Christina's Honduras Trip - Pt. 2

 “ I am only one,
But still I am One,
I cannot do everything,
But still I can do something;
And because I cannot do everything
I will not refuse to do
the something that I can do.”

--Everett Hale--

 

Thanks for your interest in Christina's recent trip. (To read Part 1 click here) I asked her to share more specifically what her team did.
 
We flew from 5° weather in Duluth to 85° in Honduras. We stayed at Santa Barbara, a town of 20,000 located in Northern Honduras, and traveled every day outside the city to our clinics.

First we organized supplies. We each brought two STUFFED suitcases and left most the stuff there. 

We assembled bags of basic supplies to pass out at our clinics. The bags contained sugar, salt, lard, soap, clothes, sewing supplies, and personal hygiene items. 

In the areas we visited, children cannot go to school unless they have shoes. We brought down money to buy shoes from a local shoemaker. Eight dollars buys a pair of shoes and the chance for a Honduran child to get an education. We were tickled to purchase 176 pairs of shoes!

We hiked four hours to our first medical clinic in the remote village of La Chorrera which is accessed only by this wooden bridge. There used to be missing boards but the doctors threatened not to return unless the locals repaired the bridge. 

We held four days of clinics, each in a different town. We primarily saw mothers and children and it was not uncommon for each mother to have 4-5 young children with her.  I had trouble guessing the ages of our patients as children appeared younger than they really were and adults appeared a lot older than their current age.  

This baby wasn't wearing a diaper and peed on me while the picture was taken. 

In each village we passed out the basic supplies bags, kids’s clothing, shoes, baby blankets, hats, 

and stuffed animals. 

I especially enjoyed that we took a picture of each family that came through the clinic, printed it with a portable printer we brought down from the States, and then gave them their own family picture. 

Some of the main issues we treated in patients were parasites, ear infections, colds, lung infections, asthma, headaches, stomachaches, and rashes. We saw over 400 patients throughout four different clinics. 

My primary job was to serve as a Spanish translator for one of the doctors. This was my first opportunity to use Spanish in a medical setting so there was a lot of new vocabulary and terminology to learn. It was a big responsibility to have other people rely on me for their communication needs. Overall I felt good about translating but know that I have a lot to improve on for my next trip.

Our team hopes to form a non-profit organization. I plan to return in October and hope to do an even better job now that I know how to prepare. I'm so thankful for this experience that God has given me and hope to grow in my gifts during upcoming trips.

"Nobody can do everything, 

but everyone can do something." 

~Author Unknown~