We have just returned from a visit to the countryside. We took a taxi to Rafael’s family farm, la Finca. We smoosh the four of us, Rafael and his son, Ralphy- an adorable 3 year old into a tiny taxi. It is about an hour and a half to the clinic. We have moms, dads, ninos and ninas waiting for us when we arrive. We have 5 evaluations we do on the kids and then run a mini version of our presentation to the parents. These are really needy kids for the most part. None of them are walking independently. One of the little girls in addition to her physical disability was so malnourished! She was 3 years old and barely weighed 20 pounds at best. The kids had terrible scabies, lice and lots of physical impairments.
We head out to Rafael family’s farm, la finca. It is a 45 minute walk to get to la finca from the medical clinic. Rafael and his brother offer Mary Ann and I their horses. We get to la finca on horse. It was fun to get back on a horse. The afternoon was filled with a home visit for a man with wounds and we left him a cane. JP and Ryan took care of a young boy with malaria. Mary Ann and I did another impromptu evaluation of a man with a leg deformity and a cardiac condition. The community does not have running water or electricity.
We stay at Rafael’s family’s farm. We had rice and beans for the 3rd time today and sat around in the dark. We talked about the needs and what how we could best meet the needs.
Mary Ann are a great traveling team- no complaining as we tromped through the mud, by the cows, in the rain to the outhouse!
After an evening of a cacaphony of animal noises, roosters, pigs, cows and ducks, we are up for a quick meal of quess- rice and beans back to Sinua for our airplane ride back to Managua. Certainly a wonderful experince staying with Rafael’s very gracious family and seeing the needs of the community.
As we are waiting at the airport, we do an evaluation of the wife of a friend, who had nerve damage during a surgery and is still having difficulty with walking and nerve pain. We have done so much in such a short period of time. How did it go so quickly?
We arrive back in the states in Sunday. Look for the last post with updates and photos.
June 20, 2009 at 2:48 pm |
That was fast. Did you get to write down that recipe for rice and beans…hehe.
Sounds like you had a fruitful week and helped many needy people.
June 20, 2009 at 2:57 pm |
I can make rice and beans for anyone who would like to have some!!!
June 24, 2009 at 12:41 am |
These stories are so moving. We have absolutely no sense of how lucky we are. We take health for granted, among so many other things. Everyone should have an experience like yours.