“You have not lived today until you have done something for someone who can never repay you.”
I went on a mission trip this past week (Aug 09 - Aug 15, 2015) to Honduras. Words can’t describe how fortunate I am to be able to have gone there to help the less fortunate receive medical care. It was a life changing experience and made me realize how important these brigades are. We were able to give medical attention to 1,002 patients over just 3 days. These people don’t have the access to medical care or education about health. We were able to come in and educate them on how to stay healthy and give them the essentials in order to practice good health in their lives. I will never forget the smiles, laughs and tears of joy that we created. You are beautiful, Honduras. I will be back.
Sunday - arrived in Honduras around 12pm. Didn't leave airport until around 2 pm ish. Bus took us to our compound. Settled in and had lunch around 4pm. Went around the area/hiked. Hiked up the mountain and came back for dinner. Went to the store, had an icebreaker meeting with everyone. Chilled, played king's cup with Cristian, Paulina, Jesica, Natalie. And then played peanut butter jelly with Cristian, Natalie, Jesica, and Luis Ardon (our cop friend). It was fun and relaxing :) Goodnight!
Monday - The day started around 530am, my sleep was sort of hot during the night but cold in the morning, which is fine considering I slept pretty well. Had breakfast at 6 am ish. I can’t complain about the food, it was pretty good. Went on the road to visit the community that we were going to be heping out around 645am. Walked around and visited some of the houses they lived in. Came back and played soccer with the kids at school. Us vs. the kids. We lost, 5-0. Those kids kicked hard and far! Some didn't even have shoes. The girls were also aggressive.. gotta learn soccer now for future trips :P! Had lunch, tried a Honduran tamale! It was similar to the Vietnamese dish that has the banana leaf wrapping with the food thing inside, I’m not sure how to describe it in english, lol. Yum. Fed this dog that was really nice and cute. And it was sad because it had all these lesions/wounds on it's back and flies were flying in them. I hope there's an animal mission trip that I'll find out about soon. It'd be nice to be able to help animals. A lot of the dogs there were so skinny to the point where you could see their ribs, even the horses. There was a horse that I saw that had an enormous cyst to the right of it’s stomach and it had trouble walking. :( Headed back to the compound and rested a little and headed to dinner. Had dinner. Showered. Rested and went out to the table to learn Spanish with Jesica and Cristian. It was fun! I learned a lot. And then Ardon (I call him that cause I thought it was his first name this whole time) came and was helping. But he was strict and made me pronounce everything slowly. But he was a good teacher, and he’s a good man. He’s a single father and is away from his daughter often in order to serve in these brigades, which I’m very thankful for. His daughter still asks him why her mom doesn’t call or where she is. She also counts down the days that he’ll be able to see her. Anyways, we also tried teaching him English and he wasn’t too bad! He wanted to learn more but he told us he didn't like his English professor and that it was hard to learn from him so he stopped. Which is sad because I wish I could teach him English but I can't stay that long. After that, Juan came and we talked about the lifestyle in Honduras. We talked about school mostly. It takes about 8 years to become a medical doctor and they don't really have the 4 year prerequisites thing so one of those 8 years is just basic credits and the rest is medical school. Same with pharmacy and dental but it's 6 years. Doctors make about $16,000 a year and it's the highest paying career in Honduras apparently. I was tired so after that, we all went to bed. Goodnight!
Tuesday - Started again at 530am ish. Had breakfast and headed to the community, Joyas de Caballo. I worked in the pharmacy with Jesica in the morning which was somewhat boring because we just filled prescriptions and didn't really get to interact with the patients, which is unfortunate because I’d like to go into Pharmacy but it’s all good, I have other plans that will make pharmacy fun! I got to help hand out bags of each person's medicine while Jesica explained to the patients when and how to take the medicine. Most patients didn't know how to read because they didn't receive proper education. Many people in Honduras only have education up until 6th grade because most don’t have money to pay for high school, or whatever comes after that (I’m not sure how their school system works). After that we had lunch and a lot of people fed the dogs and there was a huge commotion about not feeding the dogs and children. A girl lectured us about feeding the dogs which made me angry when all the global brigades leaders were looking for food to feed them. Another girl was crying because she fed the kids and someone had told her not to after lunch. It’s a medical brigade where we come to help people and to learn not to be selfish. I didn’t understand what the big problem and maybe there was a real reason behind it but I didn’t care because I wanted to make the kids happy, and I wanted the dogs to eat because they were all so skinny and desperate for food. And then Jesica and I had triage in the afternoon which was where we saw patients and asked why they were here. I picked up a lot of Spanish. We took BP for adults >35 and weight and height for kids 12 and under. A lot of the patients seemed to be coming mainly for vitamins or making up symptoms in order to get medication which is understandable. I noticed epilepsy is also quite frequent among patients in Honduras that what I've seen. I'm wondering if it's a genetic disorder or is it just often in third world countries. We saw a family that had worms in their stool too. It was sad, the mother was shy when she was telling us about it. There were also a lot of young girls that had kids. Many people also complained about their skin issues such as sunspots or discoloration and it's sad because it's not something that is really possible to treat when you live somewhere so hot and sunny and the shelter you have isn't that great either. A lot of these people are walking and outside all the time. Especially in this community because everything is so spaced out. The kids have to walk to school even when it's far because it may be the only school around. There was an older lady about 75 years old that came and was very light hearted and she looked healthy. We asked her why she was seeing us and she said that she was old and that everything hurt. She also called us pretty and when Jesica called her pretty, she said she was dark haha. She was the last one we saw that day and I'm glad because she was so sweet. After that we went to hang out with Juan and he was drawing on Peter. And then I was drawing on him. Juan is so sweet and funny. And the way he says of course is so cute! He's like a teddy bear. After that Jesica and I were walking around and that's where we met William Levi, who was helping out at the bridge. He spoke some English and he told me that I was beautiful. We talked and found out that he loves languages and wants to learn Portuguese and a lot of other languages. He also likes rock music which is sort of odd but unique at the same time. He was nice and I hope one day he's able to come to America and visit us. He was very inspirational in a sense that the way he lives doesn’t affect his goals and his dream to learn new languages. He self teaches himself and it’s wonderful to see people having goals and dreams when their living situations are what they are. After that we got back and ate dinner. And then went to shower and rested mostly because it was a long day. I can't remember if we played cards or did anything. I think we just talked. And then slept.
Wednesday - woke up at 530 am. Had breakfast and went to the community (Joyas de Caballo) it was the last day at that community. I didn't sleep on the bus ride, we played drug dealer with Paulina, Jesica, Farzan, Cristian, and Natalie. I was at charla in the morning which was where we taught the children how to brush their teeth. The song was "Cepillas, cepillas, cepillate los dientes. Tres veces, tres veces, tres veces cada dia. Al frente, al fondo, encias y la lengua. En circulos, en circulos despues de que tu comas!" Hugo was our translator and he was good with the kids. During charla, I met Stephanie who would let me hold her but was really shy and wouldn’t talk. We played duck duck goose after the lesson and the kids had a lot of fun. After our last group, we went to eat on the bus so that the kids wouldn't see us eating because of the whole thing from Tuesday. After, I found Juan and asked him for his purple global bridges shirt to remember him (and it was purple) and he said okay. :) he also told me about his dentist experience and how the dentist didn't close his root canal completely so it got infected and he didn't notice until 4 months later. And then he went to another dentist who actually fixed it for him and made him feel better and he goes to the dentist every 2 months now! Took some pictures and after that I had the dental station with some Tennessee students and Nathan from our group. Dr. Karla was doing extractions and the other doctor was doing cavities/fillings. I helped with the cavities first which was okay and somewhat boring. But watching the extractions and getting the tools for Dr. Karla was fun and interesting. She was very helpful and wanted us to learn. She would sometimes quiz us on basic anatomy of the mouth too. There were two kids that she had done extractions on and both were so brave and didn't even flinch. It's amazing how much they can endure and we're over here freaking out about seeing the dentist, when they barely have access to it. There was a man that was probably late teens and he had a tooth/molar that only had a part of it decayed but she decided to extract it. And it took forever. It wouldn't come out and he looked like he was in so much pain, but he kept smiling at me and tried to be really strong. Eventually we got it out and everyone was so happy for him that it finally came out and that he didn’t have to feel so much pressure in his mouth. There was another lady where her crown had completely decayed and we had to extract the root which was hard because of all the gums that are in the way and had to dig for it. After that we had to say goodbye to the community and all the volunteers and members of the rural bank (I didn't really understand that) said their thank yous and one man told us that he'd be waiting for us to come back and visit again which made me tear up loads. I want to actually go myself and visit them someday when I have the funds. After that, we said our thank yous. And we took a group picture. Jesica and I said bye to William and hopefully we find him on Facebook because he was sweet. So then we headed out back to our compound. We headed to dinner and ate. Then we had a presentation done by the doctor and a dentist. The dentist had a wonderful presentation and used a lot of memes, it was funny. After that we stopped by the store and shopped around. I bought a mug, a shot glass, and a bracelet. Came back and showered and then played kings cup with Cristian, Paulina, Jesica, Natalie, and Sima. We actually got a little buzzed off of two wine bottles. After that we sort of tried to learn Mexican dances like salsa, bachata, and meringue. Hispanic dances are so face paced :(. And after that we headed to bed. Goodnight!
Thursday - Woke up at 630 am today since we're going to a different community that's closer than the other community that we visited. Had breakfast. Then headed to the last community, Sabaneta. I had data informatics with Paulina in the morning, which was quite boring and the other students that were with us were being stupid and kept leaving. So we did a lot of the work. After that we took a break for lunch and then I had consultation with Dr. Erzo with Paulina and Jesica. Dr. Erzo was a little blunt but he was a very humble and truthful man. "Be humans first before professionals" -Dr. Erzo and then we went to a home visit because a patient couldn't walk to the set up that we had made in the community. We rode in the back of a truck which was sorta scary considering the roads are super bumpy and steep. The patient we saw had an infection on his foot because he had several lesions on his feet that he went to get checked out and the doctors sent him to the hospital to get a biopsy. And since the hospitals aren't very sterile and sanitary, the cut they made for the biopsy got infected and his right foot was completely swollen. His left foot was also swollen because of the lesions that were present. After diagnosing him and prescribing him prescriptions we headed back to the clinic area. There weren't many patients as the first two days because it was a smaller community. Ardon got us some orange slushie thing in a little bag that we suck out of. After that we said bye to everyone and headed back to our compound. When we got to the compound, Cristian, Paulina, Natalie, Jesica and I decided to go hiking alone. We discovered this whole other part of the compound which was somewhat dangerous because there were a lot of steep parts and it was difficult to climb, but the view was so worth it. We then heard our names being called from far away. I came out to look and realized Ardon was looking for us!! So we had to come back down, and I slipped and got a cut on the way down. Apparently, Juan and Ardon freaked out and ran to go find us. They said it was a restricted area because they haven’t checked it yet. They were cool about it though! We had dinner and showered. After showering, Jesica and I went to swing on the hammock and Nathan swung us too much and I got a headache so I knocked out.
Friday - Woke up at 430 am ish to go hiking. It was our last day. It was a pretty view, but it was cloudy so we couldn’t really see the sunrise. After that we went to breakfast and headed out to the place to do our architecture brigade. We were helping construct a bank for a different community. We hit the wall to make small holes in order for the cement to go on, shoveled dirt, carried dirt and tried to flatten out the dirt to make the ground level. It was hard labor but I kept going knowing that it would be worth it in the end for the people in that community. There were a lot of people that weren't really doing anything which was annoying and a lot of people got upset. We're there to help the community and people, not to sit around and do nothing. Some of these people seem like they came just to say they came and they don't even care about the experience of what it's taught everyone. But I won’t be bitter about it because each person can take the experience however they decide too. I know that I sincerely helped with good intentions. After, we had lunch and headed back to the compound to get ready to a different compound that has a pool. The compound was really nice and the weather was beautiful. We took some selfies and watched some of us play soccer. Juan brought us some guanacaste to look at. It's similar to beans? It looks cool. Then after we went to an orphange to visit the kids there. The first little house I stopped out, I was greeted with all these girls who gave me a hug. I realized part of the orphanage was separated into a women’s orphanage. The girls in that house were so sweet and welcoming. One held my hand and showed me around the house and I wanted to cry because I know I couldn’t stay there to play with everyone. After that house, I went down the block to visit some other kids and found them playing soccer. I joined Nikhil, Cristian, Hannah, Farzan and Jesica to play with the kids. These kids were very aggressive and sassy! The girls were yelling and had major attitude. Eduardo was good, he kept scoring on us and I couldn’t stop him. And then one of the girls slapped me and Eduardo kicked the ball and accidentally kicked it into my calf, which bruised me. After that, we had to leave so I went to go say bye to the girls from the first house. We went back to our compound and painted a rock in our school colors with UH ‘15 on it. We also put another rock next to it with a paw on it. Natalie made her own little UT sign which was really cute. We then went to dinner, it was our last dinner :(. We had a short meeting and it was at that meeting that all the staff was saying their “goodbyes" (but not quite because we’d see them the next day since they were taking us to the airport). But they said their thank yous and their experiences with us. It was Hugo, Danny, Gaby, Juan, Ardon, and Mario. When Juan spoke is when I started to tear and it just got work as Ardon and Mario spoke. After that we took pictures and I cried knowing that it’d be awhile before we’d see each other again and it was just a wonderful experience. The staff made us feel comfortable and wanted. Following that, we went to go clean up and pack before the fiesta. The fiesta started at 9pm and ended around 12am. It was a lot of fun and everyone tried to make the best of it because it was the last night there. They played Spanish music and I danced with Natalie and Paulina. Cristian also danced bachata with me! I couldn’t learn his way so we just did it the easier way. Words can’t describe how much fun I had and how much I miss it already. After that, we went up to play drug dealer. I was super tired and so was Cristian. He fell asleep one of the rounds lol. So we all headed to bed knowing it was our last night. Goodnight, Honduras.
Saturday - We woke up at 530am to pack and have our suitcases out near the trucks at 6am. At this point, I have no trouble waking up. We had breakfast at 630am and departed at 7am. We headed back to Tegucigalpa which is where the airport is. We shopped for souvenirs as we waited for our flight time to be near. We went through security and as we were walking to our gate, we saw Gaby and Danny standing far away waiting to wave to us. And then we were on our way.
Don’t complain that the water you shower in is too cold. Don’t complain that your feet or legs hurt just from walking for a short while. Don’t complain that your room isn’t big enough. Don’t complain that there’s not wi-fi. Don’t complain that the food you eat isn’t good enough. Don’t complain about not being able to get new shoes. There is so much more that we shouldn’t complain about, and yes I’m guilty too and that’s something I will work on. Because these people don’t have warm water, they don’t have cars, they don’t have more than one room to fit a family of 4, they don’t have internet, they don’t have abundant amounts of food to eat and they don’t have nice shoes or even shoes at all.
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