And so while we are able to shape the face
of Nicaragua and its health care system, this project has shaped me as a person.
If there is one thing believe to be true about
development work, it's that there is no easy solution. Efforts must be coordinated on many levels. People need to be equipped to work
themselves out of the status quo. To stimulate the economy, we need jobs. For individuals to have and hold jobs, they must be healthy, be
fed, be educated.
Our dream is to build a network of five similar clinics. We
hope to employ and train more Nicaraguan physicians, nurses, and administrative staff. We hope to place our clinics as a part of the community,
using it to reach out to the members of the community beyond the scope of medicine. We believe in the future of this beautiful country, believe in the
people of this beautiful country, and want to do our part to help.
I have a photo framed on my desk here in Winston-Salem. It is
of a little boy we found in a public hospital. The kids face is complete despair. I leave it on my desk to remind me of why we are pursuing the
clinic project, why I'm here studying for the next five years, and why I have to end up back in Nicaragua after I'm done with school. I gave a
talk to my classmates about the clinic and used that photo to tell my story."
After two years in Nicaragua, Chris now is in his first semester of a
dual MD-MBA program at Wake Forest. Thanks Chris.
Clinic
Notes
Manna Project International and Project HOPE-Nicaragua (www.projecthope.org) have entered a partnership with local NGOs (FUNDESUR), The
Order of Malta in Nicaragua and the Ministry of Health to develop a primary care maternal and child health clinic that will provide a quality package
of services in an affordable manner to poor but economically active populations of Ciudad Sandino, in Managua. The clinic will serve over 2,500
patients per month in this community of 75,000.
Manna Project will replicate the highly successful Project HOPE-Order of
Malta Clinics project in the Dominican Republic, using the developed clinic model recognized by the Pan American Health Organization and the World
Health Organization. Their project has resulted in two fully self-sustainable clinics in the Dominican Republic, with plans for a third.
Clinic Needs
The MPI-Project HOPE Health Clinic expects to be self-sustaining by 2009.
Manna Project must raise $200,000 towards the costs of the staffing and running the clinic for 3 years. At this point, the first Nicaraguan clinic
will be self-sustainable and will require no further funds for basic operation.
Manna Project still has approximately $140,000 to fundraise.
Progress made includes the donation of land for the clinic by the Nicaraguan government, and donation for construction costs by the Japanese
Embassy.
Target Population
Managua is home
to more than a quarter of Nicaragua’s population (5.46 million). With an unemployment rate of more than 50% and an excess of 20,000 homeless
people in the capital, poverty is widespread, particularly affecting women and children.
The primary target
of MPI-Project HOPE Health Clinic is underprivileged women and children, because of their vulnerability in Nicaragua. Due to minimal available
primary and preventative care, infant mortality is high (29.11 deaths/1,000 live births.) MPI and Project HOPE aim to reduce this mortality through
the development of the clinic.
In addition to providing quality health care, the clinic will staff health
promoters who seek to educate women in nearby neighborhoods on their own health and the health of their children. By focusing
efforts on these individuals, the clinic will reach out to the most helpless and desperate portion of Managua’s population while providing
opportunity for future prosperity.
Timeline
Building will begin when $100,000 has been raised. At present, MPI-HOPE has
$60,000 raised for the project. |
