Monya’s Mexico Chronicles: Oaxaca

This was my first visit to the city of Oaxaca in southern Mexico. Oaxaca is famous for it’s bright colors, craft markets, modern art, indigenous culture, cathedrals, museums and it’s exquisite cuisine. I was stunned by the color and beauty of this colonial city of about 500,000 inhabitants. The large zocalo, or central square, is filled with people and surrounded by several outdoor cafes and a cathedral. There are lots of activities to take part in during your stay in Oaxaca, including lots of fun weekend excursions. Oaxaca is the center of modern Mexico’s art scene and as such, there are many workshops available in a variety of medium – including painting, textiles/weaving, pottery and others. Nearby archeological sites and craft markets attract a lot of US and European tourists. Outdoors sports and recreation abound – rock climbing, ecotourism and other activities are available. If one travels about 7 hours to the coast, the surfing community of Puerto Escondido awaits. I did not notice any of the political unrest that struck the city in 2006. In sum, Oaxaca would be an amazing place to spend several months.

CFHI Cultural Crossroads in Health Program
IE3 Global Internships and Child Family Health International (CFHI) offer a joint program for 10 weeks to IE3 interns to participate in Spanish language classes at Becari Language School and to participate in medical rotations at a variety of public and private hospitals and clinics throughout the city. Interns spend about 4-6 hours per day on their rotations and 2 hours a day in Spanish classes. They also live with local, middle class host families. I was able to visit a few host families and sit in on a Spanish class, and visit a couple of the clinical sites.

Students also get to participate in some lectures about healthcare in Mexico in order to gain a broader understanding of the local healthcare system.

In Oaxaca, interns get exposure to various aspects of the Mexican healthcare system and get the opportunity to see the vast difference in care between the public and private facilities. There are opportunities here for almost any interest. I have had several inquiries about internship opportunities for pre-dental students and I learned that this would be a fantastic site. The Centro de Salud or public Health Center offers dental services and they are quite busy. This would be an ideal setting for a pre-dental student. As well, the Centro de Salud would be great for students of public health, as they offer health classes and training on-site and in rural areas surrounding the city.

There is fantastic on-the-ground support through the local Medical Director, and the two directors of Becari Language school who arrange the language classes and homestay families.

I was also able to visit the Casa de la Mujer Rosario Castellanos, which is a small NGO dedicated to women’s rights and serving women, especially the young, indigenous women of Oaxaca. We are hoping to be able to offer an internship at the Casa de la Mujer for IE3 students. There are several faculty members at the University of Oregon and Oregon State University who have an on-going relationship with the Casa de la Mujer and we would like to be able to extend the opportunity to students to be able to work with this amazing organization.