Introduction
GLA’s Global Health Initiative program is a primer for studying medicine or public health in the developing world. A university-level program, it’s designed to give a progressive experience— challenging preconceptions of health with new experiences, and guidance from attending medical and public health professionals working in the field.
Global Health Initiative Itinerary
Please note: Activities may happen on different days due to weather or community needs. This is a tentative itinerary.
| Day | Program Activities |
| 1 | Arrival Day – GLA Students Arrive in Bali |
| 2 | * |
| 3 | * |
| 4 | * |
| 5 | * |
| 6 | * |
| 7 | * |
| 8 | * |
| 9 | * |
| 10 | * |
| 11 | * |
| 12 | * |
| 13 | * |
| 14 | Departure Day – GLA Students Depart from Bali |
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Blog Updates
All the kiddos have arrived! Ready for some adventures!
Today, Thursday 7/20/17, we started the day at 7:30 am and ate a healthy breakfast. We took the bus to the rice paddies and then to Tirta Empul water temple. Once there we put on our sarongs and entered the temple. We cleansed ourselves with healing waters. We also gave offerings and were led through a rejuvenating prayer session. After, we drove to lunch at a buffet with a beautiful view of the volcano called Kintamani. We took tons of pictures, We returned to home base for a while and then headed to the medical school to meet the med students we will be working with for the next few days. We went over our duties and took a tour of their lab. We came back and ate a delicious dinner which was accompanied by amazing singing from a local Balinese man. That quickly turned into a fun session of karaoke and dancing, We ended the night, came back to home base and went over the day with the group. We are excited to start service tomorrow and hang out with the Balinese med students.
Fun things from today: Marshall fell into a ditch when stepping off the bus (Don’t worry Mom he is okay!)
– Sophia and Vicky sang karaoke to Despacito even though they don’t speak Spanish
– Everyone sang the Pitch Perfect soundtrack on the bus
-We went to the market and bought fun Balinese souvenirs
written by Ethan and Sophia
July 21, 2017
Hey it’s your favorite bloggers Anjuli and Fran! Today was a very eventful and educational day. Starting with a great and nutritious breakfast we divided into groups of four before meeting with the Stikes students. Two Stikes students went with each of the groups and we went to the Satria Banjar to take blood pressures and fill out some health questions for each family. After learning a lot about the Balinese culture and their health patterns, we then paused for lunch and regeneration at 12:00. Selamat siang – happy mid day!
We then returned to the Satria Banjar to continue the home visits. At some houses we taught the family members how to wash their hands properly which we did by demonstrating with hand sanitizer. When we got back to the Kaya guest house we had a group debrief about the day where we discussed the limitations to the survey presented to families and how we could improve it. Eventually we narrowed the improvements down to three questions which concerned smoking habits, heart attack medical history and respiratory problems. Dinner was quick and by 7 we went through a brief language course for some essential Indonesian phrases. Our group learned a good morning song which was helpful to remember the language! The evening activity was rather serious: each of us had to write 3-5 things that came to mind about groups that have stereotypes associated with them like different ethnicities or gender. To lighten the mood and relax the mind we then held a student-led meditation and yoga session. It was a fun day and very educational, too! Selamat malam – good night!
July 23, 2017
Miles and Marshall checking in!
Today was an eventful and productive day of service! We all woke up to a nice breakfast and went straight to our service work with the STIKES students. Our service today consisted of setting up health stations for the elderly at two different Banjars (like a neighborhood) We measured height/weight, blood pressure and blood sugar tests. After that, we went back to home base and had a couple of activities that showed us the first follower is just as important as the leader and how to deal with social norms of different cultures that may make people uncomfortable. We then had dinner and a presentation about global health and how illness spreads with Erik. After that we met with mentor groups and went to bed early for white water rafting tomorrow. Today was really productive but tomorrow is the beginning of the fun!
Some stories from today:
Ethan met some new Balinese children friends
Marshall lost feeling in his arms after he carried the water jug from home base to the Banjar
We ate lunch out of banana leaves!
July 24, 2017
We got an early start to the day waking up at 6. We left to go white water rafting in a valley and many of us were nervous because we had never done it before. We rated for 2 hours and made it to the end where 300 stairs were waiting to take us to lunch. We ate lunch in a restaurant overlooking the valley then made our way back to home base. We had some free time before we drove to the Bumi Sehat clinic for neonatal/maternal care. Robin Lim gave an inspirational talk, emphasizing the differences between USA and the clinics treatments. Robin has been named 2011 CNN Hero of the Year and is regarded internationally for her work. Overall we had an amazing day full of adventure and inspiration. Lots of students bought t-shirts and were moved by Robin’s speech to donate to the cause.
-Eliana & Abby
