can you believe i wrote all of this in one day!! i had some major catching up to do. i was supossed to go to Xochis today to work with the girls in the clinic but i have been struggling with a little bug in my belly i think. i stayed back because its not so pleasant to ride on that bus when your GI system doesn´t like you. i slept till noon and i wrote most of this in the afternoon and came back tonight to post pictures. i feel so much better now so i hope it stays that way. please pray that all of us stay healthy. we have a big weekend ahead of us. we are taking a trip to acapulco this weekend since we don´t have to work saturday or sunday!! megan reserved the hotel today and we are planning on having some good time relaxing and enjoying the city.
i´m going back now to Hotel Yeni to sleep but hopefully you all have enjoyed this update-feel free to ask questions and let me know what you think!
love in Christ =)
Friday, June 30, 2006
29 de junio-thursday!!
well, back in Xochis again today. we started out with a lovely trip and finally figured out how to get to the xochis combi stand on our own. we can walk there now and it's a good 15 minute walk and then an hour ride to the city. a combi, is what they call the mexican buses that i described. i'll have to get a picture of one of them. sorry i don't have more to download!! today wasn't as busy. we always feel like we help our a lot at Xochis though because dr. carmelo really enjoys the interaction and the patient flow. he made announcements for us that we were doing children physicals. we gave all of the childrens suckers that i bought at the store!! they were so afraid of us though. it was a good time for all of us girls to quiz each other and review some pharm and micro. we're getting a better handle on treatments and what to use. today i diagnosed someone with scabies, a little three year old-i hope i was right!! what was really sad about the kid wasn´t his scabies, it was his teeth. his front four teeth on the upper set were completely rotted out. his aunt was with him and i tried to explain to her how bad this was and that he needs to see a dentist, as this can easily cause a systemic infection. i´m not really sure why it was so bad in this young child and just those four teeth-any ideas my dentistry friends?
today was really great though to speak with Dr. Carmello (Valtierra Lopez) about the current situation of the clinic. it was a great discussion and i´m glad he shared all that he did. we all wanted to get an idea of what his needs are and how the presbytery can be of more support. right now they are in a huge need of a roof and that is by far the number one priority, it will cost about $4000 to replace it. he would really like an autoclave, more medicines, and eventually a lab and sonogram machine, among many others. there is a not a single one of these things anywhere in Xochis and all of the patients have to go all the way to ometepec for treatment. he told me a very long story about how he came to be in the clinic. i´m very impressed with his hard work!!!
when he got to the clinic, it had been built in 1980 and wasn´t in use for 5 years. there were no windows, bathrooms, floors, or even paint. the medicines that were sent for him to use were so rotten and old that he couldn´t use them. he said "it was a home for drunks and dogs". he basically started from scratch, and built his own windows and bathrooms. he´s done a great job working with what he has but would really like a nurse or other doctor. he says nobody wants to work there because the money isn´t there. i feel really bad for him and hope to talk to the presbytery about the situation-as they were excited to get our input- and see if anything can be done. he´s planning on going to acapulco for a one year refresher course next january and isn´t sure on his returning plans. the current situation of the clinic is basically almost unsuitable to work in. the vision was a great one but now hopefully somehow he can get some more help to encourage the functioning of this MUCH needed facility.
all of us girls have been very impressed with his skills and what he does with what he has to work with. he seemed very up to date on his eye diseases, mike noted while he was there. how much more he could do with a lab though!!
even more impressive was his translation of the entire old testmant. he said it has taken 15 years and he is in his final revision. he is truly an intelligent and remarkable individual. we took a video of him reading from genesis and have a copy of the written language from genesis. his most important work right now is getting the word of god into the hands of the amuzgo people. can you imagine, we are so used to having an old testament in our language-it´s hard to imagine not being able to read the Bible in your own language. what a precious gift he has given to the people of this region!! i pray that God will continue to work through him in Xochis and through the new Old Testment. please pray that he will be able to find a publisher willing to print it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
whew, seems like enough for today!!!
for His glory!!
today was really great though to speak with Dr. Carmello (Valtierra Lopez) about the current situation of the clinic. it was a great discussion and i´m glad he shared all that he did. we all wanted to get an idea of what his needs are and how the presbytery can be of more support. right now they are in a huge need of a roof and that is by far the number one priority, it will cost about $4000 to replace it. he would really like an autoclave, more medicines, and eventually a lab and sonogram machine, among many others. there is a not a single one of these things anywhere in Xochis and all of the patients have to go all the way to ometepec for treatment. he told me a very long story about how he came to be in the clinic. i´m very impressed with his hard work!!!
when he got to the clinic, it had been built in 1980 and wasn´t in use for 5 years. there were no windows, bathrooms, floors, or even paint. the medicines that were sent for him to use were so rotten and old that he couldn´t use them. he said "it was a home for drunks and dogs". he basically started from scratch, and built his own windows and bathrooms. he´s done a great job working with what he has but would really like a nurse or other doctor. he says nobody wants to work there because the money isn´t there. i feel really bad for him and hope to talk to the presbytery about the situation-as they were excited to get our input- and see if anything can be done. he´s planning on going to acapulco for a one year refresher course next january and isn´t sure on his returning plans. the current situation of the clinic is basically almost unsuitable to work in. the vision was a great one but now hopefully somehow he can get some more help to encourage the functioning of this MUCH needed facility.
all of us girls have been very impressed with his skills and what he does with what he has to work with. he seemed very up to date on his eye diseases, mike noted while he was there. how much more he could do with a lab though!!
even more impressive was his translation of the entire old testmant. he said it has taken 15 years and he is in his final revision. he is truly an intelligent and remarkable individual. we took a video of him reading from genesis and have a copy of the written language from genesis. his most important work right now is getting the word of god into the hands of the amuzgo people. can you imagine, we are so used to having an old testament in our language-it´s hard to imagine not being able to read the Bible in your own language. what a precious gift he has given to the people of this region!! i pray that God will continue to work through him in Xochis and through the new Old Testment. please pray that he will be able to find a publisher willing to print it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
whew, seems like enough for today!!!
for His glory!!
24 de junio-wednesday
well i´m running out of time here at the cafe but i wanted to mention that i saw twins born today!!! that's always exciting, everytime i see a baby born i feel like i'm always holding my breath in anticipation of its first cry. it's so wonderful to see a new baby and be reminded of how awesome the Lord's creation is!
better go, i'm going to try to post some pics!
love, me
i'm back, i don't have the right connection here to post my pics so megan took a few for me and i'm posting some from her camera. this photo is of one of the doctors, behind her is a coffee pot to the right and after the babies are born, next to it is where they lay the babies!!!
june 27th-mike's gone
well he left early this monring. i was sad for a bit, it's always hard to say goodbye. but since being apart for a whole semester last year, i guess i should be good at it. we worked on the living arrangements and megan and i took a new room together with 2 double beds and erin and melissa stayed in the other room. so who did i come here with you ask?
megan and i met at KCUMB (as did all of us) and grew up in KC. she is amazingly athletic and played softball for KU for four years. i had the joy of playing basketball against her and jazmin, unfortunately mike got stuck with me on his team, and it was obvious that she was good at that too =) megan lives in my apartment building in KC and i'm thankful she showed me them! we're having a great time together!
melissa is from chicago and has a large family that she adores. i hope to meet them someday! her sisters sound like a lot of fun. we always sit together in class and keep it interesting. melissa went on a mission trip for a year in Kenya with the presbyterian church and is always sharing interesting stories about it. it's fun to compare different places we've been to where we are now.
erin is from nebraska and is a very talented dancer. my little sister would probably love to talk with her! she danced in Miami, FL and has a nephew and niece that she loves too (beau and bella)! it makes me miss Ethan, my nephew, to hear her talk about them. i'm having alot of fun getting to know her more.
so this is the remaining crew =) we all went to clinic again on today after a run at the deportivo. this time we got erin to come along! melissa worked with dr. steinneman and i worked with dr. yanez again. it was kind of a slow day but we just worked with consults all day. it's been a great experience for us to review medicines because dr. yanez is always asking us questions. we also really enjoy watching the surgeries together and reviewing the anatomy as they work on the caesareans. today i saw a young man come in who received stitches on saturday for cutting his hand at a tortilleria, a tortilla making store. by today, tuesday, one of his fingers was gangrenous so we watched that amputation. i'm sure the procedure would have been a lot different in the states.
we always eat lunch on hospital days in the back kitchen in the hospital. the cooks are so sweet and we've been able to talk with them a little bit. of course at every meal, there are tortillas. they've started to notice what we like and have stopped serving us papaya =) i guess we never ate it. we always have a lot of fresh pears, cantalope, pineapple, and apples. one day it think megan ate like three pears and the other girls ate a lot too. later we noticed that there is now three three pound bags of pears in the kitchen.
it's important at the hospital to be able to speak spanish too. otherwise, you really wouldn't be able to help at all. i think that if we were third or fourth years we could help even more but everything is still so new to us. the hospital is run really well and it's always busy as it has one of the best reputations around. it's been destroyed twice by earthquakes but god has been able to provide and it has been rebuilt. just for an idea, the hospital has one floor with about five different consult offices, three operation rooms with windows to view the palm trees, a patient wing with about 10 different rooms, a lab in the basement, and a large waiting room. patients can stay overnight and its open 24 hrs. hope that gives you an idea of our working conditions!
this mission has been a little different than others i've gone on. they've never sent medical students down to this hospital and are kind of seeing how the medical benevolence foundation can be of service. one thing is for sure, they must speak spanish-english is not helpful! also, most of the missions i've gone on have had an aspect of evangelism as a part of it. i think there is potential there but it needs to be a bigger part of the mission. i feel like i'm just helping out with the physical healing, but there are so many other ways to help too. we could offer to pray with the patients more, work with the local churches in having Bible studies, set up english lessons for students with the Bible. there are many ways but they would just need to be looked into more. of course, you can always show the compassion and love of jesus christ in whatever you do!!!!
all for Him!
26 de julio-mike's last day
i know that some of you are wondering about daily life here, like people, what the city looks like, etc. it's funny to me how all of these third world or developing countries all kind of have the same set-up. of course all of these are my impressions.
there are many narrow streets in the cities, the shops are all very small and sell only a few items. grocery stores don't really exist because like barbara said, where would they park and what would they carry that many items in? the first "big" grocery store just opened this week on main street and it was quite a commotion. i went in and actually found m&m's that melissa was looking for! the size of it is like a third of the size of a walgreens to give you an idea. of course everybody stares at us here, we haven't seen any other caucasians yet (except for the wood family) but that's to be expected because ometepec isn't really a tourist attraction. but i think it's lovely and the people are very nice! air conditioning is very much a luxury, my internet cafe doesn't even have air conditioning but most of them do.
most of the people in the city dress like they would anywhere else, jeans t-shirts, tennis shoes and sandals. the most popular sandal is made out of old tires and then has leather strapped on top. the women wear TIGHT clothes. i'm always amazed how they can fit into them. here, we can wear jeans or capris but no shorts (except at the deportivo, and we are still the only women in shorts). we also wear long skirts and scrubs to the clinic and hospital.
the town is a bit sleepier than the states, most people are at work by nine and take a long lunch around 200-300. my friend, areli, doesn't eat until 500 and then has dinner at 9 or 10!! we eat a little earlier at like 730.
that said, mike and i went to clinic again on monday at nine. it was the same routine, where we followed dr. yanez most of the day and watched another birth which was exciting. that evening, areli came over to give us a tour of the cities churches. there were many beautiful catholic churches. one was just finished a couple of years ago and it was magnificent, with beautiful blues and yellows. all of the churches were very brightly colored. instead of a crucifix, it was usually an actual mannequin of jesus standing at the front- that seemed a little weird, but that's the tradition here. as always, we walked A LOT that day, and did i mention that ometepec is full of hills? one time when we were walking, melissa said that she actually understands now how you can walk up hill both ways =) we saw where she worked and i showed the girls and mike the graves of the woods parents. i'm glad mike got to walk around town a little bit before he left.
mike and i ended the evening by sharing an helado-a nestle ice cream sandwich. nestle is by far the most popular chocolate brand down here-fine by me!! i'm going to miss him a lot but i'm glad we finally got to share a mission experience together a bit. this was really short but it was interesting to travel together, at least he knows the people that are in my stories now. it's nice to be able to connect that way. please remember to pray for him while i'm gone too, that he can concentrate and have time to study for his upcoming kansas licensing exam. thanks for reading all of this!
may God bless!
there are many narrow streets in the cities, the shops are all very small and sell only a few items. grocery stores don't really exist because like barbara said, where would they park and what would they carry that many items in? the first "big" grocery store just opened this week on main street and it was quite a commotion. i went in and actually found m&m's that melissa was looking for! the size of it is like a third of the size of a walgreens to give you an idea. of course everybody stares at us here, we haven't seen any other caucasians yet (except for the wood family) but that's to be expected because ometepec isn't really a tourist attraction. but i think it's lovely and the people are very nice! air conditioning is very much a luxury, my internet cafe doesn't even have air conditioning but most of them do.
most of the people in the city dress like they would anywhere else, jeans t-shirts, tennis shoes and sandals. the most popular sandal is made out of old tires and then has leather strapped on top. the women wear TIGHT clothes. i'm always amazed how they can fit into them. here, we can wear jeans or capris but no shorts (except at the deportivo, and we are still the only women in shorts). we also wear long skirts and scrubs to the clinic and hospital.
the town is a bit sleepier than the states, most people are at work by nine and take a long lunch around 200-300. my friend, areli, doesn't eat until 500 and then has dinner at 9 or 10!! we eat a little earlier at like 730.
that said, mike and i went to clinic again on monday at nine. it was the same routine, where we followed dr. yanez most of the day and watched another birth which was exciting. that evening, areli came over to give us a tour of the cities churches. there were many beautiful catholic churches. one was just finished a couple of years ago and it was magnificent, with beautiful blues and yellows. all of the churches were very brightly colored. instead of a crucifix, it was usually an actual mannequin of jesus standing at the front- that seemed a little weird, but that's the tradition here. as always, we walked A LOT that day, and did i mention that ometepec is full of hills? one time when we were walking, melissa said that she actually understands now how you can walk up hill both ways =) we saw where she worked and i showed the girls and mike the graves of the woods parents. i'm glad mike got to walk around town a little bit before he left.
mike and i ended the evening by sharing an helado-a nestle ice cream sandwich. nestle is by far the most popular chocolate brand down here-fine by me!! i'm going to miss him a lot but i'm glad we finally got to share a mission experience together a bit. this was really short but it was interesting to travel together, at least he knows the people that are in my stories now. it's nice to be able to connect that way. please remember to pray for him while i'm gone too, that he can concentrate and have time to study for his upcoming kansas licensing exam. thanks for reading all of this!
may God bless!
el dia de dios-25 de julio
today is sunday! this morning we are going to the wood's presbyterian church at 1000. church was so fun. i always enjoy the praise songs in another language. i always think its amazing to hear people from other countries in other languages worshipping God! we started with praise songs and then everyone split up into their age groups. this morning service was really sunday school but we were going to miss church that evening. sunday school lasted until 1230. so it was a long time especially because it was hard to understand the whole lesson in spanish. after church, we had comida, and hailed a taxi to Marquelia.
we thought it would be nice to see the beach since it was mike's only weekend here. the taxi was very very very frustrating. the driver was purposefully speaking fast and in a bad dialect to confuse me. he was annoying and it bothered us all. we all went, plus the two nurses, so we had to take two taxis. i knew he was ripping us off and charge a lot more than he should have and just pretended like he couldn't uderstand me. then he refused to give me back my change!!! because he decided to charge more. all of us were kind of grumpy when we got there, it's really frustrating when people are deliberately dishonest and use you. plus it was the speaker for the group and it was stressful. mike and i went over to the beach though and enjoyed it once we were there. the waves were very strong so we didn't go out. it was definitely a local beach with stick poles in the ground and old palm branches making shelters everywhere. we sat under the shelter all afternoon and relaxed and read and stood in the edges of the water for awhile. it was a nice break and very much needed. it had been a busy week.
we stayed for about four hours and then went on the search to get a taxi back home. my faith and trust was restored in the mexican taxi drivers this time. the driver from the beach to the city (where you have to go to get another different taxi to ometepec) was so excited to be driving us and he even took us by his house and everything. it was kind of cute. the way back we all split up and mike and i stayed back in the city for a bit because the taxi driver wanted to wait until he could take a larger goup. that larger group was insane!!! there was the driver, a mom and her THREE children on her lap in the front seat, mike, me, and two other large mexican guys int he back seat-did i mention we were in a nissan sentra?? so unsafe but fortunately it was only like that for halfway (half hour).
whew, we were back to Hotel Yeni safely. the woods invited us over later taht night for a barbeque but we were so tired we just ate dinner and relaxed. it was a nice little day trip!!
Blessings!
we thought it would be nice to see the beach since it was mike's only weekend here. the taxi was very very very frustrating. the driver was purposefully speaking fast and in a bad dialect to confuse me. he was annoying and it bothered us all. we all went, plus the two nurses, so we had to take two taxis. i knew he was ripping us off and charge a lot more than he should have and just pretended like he couldn't uderstand me. then he refused to give me back my change!!! because he decided to charge more. all of us were kind of grumpy when we got there, it's really frustrating when people are deliberately dishonest and use you. plus it was the speaker for the group and it was stressful. mike and i went over to the beach though and enjoyed it once we were there. the waves were very strong so we didn't go out. it was definitely a local beach with stick poles in the ground and old palm branches making shelters everywhere. we sat under the shelter all afternoon and relaxed and read and stood in the edges of the water for awhile. it was a nice break and very much needed. it had been a busy week.
we stayed for about four hours and then went on the search to get a taxi back home. my faith and trust was restored in the mexican taxi drivers this time. the driver from the beach to the city (where you have to go to get another different taxi to ometepec) was so excited to be driving us and he even took us by his house and everything. it was kind of cute. the way back we all split up and mike and i stayed back in the city for a bit because the taxi driver wanted to wait until he could take a larger goup. that larger group was insane!!! there was the driver, a mom and her THREE children on her lap in the front seat, mike, me, and two other large mexican guys int he back seat-did i mention we were in a nissan sentra?? so unsafe but fortunately it was only like that for halfway (half hour).
whew, we were back to Hotel Yeni safely. the woods invited us over later taht night for a barbeque but we were so tired we just ate dinner and relaxed. it was a nice little day trip!!
Blessings!
el sabado- 24th de junio
saturday-rest day! nope, not for us! our new friends areli and jazmin were taking us on a walk. teh day before jazmin went with megan and i to the deportivo. it has a nice gravel track that we can run on in the morning, it's safe, as you have to pay 3 pesos to get in, abotu 30 cents. i'm very thankful for it!
anyway, we went on a walk to the national park near xochis. we saw many burros, turkeys, horses, and people playing soccer. the national park was pretty with its beautiful waterfalls and coutryside. when we arrived to the park there were about 50 women doing their laundry in the water. it was actually set up for them and the park arranged drying lines and everything. it was amazing and of course, everybody stared at us =)
on the walk back we stopped at the technologico, a university here, to meet with some students. that morning mike and i met an english teacher on the road on the way to buy water. he wanted us to stop by and talk with the students. it was fun, they were in their beginning levels and only could ask basic questions but i think they loved the interaction. we received a lot of information about why its so easy to travel illegally to the u.s. for example, on july 4th, there isn't anyone doing car checks, hmmm . . .
this was a full day, so after comida, mike and i went to the wood house to watch mexico play against argentina. we are brasil fans so we had to cheer for mexico extra hard-argentina is their big rival. unfortunately, mexico lost but it did make the streets safer. there were a lot less fireworks!! it seems like somebody sneezing is reason enough to have a fireworks celebration here!! then mike went home to rest and i went with barbara and two other american nurses staying with her to visit the city. we walked down main street, saw some beautiful churches, shopped for tortilla towels, looked at the local merchants. we also visited the graves of tim woods parents. they were the first missonaries down here and tragically died in a plane crash. barbara said it has always been known that a bomb caused the crash. when the first woods arrived here nobody would even give them a place to stay becasue they were christians. but eventually the town grew to love them and i guess their funeral was a wonderful celebration of life. on tim's father's grave, it says the verse about how the word will never return void. it was amazing to stand there and know that though they died, the hospital still goes on and there are now three presbyterian churches in ometepec along with many others now =) their life was not in vain and now tim is back continuing the work. it made me think a lot of my friend brianna, all she wanted to do was serve the lord and she died doing just that in Nigeria. i know that people are still touced by her story and her memory will certainly never leave me.
well, i better go-this has been a lot of typing!
that ALL the nations may hear . . .
anyway, we went on a walk to the national park near xochis. we saw many burros, turkeys, horses, and people playing soccer. the national park was pretty with its beautiful waterfalls and coutryside. when we arrived to the park there were about 50 women doing their laundry in the water. it was actually set up for them and the park arranged drying lines and everything. it was amazing and of course, everybody stared at us =)
on the walk back we stopped at the technologico, a university here, to meet with some students. that morning mike and i met an english teacher on the road on the way to buy water. he wanted us to stop by and talk with the students. it was fun, they were in their beginning levels and only could ask basic questions but i think they loved the interaction. we received a lot of information about why its so easy to travel illegally to the u.s. for example, on july 4th, there isn't anyone doing car checks, hmmm . . .
this was a full day, so after comida, mike and i went to the wood house to watch mexico play against argentina. we are brasil fans so we had to cheer for mexico extra hard-argentina is their big rival. unfortunately, mexico lost but it did make the streets safer. there were a lot less fireworks!! it seems like somebody sneezing is reason enough to have a fireworks celebration here!! then mike went home to rest and i went with barbara and two other american nurses staying with her to visit the city. we walked down main street, saw some beautiful churches, shopped for tortilla towels, looked at the local merchants. we also visited the graves of tim woods parents. they were the first missonaries down here and tragically died in a plane crash. barbara said it has always been known that a bomb caused the crash. when the first woods arrived here nobody would even give them a place to stay becasue they were christians. but eventually the town grew to love them and i guess their funeral was a wonderful celebration of life. on tim's father's grave, it says the verse about how the word will never return void. it was amazing to stand there and know that though they died, the hospital still goes on and there are now three presbyterian churches in ometepec along with many others now =) their life was not in vain and now tim is back continuing the work. it made me think a lot of my friend brianna, all she wanted to do was serve the lord and she died doing just that in Nigeria. i know that people are still touced by her story and her memory will certainly never leave me.
well, i better go-this has been a lot of typing!
that ALL the nations may hear . . .
el radio en Xochis-23rd de junio
whew-back again-driving to and from xochis two days in a row makes for a long day so we are glad that it is on a thursday and friday that we go there!!
many people are wondering with what organization we are serving. mike and i are going through the presbyterian church USA, specifically through the Medical Benevolence Foundation. i think that you can find out more about them if you google the foundation, that's what i did. melissa, one of the girls we are here with, served with PCUSA for a year in Kenya. i'll give a little bio of the other three girls later after mike leaves.
today wasn't any different really, we saw upwards of 35 patients and mike did a great job. sometimes is very very difficult to work with no medicine, no glasses, and still figure out creative ways to help people. we are still getting better at patient physicals and have seen about everything you can put in an ear, there is a lot of people here complaining of hearing loss and we look in their ears and its just jammed pack with wax (and one case of a fungus), yummy . . . the local remedy is boil chammomile (is that spelled right?) tea with salt, pour it into the ear, let it sit for 10 minutes, dump it out, repeat. so that's what we explained to the patients. it's still difficult to not have another person here to speak amuzgo, dr. carmello is very busy translating the old testament, but we have to use him a lot to translate to amuzgo. hardly any women speak spanish and most start working in either a bar or store at the age of 10 or 11. it would be absolutely impossible for a group to come down if they didn't speak spanish. most of my friends here to and mike speaks it well so we have that advantage.
today was absolutely wonderful-usually we have lunch around 130 or 200 with dr.carmello and then go back by taxi after lunch. well, he had other plans. we first went to see some of the local crafts. the women here weave all of their clothes by hand on an interesting machine, i have photos too!! they are brightly colored dresses with a loose weave to allow air flow. barbara wood told us its the coolest thing she owns! we saw his house, a humble cement house. there were almost no walls or windows, his wife owns a pastry shop and that is in the front of their house. she is a friendly lady and we also got to meet his two boys and one daughter, who has downs syndrome. then we went up he mountian in his backyard to reach the radio station. this radio is the only form of communication and you can hear it blaring everywhere through the towns. this is how he notified the people that mike is coming to check eyes!!! so he asked me to speak on it-i was so surprised and nervous. i spoke about who i was and what our group was doing here. it was kind of exciting because thousands of people heard. he asked me say a little in english too so i taught good morning, good afternoon, and good night. so fun!! we also hiked to the highest point in xochis and had a beautiful view!
we relaxed with dinner back in ometepec and finished it off with helados-ice cream!!
Dios le bendiga!
many people are wondering with what organization we are serving. mike and i are going through the presbyterian church USA, specifically through the Medical Benevolence Foundation. i think that you can find out more about them if you google the foundation, that's what i did. melissa, one of the girls we are here with, served with PCUSA for a year in Kenya. i'll give a little bio of the other three girls later after mike leaves.
today wasn't any different really, we saw upwards of 35 patients and mike did a great job. sometimes is very very difficult to work with no medicine, no glasses, and still figure out creative ways to help people. we are still getting better at patient physicals and have seen about everything you can put in an ear, there is a lot of people here complaining of hearing loss and we look in their ears and its just jammed pack with wax (and one case of a fungus), yummy . . . the local remedy is boil chammomile (is that spelled right?) tea with salt, pour it into the ear, let it sit for 10 minutes, dump it out, repeat. so that's what we explained to the patients. it's still difficult to not have another person here to speak amuzgo, dr. carmello is very busy translating the old testament, but we have to use him a lot to translate to amuzgo. hardly any women speak spanish and most start working in either a bar or store at the age of 10 or 11. it would be absolutely impossible for a group to come down if they didn't speak spanish. most of my friends here to and mike speaks it well so we have that advantage.
today was absolutely wonderful-usually we have lunch around 130 or 200 with dr.carmello and then go back by taxi after lunch. well, he had other plans. we first went to see some of the local crafts. the women here weave all of their clothes by hand on an interesting machine, i have photos too!! they are brightly colored dresses with a loose weave to allow air flow. barbara wood told us its the coolest thing she owns! we saw his house, a humble cement house. there were almost no walls or windows, his wife owns a pastry shop and that is in the front of their house. she is a friendly lady and we also got to meet his two boys and one daughter, who has downs syndrome. then we went up he mountian in his backyard to reach the radio station. this radio is the only form of communication and you can hear it blaring everywhere through the towns. this is how he notified the people that mike is coming to check eyes!!! so he asked me to speak on it-i was so surprised and nervous. i spoke about who i was and what our group was doing here. it was kind of exciting because thousands of people heard. he asked me say a little in english too so i taught good morning, good afternoon, and good night. so fun!! we also hiked to the highest point in xochis and had a beautiful view!
we relaxed with dinner back in ometepec and finished it off with helados-ice cream!!
Dios le bendiga!
June(junio) 22nd-xochis!!!
Xochishualacua-i think that's the official spelling but i will probably spell it 20 different ways. i found out later that it means city of flower. beautiful. it's a small town nestled in the beautiful mountains of the state of guerrero, where we are. it's a short hour ride to get there. the ride itself is fascinating, watching everyone in their native dress and seeing how they carry on (i'm hoping to download some picture so you all can see this). the roads are curvy but i haven't gotten really sick, my friends are nice enough to let me sit in the front. we take a combi, which is like a minivan but now picture it with thin doors like a geo metro (sorry, jenny), and no side door. it's like any country bus, similar to the dominican republic, and many other countries. it's hot so the door is always open. mike tried to close it and we realized that hadn't been done in years. what we realized here is that car seats really just don't exist. people just take their babies on their laps. what's even funnier is that at first i didn't think anything of it!!
okay, on to the clinic. we worked with Dr. Carmelo Valtierra Lopez. he seems quiet at first but really is a funny man once you get to know him. the clinic is a humble builing. it is in badly need of repair and especially needs a new roof and better equipment for diagnostic purposes. Dr. Carmelo is visibly frustrated about this so we hope to talk to him more about it later once we know him more. there are two patient rooms, one room where the doctor sleeps overnight if necessary, his office with a bed, "bathrooms", and his office. what's amazing is all of the translating work he does. he is working on translating the entire old testament into the native Amuzgo language. all of this is in a city full of windy streets, colorful dress, beautiful handicrafts, and very very steep hills.
mike was busy in Xochis. most of the problems were dry eyes but we saw cataracts and a possible retina detachment. i think he was very helpful! we had 38 patients today. they were all there to see mike but the three other girls gave all of them a complete physical exam first so we got great practice at that. i mainly served as a translator working from mike to dr. carmello and then dr. carmello to amuzgo, which is what half of the patients speak. so you can see we are very busy seeing 38 patients and half of the time going through two interpreters. dr. carmello worked very well with mike. he even had some of the medicines mike needed and was really helpful in telling us what to tell the patients who only needed glasses. next time, it would be great for a team to come down with reading glasses!
it was a full day but was complete with a great lunch, comida as they call it, at a local restaurant. mike and i had chicken, rice, fresh avocados and salad, and some wonderful tortillas. we all love the food there. there was of course, soccer on the t.v. the restaurants are really small, usually the front of a persons home with dirt floor, open kitchens, and very authentic food. there are always only like two tables but this being a larger restaurant, had three. and, there is always plenty of coke (coca-cola that is) here.
well, that seems like enough for today. we'll learn much more about xochis as we spend more time there, it is a wonderful little town. please continue to pray for our safety especially in travels and to not get sick.
In Christ
okay, on to the clinic. we worked with Dr. Carmelo Valtierra Lopez. he seems quiet at first but really is a funny man once you get to know him. the clinic is a humble builing. it is in badly need of repair and especially needs a new roof and better equipment for diagnostic purposes. Dr. Carmelo is visibly frustrated about this so we hope to talk to him more about it later once we know him more. there are two patient rooms, one room where the doctor sleeps overnight if necessary, his office with a bed, "bathrooms", and his office. what's amazing is all of the translating work he does. he is working on translating the entire old testament into the native Amuzgo language. all of this is in a city full of windy streets, colorful dress, beautiful handicrafts, and very very steep hills.
mike was busy in Xochis. most of the problems were dry eyes but we saw cataracts and a possible retina detachment. i think he was very helpful! we had 38 patients today. they were all there to see mike but the three other girls gave all of them a complete physical exam first so we got great practice at that. i mainly served as a translator working from mike to dr. carmello and then dr. carmello to amuzgo, which is what half of the patients speak. so you can see we are very busy seeing 38 patients and half of the time going through two interpreters. dr. carmello worked very well with mike. he even had some of the medicines mike needed and was really helpful in telling us what to tell the patients who only needed glasses. next time, it would be great for a team to come down with reading glasses!
it was a full day but was complete with a great lunch, comida as they call it, at a local restaurant. mike and i had chicken, rice, fresh avocados and salad, and some wonderful tortillas. we all love the food there. there was of course, soccer on the t.v. the restaurants are really small, usually the front of a persons home with dirt floor, open kitchens, and very authentic food. there are always only like two tables but this being a larger restaurant, had three. and, there is always plenty of coke (coca-cola that is) here.
well, that seems like enough for today. we'll learn much more about xochis as we spend more time there, it is a wonderful little town. please continue to pray for our safety especially in travels and to not get sick.
In Christ
June 21st-Hospital a la Amistad
we began with an early start, well for the other girls, at 830 for breakfast. we are to eat breakfasts next door for a while at a little place. we had lovely eggs, salsa, and of course, tortillas for breakfast! there is always a lot of good fruit, and it seems like we always have something different. the first day at the hospital tim came to arrange the details.
we ended up taking different doctors. mike and i went to work with dr. yanez. there are two dr. yanez and we worked with the younger one, they are father and son. both are presbyterians and work very hard at the hospital. there weren't any eye cases for mike that day but he did get to see some interesting things!! we saw 2 casesarean sections and it was his first time to see a birth. of coure, that had nothing to do with eyes, but it was an experience none the less. we mostly spent the time shadowing. i got to talk to dr. yanez alot about how we practice medicine in the states and he was full of questions. he speaks some english but always speaks spanish to me. he's very easy to understand and he's really funny too. he's actually a cardiologist. here the students do three years of prep work like undergrad, then five years of medical school. they don't really have residency but if you want to do one, then it's a year. dr. yanez is very smart and i've already learned a lot working with him. he even let me take patient histories-in spanish!!
dr. yanez, jr, lives next to the hospital and has two girls and one son. his wife is really helpful and speaks great english. hopefully i'll get to work with him a lot.
the next couple of days we are going to xochislahuaca to work in a small clinic there. xochis as we call it, has about 10-15,000 people. i'm really looking forward to it, as we were excited to have mike use his optometry skills. again today, we enjoyed a lovely lunch and dinner at teh hospital-i wonder if it's extra good because of all of the important guests!
at His service,
mike and kristi
June 20th-dia de salida
so here{s my first entry of my time here in mexico. i haven{t been writing but i would like to share a little bit about what{s going on with everyone-i{ll make them separarate entries for each day. oh, and i can{t for the life of me figure out how to make an apostrophe!!
so mike and i left on june 20th together via atlanta, mexico city (d.f.), and then acapulco. first off, teh airport in d.f. is very confusing. the customs are confusing. for anyone traveling there, be sure you find customs and go through it to catch a domestic flight!! it{s not obvious at all where customs are. so the girls got separtated there b-c megan had to go find a bag that she was supossed to pick up in d.f. it{s a long story but anyway, the other girls didn{t have time to go through immigration. we encouraged her to get on the plane with us b-c there might not be anymore seats on the next flight to acapulco. we decided to wait for the other girls, melissa and erin, in acapulco. tim wood met us in acapulco. he{s a missionary in ometepec-i{ll tell you more about him throughout the week. megan ended up staying in acapulo to wait for the girls and they all took a cab that night to acapulco. mike and i went ahead and took the cab tim arranged to go to ometepec. whew!!
the drive made me a little sick-thank goodness for dramamine!! mexico countryside is beautiful, it{s very mountainous and there really weren{t very many big towns that we had to drive through. many burros, many cowboys, and a lot of election signs for the july 2nd elections for the new mexican president.
we arrived at our hotel in ometepec, Hotel Yeni, in about three hours. there{s so much to say about all of this but i dont{ want to bore anybody! bu tthe hotel is lovely, it{s owned by a doctor in the hospital we will be working at, Hospital a la Amistad (Friendship Hospital). we have soap, towels, hot water, many things that we weren{t expecting!! barbara wood, tim{s wife, met us there and we talked about a lot of details. right away we went over for dinner at the hospital. there were special guests there from the united states. it was the lady who actually founded the hospital in the 50's with her husband (i found the apostraphe!!!) and she is 93. she's writing another book about her experiences here. it was her first visit in a long time so obviously this was a very important event. There were many people there and we had a great authentic mexican dinner. I've already been able to use my spanish alot.
Even typign this blog-it's all in spanish to navigate the pages and it can get a little confusing! Well, we went to bed and the other girls ended up getting home at 200 in the morning! We were certainly praying for their safety. Until tomorrow. . . our first day in the hospital.
lovin' christ,
kristi and mike
so mike and i left on june 20th together via atlanta, mexico city (d.f.), and then acapulco. first off, teh airport in d.f. is very confusing. the customs are confusing. for anyone traveling there, be sure you find customs and go through it to catch a domestic flight!! it{s not obvious at all where customs are. so the girls got separtated there b-c megan had to go find a bag that she was supossed to pick up in d.f. it{s a long story but anyway, the other girls didn{t have time to go through immigration. we encouraged her to get on the plane with us b-c there might not be anymore seats on the next flight to acapulco. we decided to wait for the other girls, melissa and erin, in acapulco. tim wood met us in acapulco. he{s a missionary in ometepec-i{ll tell you more about him throughout the week. megan ended up staying in acapulo to wait for the girls and they all took a cab that night to acapulco. mike and i went ahead and took the cab tim arranged to go to ometepec. whew!!
the drive made me a little sick-thank goodness for dramamine!! mexico countryside is beautiful, it{s very mountainous and there really weren{t very many big towns that we had to drive through. many burros, many cowboys, and a lot of election signs for the july 2nd elections for the new mexican president.
we arrived at our hotel in ometepec, Hotel Yeni, in about three hours. there{s so much to say about all of this but i dont{ want to bore anybody! bu tthe hotel is lovely, it{s owned by a doctor in the hospital we will be working at, Hospital a la Amistad (Friendship Hospital). we have soap, towels, hot water, many things that we weren{t expecting!! barbara wood, tim{s wife, met us there and we talked about a lot of details. right away we went over for dinner at the hospital. there were special guests there from the united states. it was the lady who actually founded the hospital in the 50's with her husband (i found the apostraphe!!!) and she is 93. she's writing another book about her experiences here. it was her first visit in a long time so obviously this was a very important event. There were many people there and we had a great authentic mexican dinner. I've already been able to use my spanish alot.
Even typign this blog-it's all in spanish to navigate the pages and it can get a little confusing! Well, we went to bed and the other girls ended up getting home at 200 in the morning! We were certainly praying for their safety. Until tomorrow. . . our first day in the hospital.
lovin' christ,
kristi and mike
Wednesday, June 14, 2006
Shining Salt
This is my first post to Shining Salt! I started this blog to record our (my husband and I) events as a medical missionary to Mexico this summer. We leave in 7 days and was encouraged to start this from our missions coordinator. Well, I think it's a great idea. How did I choose this name? Christianity is a huge part of our life and integral part of our marriage. This name was originally coined by my friend, Brianna. Tragically, she was killed while working with YWAM as a medical missionary in Nigeria in December 2005. Bri and I were great friends and she was my role model and inspiration, though she was my same age!! I hope that this blog will be useful to my family and friends!
In Christ,
Kristi
In Christ,
Kristi
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