Honduras Day one July 11, 2011

Honduras 2011
Mission Lazuras and Crosspoint Community Church


Day One: July 11, 2011

Our team over 30 arrived yesterday after a 4 hour bus ride from the airport in Tegucigalpa. As we were pulling into our ranch in San Marcos that is owned by Mission Lazuras we had a flat tire! So we entered the ranch by walking the rest of the way! What a beautiful location we are staying at. I was expecting something like Haiti last year. The pasada (lodge) is the center or our ranch and where we eat our meals, gather to talk, hang in the hammock, have devotionals and can connect to the internet. Our cabins hold ten and have hot showers and a toilet that flushes!! I am thrilled! It is the rainy season here and currently the tin roof is alive with the sound of pouring rain and thunder!
Our clinic is in Duyure and is a 1-1 ½ hour school bus ride up to the top of the mountain. The roads are hairpin turns and I learned quickly to NOT look down! Our lives are in the hands of our driver who is not only navigating the narrow road, but attempting not to hit any number of cows or donkeys that are in the road.
When we arrived today at the makeshift clinic there were probably already 200 villagers waiting for hours and most had walked for at least 2 hours to see us. By the time our day was ending some patients had waited 10 hours or more to see us. No one was angry, mean or rude. We have 5 providers: 2 NP’s, 2 PA-C’s and one MD. The pharmacy is set up with a formulary that is small, but efficient to treat the kinds of cases we are seeing over and over.
We saw over 250 patients today with various chronic and acute problems. I did get to see one pregnant patient today! She was nine months pregnant, and travels two hours to a hospital for delivery! Maybe this week she will come back in labor and I can deliver a Honduran baby!
The poverty is great here, but the spirit and the pride is even greater. I am impressed with how well kept and clean the children are we saw in the clinic today. We are exhausted and a bit smelly indeed, but the smiles and hugs make it all worth while….and give you the motivation to get up tomorrow and do it all over again!