Guasucaran brigade

 A long day today.  The drive to Guasucaran is always a "highlight" but today's trip was special.  There was some dense fog along the highway, and then once we got onto the dirt roads, found that they were in not in the most ideal shape, although of course since the dry season and not the wet...it could have been worse.  Just bumpy for sure, and dusty for the group. 

We have enough translators that I could float around a bit today, a rare pleasure.  I ended up observing Darwin see patients, which was a learning experience as he was eager to teach if I was eager to learn, and a rare opportunity to just watch the similarities and differences in how a Honduran does an exam from the US doctors and nurses that come.  There were many more similarities, few differences, which is reassuring.

People were so happy to see us.  They walked for hours, only to be thanking us and praying for us as we were trying to do the same for them.  Some even asked my name, taking the time to want to get to know us. 

This picture shows one aspect of brigade work...everyone wears their best clothes to come to the brigade.  Opportunities for the entire community to come together do not happen every day, everyone wants to look nice and presentable. 

Gipsy is shown here in her very pretty dress.  I took her picture to try to get her to smile (and to avoid any potential crying during the exam.)  She eventually smiled, but it was her brother that loved seeing his picture (also a rarity for most of these kids.) 

Gipsy's lip...her mom had tried to get her seen, but to no avail at the public hospital. Darwin encouraged her at length to continue to call and take Gipsy to be seen to try to get a plastic surgeon to do the necessary work now when it was easier rather than waiting years. 



It was a hard day in that the people we were seeing certainly did need our help.  There were patients that needed psychological counseling (halucinations in a 12 year old in which abuse was suspected) and then this grandma who was stressed out, nervous, and wtih cold sweats.  Turns out her son-in-law committed suicide a few days ago.  Her daughter left years ago to Spain to try to find work, now two grandkids are left here in Honduras with no parents, and a grandma trying to carry the load. 




We also see issues and problems that require out of the box thinking, such as this woman who is reportedly just entering her 40s, but is smack dab in the middle of menopause.  She looked to be more in her late 40s, and one possibility in this area is not knowing your exact age.  Sometimes birthdays are forgotten, even confused, by the time a rural family gets around to registering their children with the government.

Unfortunately we met several women in their 30s and 40s that could not read.  And one deaf mute that required the school's teacher to gesture enough that we could try to at least diagnose what his problems were.  The teacher at this school actually lives near the clinic....quite a commute.  He cares enough about the school to put in his personal time to try to improve it, and for the community enough to take his entire day during summer break to go with us, and work with us all day on the brigade. 

Sometimes we think we do not make a difference, we are too small, too untalented, etc.  Today I saw a group of people who possibly all thought that individually come together to make a big physical difference for a community, and shined a light for Jesus Christ.