Sunshine Case

In my 3 weeks of duty in the community, I have encountered a lot of hardships and difficulties that was not entirely unexpected but, indeed, proved to be harmless.

First of all, I was anxious about the introduction of the new members of the group. I thought it would be hard to blend in with them, to be a part of their team, because they were, in the first place, a close knit group and I thought it would be hard to mingle with them. I was wrong. They were friendly and cooperative. They were able to absorb us and us them, as well. We had a lot of fun planning and implementing our strategies in the community and school projects.

Second was the workload. I thought that the paperworks would overwhelm us to the point that we would have to spend many countless nights just to get them done, what with the lectures, exams and such. But being with a very supportive clinical instructor and very cooperative and organized team members, my second apprehension about the community rotation was again wrong. The paperworks were evenly distributed, and finished early that our other concerns, be it academical, social or personal, was unharmed.

Last of all was the population or the members of the community itself. I thought it will be hard to establish rapport with them and so make it hard for us to diagnose their community problem and ultimately, making us unable to help them in their problem as a community, whether perceived or not. The population of the community that we were able to assess were all very eager to be of some help and friendly to us that we never felt like we were unwelcome at all. The baranggay officials were very accommodating, they helped us through it all: from letting us use their baranggay hall to escorting us around the community under the heat and glare of the sun.

All in all, I realized that no matter how difficult the duty may seem, having fun and working together is all that it takes to make it through. It doesn't take an expert to be able to absorb the culture of one community, it only takes openness and the desire to help, as is integral with the essence and core of nursing.