Back with the community!
As the saying goes, all good things are made to wait! And the wait was really worth it... Two and a half years have passed since the VIII medical brigate was held, which, of course, no one expected to be the last, much less the volunteers, who, in their hearts, always had the possibility of doing one again latent, however, from March 2020 to September 2022, this possibility was complicated.
In these two years different events happened, the world witnessed the death of Queen Elizabeth II, unfortunately the war broke out in Ukraine, NASA's James Webb Space Telescope produced the deepest and clearest image of the universe, and of course, Corfomento's social work resumed and with it, the long-awaited medical day, which, from a different perspective, was also great news.
But this activity did not come alone, it came loaded with a surprise, the creation of the Ignis group, an initiative of young people who attend the Hontanar Cultural Center and his friends, who seek to transform the reality of their community through small actions that generate a positive impact on the lives of different people in Colombia and, why not?, throughout the world.
Ignis is not really a well-known word, but inquiring into its meaning it is something like igniting, and if the young people wanted to ignite that flame that lived in their hearts by doing social work, Corfomento would "burn" with them, as he once said Mother Teresa of Calcutta, so that a lamp is always on, we must not stop putting oil...
The group began cautiously carrying out volunteer activities in different places in the city of Bogotá, until it was time to organize the next medical brigade, so in June 2022, preparations began.
That's when They began their work, at first everything flowed wonderfully, they made a campaign to invite volunteers, they spoke with different doctors, they found the right place and they planned the date, however, something was missing, the resources to support the realization of the activity, this was the first time they had faced this, since the initiative also had the challenge of raising funds to carry out this and many other social work activities.
At first, after knocking on several doors, the outlook seemed daunting and the relentless executioner of time did its job perfectly, running fast and against the planned date, – what did we make up? – was a question that arose almost naturally in the WhatsApp group. After brainstorming and several days passing, those much-needed life preservers arrived.
The donations began to arrive, they spoke with the University of La Sabana, who did not hesitate to support the students' initiative, they also talked with several businessmen and friends, they even planned a raffle to promote with their classmates, because Vitals, a company dedicated to manufacturing and marketing of medical uniforms, donated one of these to collaborate with the mission.
There were less than 15 days left for the activity, but the generosity and support of many allowed us to collect just enough and make way for the preparations and the purchase of materials to begin. It was important to be able to make the screens that would separate the offices, the refreshments , transportation, medicines... Work was what there was!
And in the blink of an eye, the time came, it was September 16, one day before the day and the day on which it is customary to have a previous meeting with all the volunteers, many of them due to bad weather they could not attend, so with the few who attended, the materials, medicines and snacks were organized, the others who had connected to the meeting virtually, were waiting attentively for the roles they would develop, tomorrow morning there would be no time to plan anything .
At 7:00 in the morning of September 17, after the coordinators said a few words of gratitude and motivation, delivered the refreshments and loaded the buses, they all left for their destination. After traveling north along Carrera Séptima and after approximately an hour had elapsed, the colorful facades of the houses in the Bellavista neighborhood of the town of Usaquén began to be glimpsed, the place they had chosen to carry out the activity.
To get to this neighborhood, there are practically two ways and both are through narrow and steep roads with slow traffic, or very slow, some would say, which allows two vehicles to pass in opposite directions at the same time, and be very careful If the soda truck, the feeder or some large vehicle comes, things get complicated there, you have to pull over, wait and let it pass. Although as always, there is no shortage of the unsuspecting, who, by giving them up alive, arms the traffic jam. However, despite the difficulty of access, the roads in the neighborhood were in good condition, so they reached the place without any setbacks.
It was around 8:30 in the morning, the buses parked near the park, a simple "sports complex" that only consisted of a basketball or soccer court and a structure with swings and a rolling area and that slowly began to fill up with young people. who wore their medical uniforms, their characteristic white coats and an inevitable, orange Corfomento cap.
For many, this was their first experience and others, already veterans in the subject, were happy to carry out their duties, already at 6:00 in the morning, in Hontanar, they had received the instructions, so, with their tasks in mind, they were preparing to organize everything.
The place that would host the day was the San Diego Parish, which was actually a simple two-story house, which with dedication had become the neighborhood church. Everything was already organized, so first they set up a white tent at the entrance, which would serve to receive the patients, take their data, their vital signs and send them with a simple clinical history, inside the place, there, the doctors they would be waiting to give them a more specialized diagnosis in cubicles that they themselves had set up, while on the second floor attention would only be given to women.
While all this was happening, another team began the task of inviting the inhabitants of the sector, who cautiously leaned out of the windows to see with surprise who were those in white coats who came to interrupt the usual noise of the neighborhood with their shouts, on a Saturday at 8:00 am.
After several attempts, the strategy began to bear fruit and slowly the first residents, with some shyness, approached the park, while the question – is it free?, made discreet appearances here and there, – yes ma'am, yes sir, Welcome – the volunteers responded with a smile on their faces and led them to the tent.
This is how the morning went by, the children, who are the most curious and were the first to arrive, got ready to play an exciting game of soccer, while one of the volunteers, with a megaphone in hand, began to give it the exciting touch. narrating with suspense each movement, plays and goals. On the other hand, the volunteers who were not medical students, were in charge of the recreation and with love and patience, had fun with the other children, who were delighted, surrendered to their smiles and shouted in unison, - I want a Batman, I want a heart, I the shield of my favorite team, referring with this, to the face painters who wanted to be drawn.
Everyone was happy, neighbors and volunteers alike enjoyed themselves, some for being able to receive personalized and quality care in their neighborhood and others for being able to share a real practice time with so many people who came and went to the activity and who, in a future, already graduated, they would be his true patients, although in theory, as students, they already were.
Giselle, one of the people who attended the conference, took her little daughter Mariana to be evaluated and then, moved by the attention, she called her sister, who came with her family, even encouraged herself to talk for a while with the volunteers and occasionally, "very cool that they have come and that they are interested in this community that many times does not seem to matter much, everything has seemed very nice to me, the attention has been very good, my daughter has already gone through pediatrics and I am responsible a lot because I haven't found appointments for her, keep coming because there are many people who need them, it would be good if they could even do it in more neighborhoods of the city", after saying this, he said goodbye and left with his family...
When evening came, after a strenuous but inspiring day, the buses arrived to pick up the volunteers, everything was ready, but the photo was missing for the memory, they all posed in front of the Parish and smiled happily for the duty they had fulfilled. brought its light to the Buena Vista neighborhood, it seemed like the phrase "be light of the world and salt of the earth" was personified in those moments.
It had rained all week, however, that day, providentially the sun shone in all its splendor, it only hid for about 20 minutes, while the occasional gray cloud peeked out curiously to see how the activity ended, it seemed that even Heaven celebrated the reactivation of the medical days...
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