Tuesday, January 28, 2020

This morning started out again being serenaded by the dogs and chickens....nothing new!

Today our travels took us to Buena Vista de Varsovia, Taulabe, Comayagua.  We went by Yojoa Lake.  It was absolutely beautiful.  We could stand on the back steps of the school we worked at and look over the lake onto the mountains.  So relaxing.

One of the things that is totally amazing is arriving at our destination and community members are waiting for you eagerly ready to help unload your supplies.  One team member directs which room each piece goes and other team members set the rooms up.  It is truly like a well oiled machine.

This morning I spent my time working with the dentist cleaning teeth,  I had the privilege of making the mound of 13 individuals healthier.  I worked with Dan, my translator, who was awesome.  We were able to communicate with the people how to better take care of their mouths.  In the afternoon I “graduated” to the pharmacy where I will work on Wednesday.

A total of 146 community members (81 children and 65 adults) were seen today.

The exciting and sad part of today was a little girl was brought to us by her mother asking us help save her.  😢.  The little girl was defiantly malnourished.  I saw this little girl, who I thought was a 6-month old, or so, only to find out she was not quite two years old.  The Nurse talked to the mother and recommended she being her daughter to the nutrition center,  one thing you need to understand about Honduran culture is the husbands/fathers must agree to this plan.  Everyone was in agreement and the mother and her child returned to the Nutrition  enter with us.  Tomorrow the little girls will be completely assessed by a doctor and then begin her treatments.  If children are too sick for treatment at the Center they will be sent to a hospital.

After supper tonight we had a “presentation” by Karin, the director here at Healthy Ninos (HN).  She gave us insight on what working for a non-profit in Honduras is like.  WOW!!! Are we ever blessed in America.  HN works with several other non profits in the area.  How this works, when HN goes to a community, the other groups will not go to the same community for six months and vice versa.  Information is shared between the non profits which allows for better follow-up on the wellness of individuals and the community as a whole.

Another thing Karin did was go into more detail the function and everyday life at the nutrition center.   This is such a fabulous project.  A program is in place not only for the children but also for the mother’s.  The children attend school every day so when they go back to their communities they will not be behind in their studies.  For the mother’s they are given a 25-step nutrition program so when they leave the  Center  they are better equipped to help their child and their community to better eating habits.  Each mother is sent back to their community with a water filtration bucket.

Water testing has been done at the communities Healthy Ninos serves with staggering results.  Bacteria levels in water should be under 500 but sadly in these communities the bacteria levels were over 9,000.  Water tested using the filtration buckets were 25!!! Getting more of the water filtration buckets into communities will allow for better drinking water thus being one step closer to a healthier individual.

Signing off for today.