In summer 1976, I had my first opportunity to study abroad, traveling to the Dominican Republic through the Student Project for Amity Among Nations (SPAN) program at the University of Minnesota. My plan was to study marine algae. I did, but I also learned much more that summer than I ever could have imagined.
While I was conducting research, a friend of mine who was in the Peace Corps invited me to the community of Puerto Viejo to finish my project. I lived in a hut with no electricity or running water, and went out in rickety boats to learn about the town's nascent lobster cooperative. The boats leaked, there were no life jackets, and the potential for drowning was high. It was a memorable experience, to say the least!
You can collect marine algae only so many hours a day, so I ended up teaching the community how to swim. I also had an opportunity to stay a few weeks longer than planned, so I served as interpreter for an incoming medical team whose members, unlike me, didn't speak Spanish. I asked patients about their personal stories, and I learned much more than a medical form could hold. At the end of one hot, dusty day, a community healer who had seen me interacting with patients told me that I, too, was a healer, because the questions I asked and my interest in the responses bespoke my understanding of healing as a complex phenomenon that lies at the intersection of mind, body, and spirit. Although I appreciated the compliment, I couldn't yet understand its significance.
