Hillary is who I decided to feature this week. She’s an old friend who I met through friends a good seven years ago. It’s crazy how time flies! Since graduating college, she’s spent the last three or so years in New York City working as a photographer and stalking Lady Gaga in her free time. However she just moved back from New York and it has been a joy to have her around!

Hillary is an amazing photographer. In fact, as of recent she’s taken some photos for A World of Dresses. However this week, I wanted to feature the girl who’s always behind the camera. We all need our moment to shine? So this is just a small peek into the closet of Hillary. Here is what she chose as her three favorite dresses:

The story behind this one begins in high school. She originally bought it at Kismet, a local Cincinnati boutique, for her graduation party. Eight years later and the dress still looks fantastic! She said she has not been able to part with it and who could blame her? This is one of those classic dresses to hang onto for a while. Every woman needs a good sundress.

Hillary’s splurge dress

This next one was bought in New York at Anthropologie. She considers it her first big “splurge” purchase after she got her job. She saw it in the window for a month. Finally, she bought it on the sale rack. This is one that works for all seasons. In the winters all she has to do is pair it with a good sweater or jacket.

This is the only dress that strangers on the subway in New York would compliment her on. Getting strangers in the subway to talk is quite a feat. Also, I love these black boots!

The fancy dress

This is her newest dress. This past summer, she had a wedding to attend and looked everywhere all Spring for something to wear. Initially, she was hesitant about this dress because of the length. I’ll admit that I too was weary of maxi dresses when they first hit the scene. However when she tried it on, she said the colors looked even better than they did on the rack! She has since worn it on vacation in Puerto Rico too!

Hello L’BAE Nation you Beautiful Blessed people of God! Yes this is how I will start my weekly blog as we are all blessed to be alive therefore we are all Living Blessed and Empowered …L’BAE that is! As a contributing writer for A World of Dresses, in my own words the L’BAE blog will bring to you highlights of today’s latest fashion trends, success stories and L’BAE moments that will inspire, captivate, and excite your heart. I pray that you find the L’BAE blog as exciting as I feel writing it! ‘Til the next time L’BAE All Day Everyday!

Entering the New Year in a Fashionable L’BAE Way!

As the New Year is upon us, how will you begin? The start of a New Year, a time to get things right, make changes and live your life in a new exciting way sounds like a plan! What better way to start off the year than with some new fashions for your wardrobe, a new hairstyle or maybe a makeover with a fresh new cosmetic line? (Check out the L’BAE Cosmetic line). Yes that’s right retail therapy! Fashion, hair, makeup, shoes, dresses and the list goes on, everything to make a young girl or woman smile from ear to ear with the enthusiasm that they are about to embark on a journey of never ending blissfulness that will change their inner feelings from daunting to daring! Yes Strike a Pose for 2016!

All the newness in the air as the New Year is upon us as we profess and proclaim what changes we are going to make to become better and bolder in our approach to life, although many of us haven’t a clue as to where to start or what to do to acquire ideas for something new. No worries as you can use the L’BAE blog as a guide of inspiration that will heighten your sense of enthusiasm as well as curiosity as you embrace the adventures of others who will share their lifestyle dos; don’ts and pictures of awakened creativity.

What if this is your first time and you really haven’t made any drastic changes to yourself or your life? Its ok the L’BAE consultants including myself are here to help. We are professional and put you as the client/customer first. Just log onto to the L’BAE website at lbaeinspire-new.net, click contact and a L’BAE consultant will contact you soon to answer any questions that you may have.

It is certainly okay to change a few things about yourself in order to spark a little excitement in your life. As we enter into the New Year, a simple change to your color pallet could be a start. If you constantly wear red in your wardrobe, change your color to orange, yellow or even a print that will make a statement. If you’ve never been one to wear skirts or dresses, make this the year that you show those legs! Yes still keeping it sophisticated and professional but being a little flirty won’t hurt anyone! The change can be anything that you want whether it’s your wardrobe, hairstyle, makeup or even your career! Just do a quick analysis of yourself to figure out what about yourself you would like to change or enhance.

The key and most important thing is that you are happy with who you are, and with that being said get up, get motivated and get moving! Open up your closets, jewelry boxes, makeup bags and shoe racks, and clear your old things out to prepare for the new! This is going to be an exciting time, so get your journals ready to take notes on any and everything that ignites a spark into your creative imagery on becoming the best new you that you can be in 2016. We are all different. Everything may not appease everyone and this is okay as the world would be boring if everyone was the same. We as women have a world of dresses in our closets so relax and enjoy as you see the variations of women’s style in their fashion, hair, makeup and careers. Happy New Year 2016 L’BAE All Day Every day! I’m Pamela the Inspirationalist. Make it a L’BAE Day!

For More Information go+- to www.lbaeinspire.net, or email me at pittsinterp@yahoo.com.

Life has a funny way of putting people in your path. I’ve actually “known” Meghan for about four years now. She used to work at a non-profit where friends of mine were involved. I thus also got involved. However save for a hello or a short conversation about the weather, Meghan and I never really talked. Four years later the two of us find ourselves working as AmeriCorps members at the same organization. We’ve both had the opportunity to be of support to one another as we navigate our new work environment and feelings of doing AmeriCorps at age 28. She had also mentioned reading and liking A World of Dresses, so I thought it’d be fun to take a lunch break one day to interview her. It was fascinating. I just wish I had had this conversation with her sooner.

Name: Meghan Snyder
Age: 28
Location: Cincinnati, Ohio. From Phoenix, Arizona

So why Xavier if you’re from Arizona?

Well I knew I wanted to study social work and I heard about this concept of a service-learning semester. My uncle is a Jesuit, so I’ve kind of grown up with the Jesuit ideals, I guess. I wanted to try out somewhere new, so not California and not Arizona. So I applied to Xavier, and came and visited. There were daffodils and tulips growing out of the ground. I was like “What? I’ve never seen this before!” They also offered me the most amount of money. So I was like “that helps and then they also have the social work.” I minored in peace studies, and gender and diversity studies, and did the India service-learning semester. So it was all the things I wanted plus they had tulips growing out of the ground (laughs). So that helped.

So why social work? What made you go into that field?

I was kind of a weird child/teen. I guess all growing up, I questioned why things were the way they were. I was always very conscious about inequalities that I saw or different things I heard about some people being less than other people. I was always to my parents like “Why is that? Why is it that like Mexican children at my elementary school have to travel so much further to go to school? Why don’t they get to live in the nicer neighborhood that we live in?” Like I was just like “Why is there mainly white people around?” So then I participated in this program called Anytown, which is in Phoenix. It brought together high school students from all over the Phoenix area. And I learned a lot from people from all different backgrounds and it was then that I was like “I just want to help people.” My counselor was a social worker and I was like “Oh, that’s your job! Helping people and helping them to figure out resources to live well, and empowering people?” So I was like “Okay!”

So social work was it after that.

Yes. So now I’m getting my Master’s at the Mount in Spirituality and Pastoral Care.

That’s cool! So tell me what made you decide to go that route for your masters degree?

Well I realized that in social work, there’s not a lot of emphasis on spirituality and using that as a source of strength for people. It is also a huge way of understanding people from a cultural perspective in terms of religion and also understanding any negative experiences with spirituality or religion. That really shapes who a person is. So I wanted to be able to incorporate religion and spirituality into social work practice.

What do you see that looking like now that you have the social work background and the pastoral care/spirituality masters?

What I would love to do … So after I graduated from Xavier, I lived in Xavier’s Over-the-Rhine semester apartment, which was six years ago, so it was before Over-the-Rhine was like it is now and it was right across the street from Washington Park. We created this urban weekend for students going on other service-learning semesters. I loved creating that and creating ways for students to learn experientially through conversation and through actual like real life experiences, and then adding them together to reflect on what they are learning. So experiential learning with reflection and figuring out action steps.

Yeah because I know Xavier is big on that. There’s the semester in Nicaragua, you did the semester in India, there’s the semester in Over-the-Rhine and I’m sure other ones I don’t know of.

Yes. They only have one in Nicaragua now, but they did have one in India and they used to have one in Ghana.

Cool. So you went on the one in India? So what part of India?

I lived in Delhi and lived with a community of Xavier students, and a community of younger Catholic nuns who were studying at the university nearby

Were they Indian nuns?

Yes. But they were from all over India and so that was a real fun experience (laughs). I worked in Mother Theresa’s Home for the Destitute and Dying. I took classes. It was great. Actually that was where I really decided about the mix of social work and spirituality. Because the word there to say hello and goodbye is Namaste, but it really means the God in me recognizes and honors the God in you. So how powerful is it that that’s the way you greet people? So when I was at Mother Theresa’s Home, that was the way we greeted each other and it was helping in working alongside with the women there doing laundry and I just realized this power of putting the two together. The respect and dignity of a human person from a spiritual perspective. That’s why I want to work to help them to be the best. That they can show their assets and their strengths and their talents.

So this was about seven years ago?

Yeah.

So how has that word Namaste affected the way you interact with people now?

I feel like it affected the way I interact with people. I try to have more meaning behind hello than is normal in our society. When you say hello in our society, it’s kind of like a passing thing. I try to have meaning. It’s really taught me the power of just recognizing the human dignity. Each person is God and must treated as such. And being a creation of God means that they have within them all these gifts to offer to the world. When you think about all the people who don’t have the opportunities or don’t have the resources to be able give those.

So that’s probably why you do what you do.

Yeah I mean that’s why I worked at Starfire. I saw how people with developmental disabilities were kept in their homes and kept away from society. We have this whole group of people who can give so much and make the world a better place. I know how cliche that sounds, but like they don’t have the opportunities. We have stripped their abilities to do that.

After graduation, you spent five years at Starfire. How did that time impact your life and where you are now?

Working at Starfire, I feel like I did every job you could possibly do at a non-profit and beyond. So that was really neat just to be able to learn all those skills. But what it mainly taught me was the power of community and that every community, along with every person, has assets. Sometimes you have to work harder to find them because of stereotypes and prejudices about that particular community or about that particular person. We have to tap into these assets and tap into these potentials and then work with the community, work with a group of people and work with an individual to help that blossom. And now when people are talking about a certain neighborhood or ask me about a certain neighborhood, I can name off everything about that neighborhood; where they should go, what coffee shop they should go to, what people they need to meet there and what activities they should do there.

Yeah that’s the whole idea behind Starfire. You connect members to their neighborhoods.

Yeah and part of my job just happened that I did a lot of volunteer opportunities for our Starfire members. So I had this huge binder of all these non-profits and their volunteer opportunities. Then I would look at what a Starfire member’s assets or talents are, and I would connect them to the agency that was in their neighborhood and could be of use to that member’s assets or passions. Then I would go with them to do these volunteer opportunities. So I learned a lot about volunteering and I think that’s why I wanted to be a volunteer coordinator, which is my position now. I’ve seen all the things that can come from having a good volunteer coordinator and I’ve seen how a volunteer coordinator can really be a detriment also. So I wanted to do it so I could be a good one, I guess. Or you know have people have deeper experiences in terms of their volunteering and feel like they’re learning things through it and empowering to work for larger social justice issues. Even from the most menial task like if a person is just filing or something. But place it in that larger context and when people realize it’s part of this larger context that it’s working towards bettering society, I feel like all tasks mean something.

So what are some ways that people don’t manage volunteers well? What are some big mistakes that people make?

I think not educating volunteers on the issues and social injustices that are the reason the non-profit is there. Not putting the agency in context of the larger community, and larger city and network and all that kind of stuff. So I think that you can feel useless or feel like you’re not doing anything important because you’re not understanding the larger picture. I think another issue is when volunteer coordinators don’t tap into the deeper passions of their volunteers. So like if someone e-mails saying that they want to do ESL teaching but asking them “What are your other passions? What things do you love?” That can enable me then to like say we have enough ESL teachers, I can ask them if they love numbers, I can ask them to say do financial ESL because that taps into your love of numbers. Or lets say they love music. I can link them to refugee families who also really like music. They can bond over that shared love of music.

What do you think your gifts are?

It’s hard to talk about yourself (laughs). I guess I’m good at helping people identify their gifts. Like figuring out what people do well and telling them that they do them really well. I’m also creative but in a not-artistic way. Like in a way of looking at what people have identified as issues or problems, and re-framing things and looking at different ways, and coming at it with out-of-the-box ideas.

What does being a woman mean to you?

That’s interesting because my partner is an adjunct professor of women’s studies at NKU, so we talk about women, and women’s issues and women’s studies all the time. I think most about being a woman when it’s any kind of voting day because I think about all the women who have come before me who have worked for my right to vote. I think about all the women in other countries who do not have the right to vote. And I think about how women are not empowered in various ways in the community but our vote is the same. I think voting is a very empowering experience and it makes me proud to be a woman who is proud to be in sisterhood with all these women who have come before her who have made it possible for her to vote.

I think being a woman is for me it involves nurturing in many aspects. I think there’s this need to nurture. Also when I was growing up, my mom had this pin from the late 60’s that she wore in high school that says “the future is female.” And she used to and still does, when I would get down about something she’s like “Megan remember, the future’s female! Be empowered by being a woman!” And I’m like “Okay!” So I think it reminds me of all these amazing women who are breaking glass ceilings and doing things that they’ve been told they can’t do because they’re a woman. And I’m like “yeah!”

So other than your family, who are some of the important relationships in your life?

My partner Emily. She’s amazing. We’re so different but we have so many similar values. We’ve been together for four years. We met when she was a volunteer at Starfire. Our first date, she picked me up. I was living in a community house at the time. All my roommates were so excited that I was going on this date because I had had a rough break-up. They were all excited. It was a nice day, so like all of my nine roommates were sitting on the porch when she pulled up. I was running late because I run late quite often. So she had to talk to them for a few minutes on the porch until one of my roommates ran up to tell me that she was there. I didn’t even know she was there for like those first two minutes. So she had a very quick welcome to my life. We live together in Northside with our dog Sunny. And half the year, we’re foster moms to Patrick Swayze, the bunny who lives at Sidewinder in the courtyard during the months that it’s nice outside.

We have added another to our Dressember team, making it four now. A few days ago Johanna accepted my invitation to join us and I could not be more thrilled. The two of us have been friends for 10 years now. We met through mutual friends our freshman year at Western Kentucky University and have been close through moves, breakups, children and everything else associated with growing up. So here’s to Johanna! Also, here are 10 reasons why she rocks.

1. She has always been a fierce advocate for women.
2. She’s a wonderful mother of three.
3. She lets her kids be who they are, which sometimes means letting them be Michael Jackson.
4. We have a shared love of the movie Anchorman.
5. She has a strong love/interest in history.
6. She has an awesome fascination with mummies, horror movies, etc.
7. She’s an amazing dancer. She used to be on WKU’s dance team.
8. She’s been through some things and chooses to use her experiences to help others.
9. She’s very easy to talk to.
10. She’s one of my favorite people to laugh with.

Thanks Johanna. I’m so excited to be connected with you all of December through Dressember!

For those of you who do not know, Dressember is a campaign during the entire month of December to raise money and awareness for organizations working to end human trafficking. Each woman who participates commits to wearing a dress the entire month of December, whether that’s the same dress, repeated dresses or a different one each day. It’s a campaign that’s more than just a dress. This will be my second year participating. Last year I raised over $500 alone, so who knows what we can do with four or more women! If you would like to learn more, you can also e-mail me at aworldofdresses@gmail.com.

Well it looks like we now have another one on the team! Meet Jana. Some of you may have already met her when I featured her on the blog several weeks ago (Jana and Women’s Rights in Nicaragua). She currently lives in Matagalpa, Nicaragua where she serves as a Peace Corps volunteer. She is someone fiercely concerned about women’s rights and changing the world. I feel privileged to call her a friend.

The other day she sent me a Facebook message telling me she wants to join my Dressember team! I’m so very excited. This simply means that she is going to join me in wearing a dress each day for the entire month of December to help raise awareness about the issue of human trafficking. I cannot be more excited that she is joining myself and my best friend Kayleigh on our A World of Dresses Dressember team. So to say thanks, here are 8 reasons why Jana is awesome.

1. The Peace Corps. This girl committed two and a half years of her life to live with a lot less than she has been accustomed to while living in a culture completely new to her. I commend anyone who does that. She will be forever changed for the better from her experience.
2. Her sense of justice. Jana has a passion in her about what is right and she advocates fiercely for it.
3. How she stands up to the catcalls of men in Nicaragua. She talks about this more in-depth in Jana and Women’s Rights in Nicaragua, but she does not take any of their sh–. As she has become fluent in Spanish, she actually approaches them and tells them exactly how she feels about how they objectify women.
4. Her concern for public health. She is so very passionate about it.
5. Her curly hair. At times, I wish I had curly hair.
6. The fact that that one time we joked that the real hardship to being in Nicaragua was that there are like only three beer choices. She’s from Portland, Oregon, the capitol of microbreweries, so it’s been rough.
7. She teaches yoga.
8. During the month I spent in Nicaragua, it was just nice to have a pal.

Thanks Jana. If anyone else has interest in joining our Dressember team, make sure you visit www.dressember.org/participatex/ and select A World of Dresses as your team!

This weekend, many badass women will take the stage to convey some very important issues. The mediums of dance, poetry, song, theatre, multimedia and visual arts will be the ways these messages will get told. In other words, this Friday and Saturday nights will be Contemporary Dance Theatre’s Performance and Time Art’s (PTA) show. This performance kicks off the 2015-2016 series for PTA shows. These PTA shows are one of Cincinnati’s longest-running performance art series.

Diana L. Ford is the Choreographer, Director, Producer and one of the dancers in this upcoming show that is based on her community Facebook blog page entitled Welcome to America: There’s Gotta be Something Better than this Crap. It started when she was getting her master’s in Liberal Arts with a concentration in humanities and social justice. She created it as her final project. On the page, she writes and shares things about a variety of different social justice issues. The PTA performance allows many of these ideas to come to life in an artistic form. The show will consist of dance, song, poetry, visual arts, theatre and multimedia.

On Tuesday, I sat in on one of the rehearsals with the dancers. One of my favorites had the dancers in coal-mining-like outfits with rags they whipped as they danced. They also wore money glasses. Diana said this one is a commentary on how much debt we are all in. She thinks it’s the modern-day slavery.

“Right now so many people are caught up in debt,” she said. “Everything they own belongs to a corporation.”

The dancers dance to “Sixteen Tons,” an old song about owing your sole to the company store. Back in the day, coal mining towns often had a store owned by the mining company. They had people pay in credit. So when your paycheck came, much of it just went right back to the coal company via the company store. Very powerful. All the dancers agreed that this was their favorite song to dance to.

“Modern dance can be anything,” said dancer Lisa Schechtman. “There’s no limits and no rules. You can’t go wrong.”

The dancers seemed to be enjoying themselves as they changed into different costumes. One involved rings that lit-up. Another included some wings. Dancer Glenda Figueiredo said she feels complete when she dances.

Diana hopes that people come away wanting to take action about the issues discussed. After all, there will a lot of opinions and ideas about the state of our world today. She also hopes it stirs up a stronger urge for community, something she feels very passionate about.

“Your community is important,” she said. “Ultimately you cannot rely on your government to help you. You have to rely on your community. There was a point where we were very community-oriented. We took care of each other and made sure our neighbor was okay, and now we don’t do that anymore. It’s important to get back to those roots because when something happens, your neighbor will know if you’re dead or your house is on fire.”

There are two Contemporary Dance Theatre PTA shows. Both shows begin at 8 p.m., with the doors opening at 7 at the Contemporary Dance Theatre (1805 Larch Ave. Cincinnati, Ohio 45224). Tickets are $15 general admission and $12 for students. You can call the Contemporary Dance Theatre at (513) 591-1222 for more information. You can also check out the Facebook page for more information.

In June, I spent some time in Nicaragua and made a few friends. Nahara was one of them. She was actually born in Nicaragua but immigrated to the United States when she was seven with her family. She just graduated college and plans to become a doctor. However rather than jump right into medical school, she decided to spend a year back in the country she was born in. She is currently working with an organization in Matagalpa, Nicaragua. Her extended family lives several hours away and she visits them every so often. 

Name: Nahara Saballos
Age: 22
Location: Matagalpa, Nicaragua; grew up in Brooklyn, New York

So you are spending a year in Nicaragua doing volunteer work. What made you decide to do that?

Well I studied abroad in Botswana when I was in college and after that experience, I definitely knew that I wanted to do global health. I am in the pre-med track, so health really does matter, but international health is really important too. One of my passions is to travel the world and see new things, and learn about different lifestyles and people. So I decided that I wanted to take a year off from school and do something that I wouldn’t get a chance to do later on in my life. So before starting medical school, I decided to take a year off. I didn’t know where to go. I was considering other countries but then I decided on Nicaragua because I left when I was seven and I’ve only been back twice before this trip. It’s usually been like family vacations and seeing family but not really appreciating it or understanding a lot of the culture. I wanted to come back and get a full understanding of where I’m from, where my family is from and where I grew up.

So what was that like? Do you have memories of your first seven years here?

I have very few and they’re more like snapshots, photographs and stories that I heard as I was growing up. I have like very few memories when I was a kid but I do know that I liked it and I liked it mostly because most of my family is here. I think it’s something that’s so valuable that people in the states might not think about or take for granted because their family is there. Growing up in New York and only having my parents and my older sister makes me appreciate having other relatives. It’s something that I really appreciate being here, reconnecting with family, getting to know younger generations of my family and also all of my aunts and uncles.

What was that like when you were seven and first arriving in the United States?

I think a lot of those memories are blurry because of a little bit of trauma. It is a traumatizing experience entering into a new environment that you’re not familiar with at all and that you don’t understand. It’s a completely different language anda completely different way of growing up. I do have some memories of being in bilingual classes and loving the first half of the school day when it was all in Spanish, and then getting to the second half when it’s in English and not understanding anything and just crying. I’m a crier. I remember that. It’s not usually positive memories.

You were probably like what happened? Why are we here?

Well I understood why we were there. My dad had left when I was one. He left for the states in 1994. He got a visa and overstayed his visa. Then eventually got all his legal papers worked out. Once he became a resident of the US, he was able to ask for my mom, my sister and I to come to the states. So I like understood we were in New York because we were there to reconnect with my dad, and live with my dad and be a family. I also knew .. since you’re a kid, it’s ingrained in your brain that the United States is better, so I knew that we were going to have a better life. But it was still hard on me.

So do you remember a time when it sort of clicked or you had your first time where you were like “I kind of like it here!”?

I mean I think it’s like getting used to anywhere else. I don’t remember there being a time. I just remember it being like well, this is life and this where I’m living. After awhile, it didn’t seem so foreign to me. I assimilated pretty quickly. As you can tell, I don’t have an accent at all. Also culturally, I’ve attended boarding school and I’ve attended a private US college. I’m pretty f-ing privileged. A lot of it has been because I’ve been involved in organizations that have helped me academically. That has been really supportive because it’s not easy being Latino and it’s not easy being a woman of color trying to get through school. Especially in New York. But I’ve had a lot of support along the way.

So now how does that feel? You’ve experienced a lot of priveledges. You feel pretty Americanized and now you’re back in Nicaragua. How does that feel culturally?

It’s a little bit strange because in the states I feel like I’m neither of these things. I’m not fully Nicaraguan and I’m not fully American. Then when I’m here, I feel like I am both of those things especially when I’m with other American volunteers who aren’t Nicaraguan. I feel like well I am American because I have a lot of these customs and traditions, or just habits that I really enjoy about the states. But I’m also Nicaraguan because I have family here and I have a support basis here. I really do enjoy eating gallo pinto because it’s so delicious and it reminds me of my mom’s cooking. So it’s been interesting that in the states I felt like I had nothing and here I feel like I’m a combination of both worlds. I’m trying to get those worlds to meet in a peaceful way. I feel like as I was growing up, it was easier to just reject being Nicaraguan. Not fully reject it, but focus more on my life in the sates. But now that I’m here and I’ve had this experience, I feel like I might go back and try to integrate being Nicaraguan more with my life in the states.

How do you see that looking like when you get back?

I’m not really sure. I haven’t really worked on that yet because I’m not there yet. I feel like I would definitely be more open about my experience as an immigrant and my experience as a Nicaraguan to my friends and other people that I know. Also just being more willing to share my culture with others because I think that for a large part of my life, I was just trying to get by and just be like anybody else. But now I’m like this really does make me unique and interesting. It’s something that add’s to another’s experience. It doesn’t take away from who I am.

So you’re down here working for a public health organization. What has that work been like? You mostly work with women, right?

Yeah so I’m working with Fundacion Somos Asi Por La Paz y La Vida. It’s a brand new foundation. It was established about three years ago through the Skills to Save Lives project founded by Dorothy Grenada. Our main focus is training health promoters in the rural communities on skills that reduce violence such as domestic violence and also child abuse. Any type of violence you can think of in rural communities. Also health-wise, we focus on women’s health. We did a workshop on dental health that I was leading and my housemate led a workshop on the prevention of cervical cancer through visual inspection of the cervix. So we’ve been focusing on that lately. Recently we’ve gone to Rio Blanco and Weslala for these workshops, and we’ve collaborated with Pronica which is a quaker organization. My work has been attending these workshops and then writing up reports on why these workshops are important to have, why they benefit our health promoters and the impact they’re having on these rural health communities, and then translating them into English for our American financial sponsors.

What sparked your interest in becoming a doctor and global health too?

I’ve always wanted to become a doctor. I have an aunt who is a nurse and as a kid here, I used to play with her. We’d play house or hospital. My interest has always been there. As I was growing up, my parents really supported me. They bought me books about anatomy, and anything I was interested in. Then as I was growing up and in high school, I ended up being a blood drive coordinator and continued that in college. I think what interests me the most is the combination of science and the human connection you have with others. So my interest for global health stems from my interest in anthropology, and studying other cultures and populations. I would like to combine anthropology and medicine into my future work. I think also having that experience from study abroad. I know that there is a large need for doctors in under-served, rural areas.

So study abroad. You went to Botswana. What was that experience like?

It was amazing, oh my gosh! It was definitely one of the best five months of my life. I was living in Gaborne, which is the capital of Botswana. Through CIE, we were able to really get to know the country and the culture. We took six weeks of Setswana (the language). We traveled. We spent a week in a rural village as a part of the community health program that I was in. We also traveled to the North where there are the best safaris in the world. During vacations I was also able to travel around to South Africa and Namibia and Swaziland. It’s just such a beautiful part of the world that is under-appreciated. Definitely not understood. There’s a lot of preconceived notions about Africa. It’s been good to call those people out and be able to explain it from my perspective. Like no actually Botswana is pretty well off. They have more BMWs than I’ve ever seen in my life, and they have diamonds. They have a really good industry.

Yeah theres misconception that all of Africa is really poor. What are some other misconceptions you get to call out?

Mostly the whole starving and poor idea. But the other one is AIDS. Everyone thinks that everyone in Africa has AIDS. Or when I say I studied abroad in Botswana, they don’t really know where that is. When I say Africa they’re like oh, you know Africa is a continent, not a country. So that was one. But going back to the AIDS thing, yeah Botswana does have a huge rate of HIV AIDS in the country, about a quarter of all adults are infected with HIV, and I’ve been able to explain to them that the government actually has really good funding for providing people with antiretroviral treatment. People are actually migrating from other countries into Botswana because they can get cheaper medication there.

So within global health, do you have any interest in working with HIV/AIDS?

I find HIV/AIDs to be very interesting, but I think my main focus would be women’s health. In the future I could totally see myself as and obstrician/gynocologist. But I really think talking about human sexuality in an open manner where we’re not stigmatizing women for having sex, where we can talk about contraception and understanding what it really means. It’s not an abortion. It’s actually preventing ovulation. I could see myself working more in women’s health but also sexual health education. That also has a lot to do with HIV and other STI’s.

How have you seen people in Nicaragua think and react to the idea of sexual health?

Well that’s complicated. Nicaragua is a really religious country. Most people are Catholic and therefore it’s not very accepting of the use of contraception. I think also you have to talk a little bit about machismo culture which affects contraception. Most of my work has been focusing in the campesino life and I did talk to one of my friends. She’s also working in the campo and she’s noticed that women don’t really have a right. If men want to have sex when they want to have sex … they don’t even think about women’s desires at all. So from that side of the story, women don’t really have any say in their sexual lives. Which can affect, for example, cervical cancer rates because they’re not using condoms and men are having sex with more than one woman. In Matagalpa, from what I’ve noticed, there’s a lot of cheating stemming kind of from the machismo culture.

So how do you feel when you see all this stuff?

It doesn’t make me super happy. It can be really frustrating to be here, to be a woman and to be catcalled all the time. To think about what I’m wearing and how that’s going to affect whatever goes on in the streets, to not feel safe. So I think about my own personal safety. It’s also frustrating to be in a country where women are so under-valued. It’s something I’m still trying to wrap my mind around. How can we fix this if it’s so intertwined into a culture?

What does being a woman mean to you?

I think I’ve learned from my mom that being a woman means that you have to be strong. Even though people don’t see us as very strong physically, I think women in Nicaragua and in the world have to endure a lot of things just to survive and get by. I think that being a woman to me means being resilient. Definitely a survivor. We are the backbone of community organizing. Any type of progress is usually carried out by women, even if they’re not noted as such. I’m really grateful to be a woman because there’s so much I can learn from other women here and from my mom.

Yeah, so what sorts of things has your mom taught you?

I think she’s defintely been a big influence in my life because my dad left when we were young, so she raised us for the first couple of years of our lives as a single parent. She’s always given us everything that she can. She’s definitely a hard worker. She’s just shown us that you have to be independent.

What’s been your proudest moment in life?

I think my proudest moment must be graduating college. College was really tough on me. I went through a lot of ups and downs in college. I’m so proud of myself for being able to say that I graduated and that I did well. I did the best that I could.

I think another proud moment is just being here. It’s really hard to be on your own and it does get lonely. To be working for a foundation where a lot of people are older than me. It’s been a really tough four months but by the end of it, I’m going to be super proud that I could do it. That I could get myself involved with a different environment, different culture and different work than what I’m used to.

What have you found most challenging about being in Nicaragua?

Well since I’m Nicaraguan, I feel like the culture hasn’t been super challenging to get used to. But I think something very challenging is being lonely and not having my mom around. Not having my college friends, high school friends or home friends around. It’s just loneliness.

So why did you choose the dresses you chose?

I chose the white lace, which is what I wore to graduation, and I chose the black one that I wore to my senior party. They’re both very simple dresses but I also think they can represent intelligent women, powerful women and not having to cover up. Standing up for yourself showing that you can graudate from college or wearing this little black dress. Whatver you wear you’re still going to be an intelligent, respected and confident woman. I feel like the dresses represent a woman who can do it all.