Submitted by Katie Garber on the 2017 winter session program in the British Virgin Islands sponsored by the College of Health Sciences…
Today we visited Ivan Dawson Primary School in Cane Garden Bay, Tortola, British Virgin Islands. Ivan Dawson is home to a little over 100 students, from kindergarten to sixth grade. This small and quaint two story building held about six classrooms and one larger room that appeared to be the auditorium. The school has a large lot sitting in front of it which is the children’s playground. A make-shift basketball court took up the largest portion of this lot. A tiny playground large enough to fit two, maybe three children sits on a gray floor that once was grass. There is also a swing set of three swings, two of which are broken. When my study abroad group first walked into the school, I took in my surroundings. The school sits in front of a trailer that was once a post office, but now is closed. Across the street is a cemetery. In the BVI, the deceased are buried above ground- if one were to dig too deep you would reach water. I thought to myself “This is no place for a child to come everyday and learn. This view must make the children very anxious and upset!” Oh, how I was wrong! Upon arrival, our group was placed in the auditorium and there we waited for the children. When the children started piling in, their faces were the brightest little faces I have ever seen on a child! They were laughing and pushing their friends trying to get the closest seat to us. Their principle explained that we were nursing students from the University of Delaware and at this all the faces got brighter, and the smiles wider. I came to understand that most of these kids never met a nurse before. After the talk was finished, we split into groups and proceeded to listen to the children’s heart beats, and allowed them to listen to their friends and their own. They absolutely loved it! As a treat each, child got a pencil with UD’s logo on it and the little cuties were so excited it broke my heart. Seeing children get so happy about such a tiny object as a pencil makes the world we live in at home seem so unfortunate to not appreciate the little things in life. This interaction has made me rethink the things I get upset about, and reminds me to value the smallest details in life.