A fun-filled day with God’s children.

                  This morning we went to observe Sandra’s Sunday school lesson at Tejeras.  As you notice, she uses hand drawn visual aids tacked to a tree. The wind made it difficult for the children to see the aide clearly.   

The mission team authorized Maynor to purchase a portable easel locally for Sandra’s use.  The children were very attentive, the older ones taking care of the little ones and paying attention to the lesson in spite of the heavy truck traffic just 20 feet away.  

                In the afternoon we traveled across town to the AP Bible School.  All but 4 of the AP children were in attendance.  Tommy immediately started to take two portrait pictures of each child, copies of which will be sent to each of the sponsoring families / organizations.

  Vilma, our AP graduate and now college student sponsored through HAF continues to do a marvelous job in teaching the lower grade students while Ana keeps the attention of the middle school students. Both teachers get the students involved in the lesson.     

 

Day 4 and a trip to the hospital

Day 4 activities were curtailed as Alan had a bout of severe intestinal disorder during the night culminating with an early morning trip to the emergency room.  One of the local doctors lives in the compound where we stay and she came to see Alan and transported him to the hospital.  After 5 hours Alan was released and is on the mend.  Alan now has to keep track of an additional 5 different medicines. He was most pleased with the care, with three doctors and an assortment of nurses fussing over him. Tommy and Mandy went shopping for the children that they sponsor and then spent some quality time with them and their family

Day three at El Venado

After another super breakfast the team (Mandy, Tommy, and Alan) were joined by Dr. Tino, his Nurse Eny along with Maynor, Ana (an AP teachers) and Mareni (a 10^th grade AP student. We then set off for the 90 minute drive up a twisting rock and dirt mountain road to the village of El Venado. Upon arrival we unpacked and set up for a hygiene clinic while Maynor, Dr Tino and Nurse Eny conducted a medical brigade.  The medical brigade treated 42 patients with the assistance of the three community health care workers. 

The hygiene clinic was very successful as we treated 53 children.   

After a quick packed lunch we held a vision clinic examining 32 folks giving out 27 distance and 41 reading glasses.   

To conclude our visit, Dr Tino and Nurse Eny conducted an hour plus class for the three current and one new Community Health Care workers.  Thus El Venado is fortunate to have four health care workers – one of which is a male.  A nebulizer and other medical supplies and equipment were left in the village. 

Once again we observed the local primary school – a one room building with one teacher for 32 children in grades 1 through 6.  The students were very attentive to the teacher and followed his instructions very well.  As with yesterday’s observation, once class was over, the children cleaned the school room prior to going home.

Day two (Milpa Arada)

After devotions and a pancake breakfast the team (Mandy, Tommy, and Alan) with the great assistance of one of our AP Teachers (Ana) and outstanding AP student (Marleni, a 10^th grader), our translator Stanley along with our Honduran Administrator Maynor loaded our busito for our journey to Milpa Arada.  Upon arrival, the students were just starting their morning break and snack.   

We enjoyed the children about as much as they enjoyed watching us set up for the morning’s hygiene clinic. Some 120 children paraded from station to station (hand washing, de-worming, tooth brushing, and fluoride treatment.  The children willingly went from station to station with a smile on their face.  They were rewarded with a new tooth brush and a tube of tooth paste.  

As a side note, the team was most impressed how the three teachers covered six grades and apparently had all the children in the palm of their hands.  We were also impressed how the older ones (5^th and 6^th grade) looked after the younger ones.  The children willingly and quickly swept and mopped the three room school building prior to dismissal for the day.

When classrooms were cleaned we took over the 5^th and 6^th grade class to set up a vision care clinic.  We examined 92 patients and fitted 50 pair of reading glasses plus 42 pair of distance glasses and at least 50 pair of sunglasses.  It is so gratifying to observe folks being able to see clearly in the distance and to be able to read without squinting or holding a book at arm’s length. 

Upon returning to the beautiful and peaceful Celia Delfina Village we relaxed, reflected, sorted our hundreds of pictures and wrote the daily bog.  After dinner we will restock our supplies for tomorrow’s journey to El Venado.    

Advance Party of the Dental Team Arived

The advance three person party of the Dental Team arrived and got to Celia Delfina Village in Quimistan an hour earlier than expected.  After getting our bags into our quarters we set out to assist in feeding 53 hungry children in Tejeras.  Following that loving experience we returned to the village and made preparations for the remainder of our mission.  We invited Maynor and his lovely wife Jessy to dinner.

This is a very short blog entry as the internet has just come up and we all have been awake for 19 hours and we need time to unwind and sleep.

Mission Team 3 is ready to go!

Te advance group of The Dental Team, AKA Mission Team 3, is ready to go, bags almost packed and tickets in hand.  We depart Augusta Regional Airport Wednesday morning for the flight to Atlanta with connections to San Pedro Sula.  The two Aiken area dentists and dental technicians arrive on Tuesday 6 March.  Plans are set for the advance team to visit with three villages providing hygiene care and vision and the dental professionals to see 75 children. Pray for us.

Wrap Up Day means Inventory!

We spent the morning cleaning up and inventorying supplies.  Today was the hottest day yet in Quimistan but the weather has been a blessing in that we did not get any of the heavy seasonal rains.

We totally emptied our storage area (under some stairs at Martha's) and made sure the dental trunks had not been disturbed. The Evangelism materials were inventoried and organized for the next time VBS is delivered. The Team supply trunk was also inventoried.

Today we met with the Red Cross to start to understand what they are doing and especially what data they are collecting.

The trip has gone well with over 350 Hondurans being touched by the medical activities and over 200 attending Vacation Bible School sessions. We ended the day at the Tejeras Feeding.  Tejeras is a very poor group of homes along a major highway.  The feedings sponsored by the Foundation occur three times a week.  Our mission Team blog ends with the many faces of Tejeras.

MT2 signing off - may the Lord bless all who help the poor and bless the poor with His grace!