First Day of School

Today is Madison's first day of school. She is attending La Ceiba Bilingual School about 20+ minutes walk from here. As it's across two major streets, she isn't going to be walking. Until we can get a car, Mike will be taking her to school in a cab, and running home. In the afternoon I'll walk to her school and we will both return in a cab. This equates to about $4.00 a day - prayerfully this will only be for a month until we can raise sufficient funds for a car. $80.00 a month is a bit pricey for transportation to school!

Her school is a private school. It starts off with morning assembly which includes prayer and uniform assessment. If anything is wrong with her uniform she will be corrected. They are pretty serious about this. There are about 900 kids in attendance. She will also receive her class schedule today. She had the opportunity to meet her teachers during her orientation last Friday. She seemed excited and a bit apprehensive! Please pray for our girl as she adapts to this new environment - and pray for friends at school.

Madison's Room

Here are a few pics of Madison's room. It's been a challenge getting things how she wants them, but we are about there. Still need to add some pictures to her wall, but she's happy with it. Included is a desk with her own computer and two fans in her room to keep her cool. Can't wait to see what it looks like with a dog hanging around.

My friend Ramon

My amigo Ramon


During our walking time in Armenia Bonito in preparation for the medical clinic I came across my friend Ramon. He is a 4 year old and an awesome kid. He immediately approached us and started quoting scripture. He has such a warm presence and a charming personality. I spoke to his dad and asked him to bring him to the upcoming clinic. Why? His teeth. I spoke to Ramon and asked him if his mouth hurt - his response "yes...all day...everyday". Why you may ask? Almost every tooth in his head was rotting out or cracked. He can only eat on is back molars - those are the only ones intact. His family is in a situation in which they are unable to afford taking him to a dentist. Medical care is somewhat available - although very difficult to get to as it takes an hour+ trip by bus to get to the public hospital, then it's an all day wait, assuming you are able to be seen at all. However, dental services are not available to the poor. You must pay for services. So - I'm starting the investigation process about what it would take for a local dentist to see little Ramon. How much it would cost, if they could do it...etc. Please pray for Ramon and my investigation. This little guy is such a blessing to his family and his community - he needs good healthy teeth.

Making it Work

Our water pump wicking system


Our washers external drain


Outside drainage "system"

After our team arrived, we continued to find some things with the house that just needed fixing. First, we have a pump in our back room that assists with water pressure when there is low pressure in the city. That happens every night around 6:00 or a little later. It's wonderful having this pump because we can then get water to the upstairs that we wouldn't normally get. However, soon after their arrival, the pump began to leak. We had multiple plumbers out, and they all said the same - the PVC needs to be changed. And yet, here we are, without the PVC being replaced. So - I've set up a "wick" system so the water will drip into a bucket rather than all over the floor.

The second thing was the washing machine. It drains into the laundry sink - which I understand is not all that unusual. Where is gets tricky here is that the drainage system is so poor, it takes upwards of a 1/2 a day to drain. I'm sure there is so much gunk in the drainage that the water has a difficult time getting down. However, once again, the plumber had been called and yes, he agreed, the drainage was bad. And that's where it ended. No Roto Rooter around here. Sigh. So - we were really only able to do one load of wash a day because we would flood our back room. So - once again - I "made it work". Attached an external drain - and drain it to our back yard. Waalah! Now we can wash as much as we want :-) No - this wouldn't be an acceptable outcome in the states, but - welcome to Honduras :-)

Monday

Today we have spent most of the day washing, cleaning, and putting out house to how it was pre-team. We already feel like the house is empty. It took most of the day to wash all the sheets, and clean up. Still have floors to wash, and other things to put away. The team was awesome and left me with many things for future clinics and for the walking clinic I plan on doing. I need to find a permanent home for these things in my closets.

Madison has found a friend! There is a 12-year old boy who lives right near us. He is a Missionary Kid (MK) and is here with his family. They have been here for 3 1/2 years and don't plan on going anywhere! They get along well playing Bionicles, cards, etc. They live walking distance to us! It's been great! A nice young man who Madison will be able to make a long friendship with. Thank you God! This has been a prayer request of mine for over a year!

Tomorrow is more cleaning, and finishing up with stuff! We are hoping to catch Batman sometime this week. We are also beginning the search for that "perfect" puppy :-) Will keep you posted.

Saying Goodbye To Our First Short Term Team

Today we drive our first short term mission team to San Pedro Sula where they will catch a flight home to Mobile, AL. In the eight days they have been here God has done some wonderful things.

Take a look at this 3 minute video to see what this group did here in La Ceiba:

At the public hospital and prep work

Dr. Debra with a not so happy patient :-)


Dr. Jim in his exam room
All teams were in full gear today! Our two doctors, Debra and Jim were working in the out-patient clinic area at the public hospital. Debbie was seeing pediatric patients and Jim saw mostly adults.

Just some information about Honduras according to the World Health Organization:

probability of dying under 5 years of age:
U.S.: 8 per 1000
Honduras: 41 per 1000

probability of dying between 15 - 60:
U.S. : 137 per 1000
Honduras: 248 per 1000

Life expectancy at birth:
U.S.: male - 75 female - 80
Honduras: male - 65 female - 69

HEALTHY Life expectancy:
U.S.: male - 67 female - 71
Honduras: male - 56 female - 60

Also, Dr. Debra was able to talk to the primary physician with the out-patient area in the public hospital about death rates in the hospital. She noticed that there was not a ventilator in the pediatric area. Come to find out there isn't a ventilator in the entire hospital. All surgery is done with a spinal block, NOT under general anesthesia as there is no ventilator. Therefore, if a person or a child goes into respiratory failure, the best they can do is put a tube down their throat and try to get them to the hospital in San Pedro Sula (2 1/2 - 3 hours away), using manual means of ventilation, and not with a ventilator. Needless to say, most do not survive. Dr. Debra then made a comment, that probably 2 - 3 patients a month probably die because of this, don't they? The response that came back was staggering. Not 2 - 3 children die a month, 2 - 3 children die a WEEK because of respiratory complications, and there just aren't the means to care for them or increase their chances of survival because of a ventilator.

This information goes to further convince us of the importance of preventative medicine in the community. My goal has always been to set up a clinic in the outlying village to try and prevent these health issues to getting as bad as they clearly have gotten. It has been a true blessing to have this team here to help establish the way.

Carl, our surgeon, along with Aileen, have been hard at work as well. They had 3 surgical cases. They continue to be amazed at how different things are done, and how creative the surgeons here have become in using what is available to them. Imagine hand screwing screws into a bone. They only have the use of a drill for 1 surgery as it has to go to another hospital for sterilization. They have been truely thankful to have Carl and Aileen with drills for all their procedures - along with their expertise! What a blessing to the hospital. A neat thing was that Dr. Carl's wife, Francie was able to be in the OR with her husband. She is trying to "learn the ropes" so she can be a future assistant in the OR in the future.

Dr. Carl and Aileen in the OR

Finally, crew three of Devin, John, Madison, and myself busied ourselves with setting up and prepping for the medical clinic tomorrow. We are excited to see how it goes. More details about that tomorrow.

Devin and John also continued to cut, measure, and prep the wood for the construction of bunk beds for future teams! Woohoo!