Camp for children with Type 1 Diabetes in the DR

As I sat in the AYUDA offices on the first day of the VTP Summit, I reflected on just how I had ended up in some random office building, full of people I didn’t know on a cold morning in March. By some stroke of luck, I had stumbled across the AYUDA website through a Google search a couple months earlier looking for some combination of the words “Spanish” and “diabetes camp.” Turns out AYUDA fits the criteria. However, as I learned more and more about what exactly AYUDA is and the people that make it up, I realized it is so much more than simply a “Spanish (language) diabetes camp.”

I think that the best description for AYUDA is the one in boldface letters that spans the bottom of the website: “Empowering youth to serve as agents of change around the world.” AYUDA invests in its volunteers and truly believes that together, we can make a change in the world. At the VTP Summit, I was able to witness firsthand the incredible people that AYUDA attracts and the incredible passion that they bring to the table. I felt like the people I met through AYUDA and Aprendiendo a Vivir (AAV) truly strive to serve as agents of change in the world. If the future of diabetes education in the Dominican Republic and the world is up to them, I think we’re in good hands.

Throughout my life, I have always thought of diabetes as simply a part of my life and not my whole life. I think that through our work at AYUDA, my fellow volunteers and I can help impart this philosophy on other youth living with diabetes and help educate them on how to live healthy, happy lives with diabetes. I am counting down the days to Campo Amigo this summer and look forward to working with AYUDA in the future!