Early Childhood Development in Nejapa!

This week marks the beginning of our internships! For two weeks, we learned about public and global health in the classroom. During the third week, we were in the rural community of San Onofre and saw the AMOS model in action. Now, we are finally ready to begin research. The project I am involved in is Early Child Caring, Nutrition, and Stimulation Practices Formative Research – Data Collection. This week, we are going out into the community of Nejapa and interviewing mothers about their mental health state, nutrition practices, and habits they practice when caring for their children. We also use a development model to observe the children and track their development against what is normal for their ages. After doing the surveys, we come back to the AMOS campus to input and analyze the data. It has been so amazing working with the consejeras (community health workers) who are from Nejapa themselves! They have so much knowledge about the community, and they are very involved with AMOS. We also work closely with the AMOS staff and a few American doctors who have come to AMOS to help with this research project. In the morning, we go out into Nejapa to conduct surveys of the families. In the afternoons, we enter the data and meet with the team about any questions they might have. This weekend, we are going to León to see the city! I am so excited to go see the area and learn more about Nicaragua. We have been traveling every weekend, and it has been so much fun to travel with such an amazing group of people! Some members of the AMOS staff always come out with us, and it is great to get insider tips from them! I am very excited to continue the research and see what results we get and how we can work with the community to improve early childhood development.