This week we started administering our survey in the first of the five communities in Guanacastal Sur. I was surprised at the number of people that were willing to open up, let foreigners into their house and share rather personal information. As a foreigner I expected people to be closed off and not want to talk with us. But for the most part the people we’ve encountered have been very warm and open. This has been in large part to the amazing help we’ve received from leaders in the community. It’s clear that this survey may not have received the same support without the help of Don Juan, his wife Doña Eugenia, and the fearless Doña Ampara.
Some of the families I’ve encountered have been lucky enough not to have someone in their family suffer from chronic kidney disease. For others the future is more bleak. Yesterday I spoke with a man in his 40’s and his wife. He has advanced stage renal failure and may not have much longer. They have seven children, most of whom are under the age of 10 years old. Perhaps in a matter of months or even weeks he will be gone. She’ll be left alone with her seven children, and will be forced to find work. As we sat there in the interview I kept thinking that I wish I had been a doctor. I wish I had been there to give him medications, even if they couldn’t cure him. I wish I could have done something more than just asking them questions.
I think sometimes with research it’s hard to see value in what you’re doing. It seems easier to give medications or treatment. But this won’t help future generations. Giving him medication won’t prevent his sons or daughters from facing a similar fate.
It is my hope that with this survey, and with future research, that we can protect his children from CKD.
-Katie, Public Health Intern
Our friend and freelance photographer, Constantino Schillebeeckx, has published and submitted his photographic work of La Isla and Chronic Kidney Disease to 
