Feliz Navidad!

Merry Christmas to all!  While Christmas wasn't quite the same for me this year, it definately will be one to remember.  My Christmas really came a week early with a surprise visit from my parents.  It was Wednesday afternoon, we had gotten done with clinic early that day, and Peggy said that she needed to go to the airport to pick up some packages and wanted to know if I wanted to go along for the ride, she was going to stop at the grocery store as well.  So I thought, why not, I have nothing better to do.  As we walked into the airport, I had in my mind we were picking up packages, so we would find them at the continental office.  Out of customs walks this guys that looks like my dad, but no, what would he be doing in Roatan?!  And besides, he just kept walking right on by.  Bt wait, am I just seeing things, or is that mom right behind him?!?  It can't be can it??  Needless to say, it took me a minute to register what I was seeing, I was left speechless, very surprised, and excited to see them!  So began my Christmas.  Over the course of the next 6 days, we would work at the clinic, tour the east end of the island, take a water taxi into the mangroves, eat seafood on the beach as the sun sets, cook together, eat together, and just simply enjoy one anothers company.  Wonderful!  I love my parents...and my whole family!
Over this past week, there was one incident at the clinic that has really stuck with me and will remain with me forever.  There were these 3 little kids, all brothers and sisters- a 12 yr old boy, a 7 or 8 yr old girl, and a 2 or 3 year old boy.  The 2 boys needed to be seen by the doctor and the sister was just along with them.  The kids looked so sad and you could tell that the little boy could use a diaper change.  Upon bringing them into the triage room, I realized they didn't have any parents with them.  When I asked them where their parents were, the 12 yr old answered by saying their mom was in Coxen Hole.  Oh no, this is not good news for them.  We are not allowed to see patients at the clinic without some adult with them.  My mom and I finished triaging them, I confirmed with Dr. Rafael that we could not see them, and then I told the receptionist this.  She then told me that the mom was just out in the car.  Ok, these kids will get to be seen.  However, when Dr. Rafael went out to get them, they had no parents.  He came back in to tell me their parents had left and we will not be able to see them.  Are you serious?  These kids look and sound sick, how can we not treat them.  But, we must follow protocol.  After a few minutes, the receptionist comes up to me and says that Dr. Rafael has agreed to see the children, if I am willing to go with them.  Of course I will!  So, when it was again their turn, I went out to get them and my heart just melted.  Here, a couple women that had been sitting on the porch of the clinic with their own kids, are changing the little boy's diaper, they had gotten them all a pastelita and juice.  What stong sense of community and family they were showing to these kids that none of them knew!  Into the doctor's office I went with my sick children.  The older boy had been having fever and chills, not eating well, and headaches-- he will need to go get some labs done to test for malaria and dengue fever.  When he was brought back to the clinic with his labs, again he was alone so I took him in and the results showed positive for malaria.  A course of medications and he should be as good as new.  The little boy came in with a nasty cough, runny nose, and fussy-- turns out he had croup and bronchitis.  A few antibiotics and he, too, will hopefully be set to go.  I am soo happy that we were able to help these children.  It really made my day.  Then after clinic that day, we had a Christmas party for the kids.  When we walked out of clinic to all the kids anxiously awaiting, here were those 3 children sitting off to the side under a tree waiting for their ride-- but also, they were on the outside looking in.  I couldn't just leave them there, so I immediately went over to them and invited them to join in the party.  Then when their ride got their, I made sure their parents and pastor understood the medications, I got the kids some cookies and sent them on their way.  Oh what a blessing those kids were to me that day.  It made me sad to see them there alone and fending for themselves (to some degree), but they are the reason I love doing what I am doing!
Christmas Eve I was able to go out on the dock to soak up some sun, so it didn't quite seem like Christmas, but it was nice none the less.  Along with soaking up some sun, we met up with a group that was doing a food drive on the island and went into the Colonia to deliver bags of food to families.  Four vehicles went into the colonia, each with 75 bags of food; what a different way to spend Christmas.  We have so much that I think we forget just how much others don't have, especially on the holidays.  As I talked to people in the colonia asking them what they were doing for Christmas, a common response was nothing, we have no money this year.  How sad!  They didn't have gifts, they didn't have food, the whole spirit of the season just really seemed to be gone.
Then Christmas day was filled with some adventures and lessons!  A volunteer was coming in at 1:15 so I went to the airport along with one of the boys from the colonia and another volunteer.  We waited for nearly an hour before her flight finally landed at 1:45.  After greeting her, we headed out to the truck, got all loaded up, only to find that the truck didn't want to start.  Great!  Why don't we try popping the clutch?  Ok, sounds good to me.  So Heather, Moises, and Johanna got out to give me a push, but no such luck.  Well, let's try the jumper cables.  I'll go get Paul, a guy I knew that was at the airport.  As we are hooking up the jumper cables, it is starting to rain and the cables don't have rubber on the handles so they risked getting electrocuted to hook them up.  Attempt #2 at starting the truck?  Unsuccessful!  So we called Dee and him and his friend came to help us get it started.  Turns out that in order to pop the clutch, you have to be in 2nd gear, and release the clutch and push on the gas after being given a push.  Who knew?!  So we go to leave the airport only to kill the engine and we need to pop the clutch again.  Now onto the gas station.  It at the top of a hill and I know that there are arrows on the ground marking which way you are supposed to drive into the lanes, but by the time I got up there it was too late to change lanes.  Oh well, it's Christmas, so not many people are out needing gas right?  Well the guy working the pump wants me to change lanes, but I inform him the only way to start my truck is by giving it a push.  So he reluctantly fills up with gas and then waits for us to go.  Since I was waiting for Dee to pay he tells me he can give me a push.  Here I am sitting at the top of a hill that leads right into the main road and this guy wants to push me down it...are you serious?!  Down we went!  But, the first 2 times weren't quite enough for me, so I didn't quite remember all the steps to popping the clutch so let's just say a perfect hill and spot for it and I failed....oops!  Alright, 3rd times a charm.  Truck in 2nd gear, check! Clutch released after getting a push, check!  Lots of gas, check! And we're off- this vehicle isn't stopping until we get home!  Now, not only do I know how to drive a stick shift, but I know how to pop a clutch on one as well- and I thought I was only going to learn things about nursing while volunteering :)
Well, I hope everyone is having a very Merry and Blessed Christmas!  As much as I wish I could be home celebrating with each and every one of you, I know that this year God has been using me in other ways.  Take some time to look around and count your blessings.  Look at this holiday season not for the consumerism, but for the true meaning of Christmas- the birth of our Lord, Jesus.
Merry Christmas!  Happy Holidays!
xoxo

It's Beginning to Look a lot like Christmas

Christmas tree at the Cruise Ship Port

Christmas is starting to hit full force....in all forms (fortunately and unfortunately).  Christmas lights are starting to pop up here and there; while there aren't (and probably won't be) many, there are some and they are exciting to see.  Saturday afternoon, I went with Bob and Debi into Coxen Hole where there was supposed to be a parade followed by time with Santa and a Christmas tree lighting.  Well, as like most things here, it started fashionably late, the parade which was supposed to start the festivities, ended up being halfway through the festivities, and there were bits of chaos.  The tree lighting of course wouldn't take place until dark, but since I had another function to get to (yes, believe it or not I had something on my schedule!), we did not get to see the lighting.  The part that we did get to see though, was quite exciting.  There is a lady, Debra, living here on the island that used to be a music teacher in California.  She now works with children on the island and runs a steel drum band.  That was pretty cool.  If I figure out how to add videos on here, I will put up a video of it!  Following this, I went with Miss Peggy and the staff of the clinic to a Rotarian Christmas Gala.  It was a nice social evening, filled with delicious food and good company.  There were some raffles and auctions that also took place.  One of the items being raffled off was a tour of the RECO, the electric company.  I tried to get Alison, our administrator, to bid on it for a field trip for the clinic staff, but she wouldn't.....darnit!  It ended up going for $250- aka, probably not in our budget :p ; guess we will just have to go for a free tour sometime haha.  Christmas festivities continued on Sunday with a Caroling Christmas Party at Debra's house.  There were probably a dozen of us that gathered together and sang Christmas carols for an hour, ate appetizers, chili, bread, and desserts, while drinking some hot cider (all homemade!)-- what a wonderful evening we had!

The Steel Drum Band

While we had a great weekend filled with Christmas festivities, there were also some downfalls to the weekend.  During the 2 hrs that we left to take some people to the airport on Saturday in the early afternoon, our home was broken into and robbed.  Out of the 3 of us, Jess was hit the hardest as she lost all of her electronics, where as I only lost some jewelry and a phone, and we all lost some food.  Someone's eating good right now!  I guess things could have been worse and we remain hopeful that maybe some of the stuff will get returned, but it was only material things that walked away and life will go on.  After all, material things are simply that and they are purely here for comfort.  The day will come when we are at our judgment and we will not have these things with us; what we will have are all those things that we have learned, all the actions that we have performed, and the journey that we took.  What does your slate look like if judgment day came tomorrow?  Would it be full of material things that are no longer there?  Or would there be experiences, actions, and lessons learned that you are proud of?  In this time of advent, this time of preparation for the birth of Jesus, are we prepared to readily greet Him at any moment?  What is standing between you and Him?  Is it something that you can change?  Think about it- it's worth some thought.

Clinic life hasn't brought about anything too exciting this past week.  More of the typical diabetes, hypertension patients with various other things throughout the week.  Saw another machete cut today...this one was a few days old and unfortunately infected :(  The girl was 14 yrs old and this was her first time ever coming to the doctor- wouldn't you know, first time in and she had to get a shot.  Bummer!  Luckily she had my good steady hand and I think it was pretty much pain free.  Hopefully her infection will heal up quickly as the cut was on her foot and it is preventing her from being able to walk :(  English tutoring is continuing at the school, bringing with it it's continued challenges.  The part that we find most frustrating is that these kids do not have the basics of the english language down, yet they are trying to learn information that would be taught at a 3rd grade level.  While I feel like we should/need to be working on the basics, she has all this homework that is not getting done so I also feel like we should be working on that.  Some days I feel like we make progress, and then other days I feel like we get nowhere.  Since I work with her for only 2 hrs a week, there is only so much that I can do.  The other frustrating thing is that the teacher is Honduran and has very poor written (and therefore probably spoken) english-- meaning, that they kids are probably hearing a bit more spanish in class then they are supposed to be.  When we get to school in the afternoons we will see the kids and they are of course speaking to one another in spanish.  No matter how many times we remind them to speak in english, they always revert back to spanish.  Sometimes I question how much effort they put into practicing their english.  Are they benefiting from the education that they are paying for and receiving?  I can only hope and pray that some day this will all pay off and benefit them.  For now, I guess we will just keep doing what we're doing and see what happens.

News tells me that the Viking dome has collapsed in, the giant Christmas tree in Sioux Falls was blown over from the blizzard, and snow is everywhere!  I wish I could say the same about here (at least the snow bit) but the only thing we have collapsing here are the waves upon themselves!  This weekend we were blessed with very nice weather.....up into the 80s!  Can't really complain about that (except when you love the winter and are ready for a change in seasons....I'm not sure how someone could live in the same season year round...I sure can't!).

Today I got my visa renewed for another 3 months, so looks like I'll be staying here for a while!  Hope you are all staying warm!  I'll work on my tan a little extra hard, just for all of you ;)

A Heart of Righteousness

Last week the focus for advent was Mary and a heart of surrender.  This week we look at Joseph and a heart of righteousness.  Having a heart of righteousness is something that we struggle with on a daily basis.  Often times we can over look what is right to do because it’s not what we want to do.  Sometimes we can get so wrapped up in what we are doing that we forget to take time and say God what is it that You want us to be doing?  Is what we are doing the right thing or should we be putting our focus into something else?  Over the course of the past three months I have started to be able to see this.  Life here is a lot slower than life back in the states.  Being here, I only have one real focus currently in mind- volunteering at the clinic, helping out those most in need.  There is nothing else on my “schedule”.  Heck, who am I kidding, I don’t even have a schedule here.  I can readily do whatever I want to do, whenever I want to do it (for the most part that is).  Having all this time, I have had time to really focus on righteousness.  What is the right thing for me to do—not because I want to do it, but because that is what God is calling me to do?  Just like Joseph in the Christmas story.  After he found out that Mary was with child, he was ready to “divorce her quietly” because how could that be?  But then the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream to explain it to him.  After that moment, he knew that it was right for him to stay with Mary, maybe he didn’t want to stay with her at the time being, but it was the right thing, it was God’s will.

Clinic this week brought with it some new and exciting things.  There is a psych nurse that has been on the island for quite a few years, but she is now going to start doing some psych work with the clinic!  Twice this past week she came in to do some initial psych evaluations on patients and I got to translate for her…who knew that my Spanish was that good already!?  While we uncovered some very
devastating things about what has been happening in these people’s lives, such as various forms of abuse, I can only anticipate the great help that we will be able to offer these people.  It brings me comfort to know that they were willing to open up to us so that we will be able to adequately serve them and help them.  This past week we also welcomed a volunteer from London, so I’ve been spending some of my clinic time getting her all orientated as well.  One of the med students that is here currently shared with us a presentation on diabetes and its treatment courses and afterwards I had a new idea pop into my head about ways that I could possibly do health education, but in a different fashion.  Instead of directly outreaching to the people and preaching to them, we could work on keeping the medical personnel up to date in research and also encourage them to pass this information onto patients.  One thing that I heard this past week was that no matter what you tell these people, a lot of times they won’t always hear it.  Maybe if we start with giving education at an individual level (with the providers to the patients), we will better reach these people at a community level.  Then as we begin/do health education outreach to the local community they will receive it a little better.  Another thing that I have learned is that no matter what I, as a nurse, or what a provider tells them, a lot of what they believe is based on their own experiences, either personally or through friends
and families.  In order to change their thought on something, such as the need to take insulin when your blood sugar is 539 (normal is 70-110) and oral medications are not working, can be very intensive and often times it can be like talking to a wall.  Why don’t they want to do it?  Because they believe diabetics that are taking insulin end up with their legs amputated—when actually this happens
because of uncontrolled diabetes.  This is just one of the many myths that we will try laboriously to dispel.  With time, hopefully we will get there.  So with those thoughts in mind, that’s where I am headed for the next while.  We shall see what I come up with!

Peace and Blessings this holiday season!

Laura