My Internship at Manos Abiertas

My name is Sohini Deva and I am a rising junior studying public health at Tulane University. I am specifically interested in maternal child health and will be interning at Manos Abiertas, a midwifery and women’s clinic, in Antigua, Guatemala. At this internship I will be on call 24/7 helping educate women on the significance of prenatal care as well as possibly supervise a few births.

One of my goals of this internship is to gain more knowledge on prenatal and postnatal care that can be applied to patients in need of maternal advice. My other goal is to gain a community understanding in Antigua of women’s reproductive rights and culture. I would also like to gain confidence and spread community awareness of sexual education.

The Newcomb College Institute’s mission is to educate undergraduate women for leadership in the 21st century. I believe my internship fits in with this mission because this internship will help me gain confidence in my discipline as well as allowing me to step up in a relatively developing area. I want to be in a leader by stepping back and understanding the culture and society and seeing how I can incorporate reproductive rights into the clinic.

I am preparing for this internship by flying to Antigua two weeks early to engage in a learning immersion program, where I will be learning Spanish and staying with a host family. Overall, I am excited to be uncomfortable. I have been raised in a privileged lifestyle and being a leader in this sphere. I believe that a leader should be able to bring change even when he/she is uncomfortable in a developing society. I can’t wait to see what this internship will bring, as I am going there with absolutely no expectations but to learn.

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