The In-Between Time: Doctor Doctor!!

Walking down the hill in Barrio Dolores, note the smiles, before they had their teeth pulled!

   Its Fat TUESDAY! and I've been thinking about how much I have been blessed. I've been more busy than ever these past few days, yet somehow I always find time to procrastinate, which never really helps in the long run. I'm just pretending right now, that writing this blog will help me organize my thoughts, and then I can do things more efficiently after this.
   We had our first set of midterms to give, and midterm projects, and I am bogged down with grading them, on top of the normal duties of taking care of the girls. A few out of the ordinary things have happened, that really make you realize how good we got it.
     Last week a group of Texan doctors came here on a medical mission and after taking a handful of our girls to see the doctors to get teeth pulled, I got roped into translating all day. I was mainly in the optometry section, helping fit people with glasses, and also acting as the translator between the director of the mission and the religious television station! The whole day, I had only about one break in order to run back to the school up the steep hill [they call it Barrio Dolores (Neighborhood of pain), because its a pain to get to the top of the super steep incline](20 min walking/running). I got back to the school just in time to give my English class, and then returned to the clinic after class! At the clinic, it felt like all of Santa Rosa passed through the lines to see the doctors! The doctors too were just amazingly generous to come here and help all these people who normally don't see any kind of doctor. They come and providing a little light of Christ in their lives, and the people were alll soo grateful -- a few old ladies left singing becasue they were so happy! One amazing witness was that major reason people asked for reading glasses was because they just really wanted to read the bible again! Talk about devotion!

There were lines longer than this from 7am to5 pm

The initial eye assessment,

where I was stationed as translator

How lucky are we, that we can go to the doctor whenever, and that we have a CVS right around the corner, and medical information at our fingertips on the internet, if we get sick! Here Dental care is pulling teeth when they are rotten. From our school eleven of the girls got teeth pulled by the doctor crew, one girl had 5 teeth pulled! With the lack of convenience of modern medicine everything regarding health becomes heresay.

The home of Sandra-one of the internas

For example this past weekend I stayed at the house of Ester(one of thegirls) for her 15th birthday! Her house is made of mud, like most of the houses in Honduras, and then sealed with a coat of white paint-like stuff. Like a normal house, it has dirt floors and a wood-stove, attended by a hard-working and dedicated woman. There is one dormitorio/ bed-room where the women and children sleep all all 13 of them, a small living room and the cocina/ kitchen, while the bathroom(toilet only) was a little down the hill next to a different old house. While I was there the youngest baby had an allergic reaction to something, and there is literally nothing they can do. they pat the baby and hold her and try different things that so-and-so said work and try bathing the baby in hot water, and then thing maybe cold water would be better. I personally thought cold, but no one seemed to agree on a temperature, so they tried both. Poor baby, after two days of horrible hives and strange breathing, she started getting better!

In Ester's house a sister is making tortillas in the kitchen and another holding her baby!

Ester's sister eating breakfast in the doorway

Marbles is their favorite game!

They wanted to show me the pollitos!

Besides a certain lack of material goods, I couldn't help but marvel at the irony of their richness. They live among such astounding beauty with the green rolling hills and tropical trees all around. In the states, you would imagine paying a hefty sum for the view they have from their house.

Their daily diet is the fresh food you would pay an arm and a leg for at the organic section of the market. However, for them this is the cheap food. Tortillas made from fresh from the stone ground corn, beans they have picked, fresh cheese they make from their neighbors milk cow, exotic tropical fruits from surrounding trees, and most importantly, with almost every meal, you can't forget the coffee. Coffee is their livelyhood, and the main source of income for most families comes from picking coffee. So of course, they always keep a bit for themselves, dry it and roast it, mmmmm! The family was more than gracious giving me a whole bed to sleep in by myself, and even cooking chicken for two meals! They obviously went beyond their means to take care of me, it was awesome to spend time with all the little kids and see a few other houses of some of the girls who go to our school and live in the same little village. The whole village life is so cool. everyone knows everyone, and they just walk into houses and hang out, and give food to visitors no matter if you have food or not! I think both cultures here and there need to reexamine some things and appreciate that in some aspects that we are all pretty filthy rich, while in others, we really need some enrichment! I challenge yal this lent to reexamine the things in your daily life, and offer up one or two of your riches so you can learn to appreciate them more. Just think how Jesus sacrificed his life so that we can all appreciate an eternal life with him.

Most of the family!

Sandra, another girl from our school making tortillas on the stove in her house.

Sandra's house

The water spigot next to the bathroom (not shown) in the morning, I woke up at night having to go to the bathroom, but didn't want to go down the hill to the bathroom until the sun came up!