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What It's Like to Volunteer in Peru: Lilly Markowitz's FIMRC Story blog community stories fimrc fimrc alumni fimrc fellow fimrc internship fimrc programs global health volunteer program medical rotation program medical student peru professional development project huancayo public health summer international health fellowship travel volunteer volunteer experience Sep 04, 2026

 When people ask Lilly Markowitz what her favorite part of five weeks in Peru was, she does not hesitate.

"The people."

Not the hospital rotations. Not the community health campaigns. Not the surgery she observed or the workshops she led. The people — the doctors, the nurses, the children at El Ro...

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World Water Week 2026: The Water Crisis SIHF Fellows Confront in Peru and Uganda blog community stories fimrc global health global health volunteer program medical professional medical student peru professional development public health sihf summer international health fellowship travel uganda volunteer volunteer experience Aug 28, 2026

One in four people globally still lacks access to safely managed drinking water. One hundred and six million drink directly from untreated surface sources (WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme).

Those numbers were published last year during World Water Week. They describe, with precision, a crisis...

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Vector-Borne Disease Prevention: Lessons from Volunteers in Uganda and Peru blog community stories costa rica ecuador fimrc global health global health volunteer program malaria neglected tropical diseases peru professional development public health sihf travel uganda volunteer volunteer experience Aug 21, 2026

On August 20, 1897, a British army surgeon named Ronald Ross peered through a microscope at the gastrointestinal tract of a female mosquito and found what he was looking for: the malarial parasite, unmistakable and confirming what he had suspected for years. The mosquito was the vector. The mystery ...

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International Youth Day 2026: Different Contexts, Common Aspirations Among the World's Young People blog chapters community stories costa rica ecuador fimrc fimrc programs global health global health volunteer program medical professional medical student nursing peru professional development public health summer international health fellowship travel volunteer volunteer experience Aug 14, 2026

There are roughly 1.2 billion young people between the ages of 15 and 24 living in the world today. Despite growing up in wildly different national, economic, and cultural circumstances, their underlying goals tend to be the same: dignity, real opportunity, meaningful participation, and a future wor...

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Preventing Child Malnutrition in Ecuador Through Community Partnerships blog community stories ecuador fimrc fimrc programs global health volunteer program maternal & child health medical professional medical student public health travel volunteer volunteer experience Jul 17, 2026

In Anconcito, Ecuador, chronic child malnutrition is not a statistic that lives in a report.

It shows up in a child's height at a routine screening. In the results of a cognitive assessment. In the long arc of a life shaped, before the age of five, by what the body did not receive when it needed it...

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The Festival of the Sun: What FIMRC Volunteers Experience During Inti Raymi blog community stories ecuador fimrc global health volunteer program peru professional development public health summer international health fellowship travel volunteer experience Jun 26, 2026

Every June 24, something extraordinary happens across the Andes.

Everything begins very early, when the entourage of the Inca and the Qoya set out in procession. In the gardens of Qoricancha, a ceremony greeting the sun is held with the music of quenas and drums, the most spiritual moment, with the...

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World Refugee Day 2026: When Fleeing Home Means Losing Healthcare Too blog community stories costa rica ecuador fimrc fimrc partnerships global health volunteer program health equity medical professional medical student peru public health travel uganda volunteer Jun 19, 2026

Seventy-five years ago, after the Second World War, the world made a promise: people forced to flee have the right to seek safety and protection. It was never meant for a few. It was meant for all of us.

That promise has not been kept.

The number of forcibly displaced people worldwide has reached ...

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World Hypertension Day: The Silent Killer FIMRC Volunteers Face Daily blog community stories costa rica ecuador fimrc ghvp global health volunteer program medical professional medical student peru professional development public health sihf summer international health fellowship travel uganda volunteer volunteer experience May 22, 2026

A woman in Bududa has had headaches for months. She assumes it is exhaustion, she wakes before sunrise, tends to her crops, cooks, cleans, and cares for four children. She has never had her blood pressure checked.

In Huancayo, a man in his forties has not seen a doctor in years. The nearest clinic ...

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This Mother’s Day, Meet The Women FIMRC Volunteers Show Up For blog community stories costa rica ecuador fimrc ghvp global health volunteer program health equity maternal & child health medical professional medical student peru professional development public health travel uganda volunteer volunteer experience May 08, 2026

There's a version of Mother's Day that doesn't make it onto greeting cards.

It looks like a woman in Huancayo walking two hours on a mountain trail to reach the nearest health post. A mother in Bududa navigating childbirth in a facility that lacks the basic equipment her situation demands. A first-...

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Holy Week Abroad: Experiencing Semana Santa as a FIMRC Volunteer blog community stories costa rica ecuador fimrc fimrc programs ghvp global health global health volunteer program medical professional medical student peru professional development summer international health fellowship volunteer volunteer experience Mar 27, 2026

Global health volunteering is rarely just about the time in the clinic.

It is about showing up, fully, in a community– learning its rhythms, its traditions, and the way people come together. Some of the most meaningful moments happen outside of structured programming.

Holy Week—or Semana Santa—is ...

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