Fiesta de PASOs

So it wasn't really a fiesta, but all of us got to go to an AWESOME organization called PASOs (Perinatal Awareness for Successful Outcomes). PASOs is a program that offers prenatal classes that are in Spanish to help improve pre and postnatal education available to Latina women, thereby ensuring the best possible birth outcome for both the mother and child. The women helping us there, Julie and Margarita, were so incredibly friendly and even had breakfast for us AND gave us all PASOs water bottles. Obviously both of these gestures were completely unnecessary but shows how selfless and giving these women are, and even though they have very limited financial resources, they still were so generous towards us. For the day, our group of 13 all got split up into different groups, which we will go into more detail about later (there are 2 of us, so each will write a paragraph about what we did so enjoy :))

I (Camille) got to work with another girl in our group Crystal "revamping" the organizations poster presentation board (like science fair style) to make it bilingual and sturdier/more permanent. It was a great experience, even though Crystal and I did not get to work directly with anyone in the Latina or PASOs community, however it gave us the opportunity to read more about the program and realize how much PASOs offers aside from just prenatal classes. For instance, it has a facet of information and helpful staff to help with STD/HIV information, safe sex, how to conceive, signs of preterm labor/birth and much more. It really made us realize how some information that may be easily accessed by some (or just seems to be common sense), may be knowledge/information that is much harder to obtain, and in some cases even rare to obtain, by others. It was really good to know that even though what we were doing was "indirect" (not working directly with someone or getting to see the direct outcome of what we were doing), it would help raise awareness and help others to find and be more inclined to utilize PASOs. Also, even if our poster helps one mother seek the education and help to make her pregnancy the best she can, it is nice to know that the information she retains could be passed on to others and encourage other Latinos to seek out this help and be heard more in the health system. PASOs is also so amazing because it helps defend Latinos so they can have their voices heard and be better represented in the health care system. Overall, helping at PASOs has been my favorite experience so far and I cannot wait to see what the rest of the week has in store for us!!

Hi All! I (Aarisha) and Hannah got the opportunity to drive around to different parts of Lexington, SC to promote the organization and make people aware of their wonderful mission! Our prime target was Hispanic families, especially pregnant mothers, so we went to different Hispanic tiendas (stores), mercados (markets), y restaurantes (restaurants) to pass out flyers and put up posters. The best part of this experience for me was being able to put my Spanish to practice! It is such a different experience speaking to actual native speakers, and though Hannah and I both were nervous at first, we warmed up pretty quickly and interacted with store owners and customers to spread the word. This trip really made us realize the effect of language barrier, and allowed us to experience the problem from a different perspective. Personally, the biggest lesson today was that you can have a wealth of information to help people, but if your target audience do not have access to it, the information is useless. Hence, our collective service today, whether it was searching online for free health care items, making copies of fliers, organizing valuable resources, or just talking to strangers to promote awareness, made a great impact in assisting in the growth of the organization. Our work also undoubtedly will help Hispanic families have easier access to information that could improve their health.

Afterwards, we had an awesome dinner party, where we made home-cooked tacos and guacamole to fuel us for our always-deep reflection. We all got so much out of the day, but the reflection helped us think critically about our awesome experience and the meaning of service. We all seemed to agree, on most part, that the service projects that tend to push us out of our comfort zone are those that become the most memorable and influential. We dissected different aspects of service, such as long-term vs. short-term projects. Although both types are helpful and beneficial to the society and the volunteers themselves, long-term service projects are the ones that are needed to drive social change and require the most time, effort, and passion. Furthermore, we debated whether paid positions counted as service, and our consensus was that in some situations they do. For instance, many people dedicate their lives to their cause and as a result, make a career out of their passion. This was most prominently seen at The Nurturing Center, where all of the employees gladly took a pay-cut in order to prevent any of the team members from being let go. This really helped us rethink our roles as volunteers and in driving social change and the importance of both indirect and direct service. We look forward to both types of service in the upcoming week, so be sure to check back to read about the hot gossip going on in ASB-SC!

- Aarisha and Camille