Trip to Nogales clinic provides an interesting experience

On Thursday our journalism class took a trip down to Nogales, Ariz., to visit the St. Andrew's Children Clinic. The trip was made because it is the focus of a special project many of us are doing which includes not only writing text for a story but also including audio, video and photography.

At first I was hesitant about going simply because it was very difficult to grasp what could be done in preparing the week before the trip. Trying to figure out what to write on and who to talk to was tough enough. I took some time to read some of the previous stories done by the class before us and felt a little better knowing what the clinic is and some of those who visit it for care.

All I can say about my time at the clinic was that I spent the entire time walking back and forth through the church looking for people to talk to, photos to take and audio and video to record.

On the ride back to Tucson I was then able to truly understand the stories and the people we in the class covered. As the other two passengers in my car were catching up on lost sleep from the early start to the day, I tried to go over the most interesting part of the experience in my head and came away with the one that I remembered the most.

It was meeting Doug McQuiggin, an 83-year old from Green Valley, who was volunteering at the clinic in the waiting area. He was sitting at a small table with some of the children playing with big Lego blocks. He would help the kids build up the blocks as high as how many pieces were available at the table and then would help them tear down their creation and start the process over again. What was so interesting about talking with McQuiggin was that he didn't know very much Spanish, only some key words like asking the children about their name and their age.

As some kids came and went from the table, McQuiggin continued to help those at the table build up some blocks, tear them down and start all over again. Few words were exchanged between him and the children. A 4-year old named Francisco Javier Lerma, he is building the blocks in the picture, came over to the table as I was taking pictures. McQuiggin tried asking him what his name was and his age but he didn't respond. Francisco just sat there building the blocks as high as he could. But after awhile he began to open up and started smiling at McQuiggin and the other children at the table.

McQuiggin said to me after he saw what took place: "He came over here five minutes ago and now look at him. He is opening up, smiling and playing with the others."

Earlier I asked him how he was able to communicate with the children since he didn't know much Spanish. McQuiggin said, "We get along mostly by smiling."

Why was this so interesting?

Maybe it's because McQuiggin is 79 years older than Francisco or that not much was said between him and the children.

I guess maybe it just goes to show you that a smile can really go a long way.