Energetic Eva

Eva Harris first came to Nicaragua for a couple of months after graduating from college. Now, twenty years later, she runs one of the largest Dengue research programs in all of the Americas. She has a research lab in Berkeley, but she comes to Nicaragua once a month for 4-5 days to check in with her team of over 25 Nicaraguan doctors and laboratory investigators. She was in Nicaragua this past weekend, which gave me a chance to check in with her regarding my summer project. Plus, I learned that when Eva visits, everyone goes out and parties. I don’t know how she does it, because she works around the clock and never seems to sleep. Yet, on both Friday and Saturday nights Eva was the most energetic of everyone on the dance floor. The music gets into her and she can’t stop moving, even after the rest of the group was exhausted and ready for bed.

Saturday night there was a big fancy dinner in honor of Samantha the project coordinator for Eva’s studies here in Nicaragua. After over 4 years, Samantha is leaving Nicaragua to go back to the United States and eventually attend medical school. The dinner was quite moving, as many people gave praise-filled speeches about Samantha. She has been instrumental in making this program work, so her loss will definitely be felt. Part of the reason that Eva came down this weekend was to interview replacements for Samantha’s position. The three candidates came out to the bar with us on Friday night, and I believe Eva will pick one of them in the next week so the person can start working as soon as Samantha leaves at the end of July.