A Pleasant Surprise at Los Arcos

“AMA! AMA!”

Under the small protection of the flyers on my head, I tried to keep up with the pace of Sagar, our Nepali translator, as she chased down any woman in sight. We were on a mission: to recruit as many women to join us at our final health camp. Our determination was lighted as we knocked door to door for the second week, advertising the topic of women’s health.

Last week we found ourselves alone in the Sewa apartment as the odds were against with a national convention and unfortunate bad weather dampened our hopes of anyone attending. Therefore, we were grateful as the sun shone high in the sky, encouraging women to come outside. The boundless energy that is packed in Sagar small body  enabled us to reach out to over forty apartments. Many women stopped to listen to her describe the health camps and explain the importance as I silently listened to the dynamic conversations. After thirty minutes of recruitment, we headed back to the apartment hoping to have convinced some women to come.

We waited patiently and suddenly small groups of women climbed up the stairs to the apartment. We were elated to see nine women sitting in the living room intently listening and interacting with Sagar as we presented them with information on mammograms, pap smears, HPV vaccines. In addition, a presentation by a HISD RN emphasized the importance of being active in communicating with the schools about their children’s health.

Toward the end of the session, there was a deeply moving moment in where all the women stated that they were highly interested in participating in our future health camps, because as mothers and grandmothers the know the importance of conserving the family’s health.

This concluded the health camp series for the summer, but as described above, the community at Los Arcos is very willing to participate in future camps. Honestly I can say that I had a pleasant surprise at Los Arcos as saw more than double of expected attendees walking down the stairs of the apartment.

Sagar informing women of importance of mammograms