Honduras in a nutshell

This last week Brad and I have been on a wonderful adventure filled with hammocks, medicine, concrete, service, and a lot of love. We traveled down to Honduras through the Medical Brigades with MCW. We stayed at a ranch in Nuveo Pariso near Sister Maria Rosa's Orphanage.

The first day we were able to visit the orphanage and see the schools and medical clinic there. We also had some time to visit with the children and play with them for a while.

The next two days were spent on medical brigades. After long drives on windy roads we would set up in the village's school buildings. There were several stations, triage, the doctor, the pharmacy, and the eye exam. Brad was in triage the first day where he got to use his Spanish skills. There they would interview the patient and find out what the doctor needed to look at, they also would take weight, check blood pressure and pulse. We had two wonderful doctors come with us and one Cuban doctor meet us there. After seeing the doctors they would proceed to the pharmacy. At the pharmacy we would look at the medication prescribed by the doctors and package it for everyone (vitamins and toothbrushes and toothpaste were given to everyone we saw), someone then was in charge of explaining to the patient what the medication was and how it should be taken. If a vision test was prescribed by the doctor they would then proceed to the vision room. We had a special eye instrument that would help us find approximate eye prescription. We had brought lots of glasses with us that had been donated by the Lions Club. The second day I was in the vision room and it was my job to help find glasses for each person. So from the approximate prescription from the exam we would try on glasses around that range until we found a pair that work. My Spanish skills are not as good as Brads, but I know how to ask "mas claro o no mas claro" and "mejor o peor". It was nice to be able to see people walk away with something that would really help them see better.

The next two days we went on public health brigades. We went to a small village and helped build no smoke stoves and concrete floors. The stoves were build because the previous stoves would keep all the smoke in the house, the ceilings would be black and so would the lungs of those who lived there. Most houses just have dirt floors, which allow more bugs and of course dirt into the house. The concrete floors will help keep the houses clean and keep out infections and fungus. Making floors was hard work. The concrete was mixed on the ground outside the house and then shoveled into buckets that were carried inside as we leveled it into place. It was a makeshift way of doing concrete, but I guess you take what you can get down there. We finished floors in five houses over the two days we were there. The nice part about this was that you got to be with the people longer and get to know more of how they actually live. All their possessions could fit piled up on one ledge in the house. Most had just the one pair of clothes and some of the kids were without shoes. The kids didn't seem to mind they looked happy and loved playing with us. Though we were helping certain families the kids from the whole neighborhood were there to watch and play. Brad and some of the other guys even got the kids to want to help shovel the cement. With us going and helping these couple households in the village the hope is now that they have seen and help put in floors they will be able to show others in the community how it is done. Overall we had a wonderful time there learning the culture and meeting new people. This is a really well run organization and we look to going back again.

Here are a couple additional pics too.