Everything is so different here - we are really in another world. It has begun to sink in that we really live here as well. Quinn has understandably struggled the most with the changes but mainly with the amount of children constantly at our house, peddling things, needing food or wanting to play. These children live in absolute poverty without parental guidance (their mothers are prostitutes). Despite our attempts at having him see them as God's children, he has not done well with them until this weekend. Bill took a whole truckload of children to the San Antonio falls. The children had never been to the falls before and were ecstatic. Quinn was able to swim and play with them on neutral turf instead of constantly worrying about his toys disappearing (we lost a Kindle and iPod before we became astute. I have had to watch them closely and have them pull toys out of their pockets before heading out the door). It was an answer to prayer that he was able to finally see them as individuals and enjoy being around them.
Bill, Caelan and Quinn playing Sequence with Jamelah, Jameka and Michael
We have assumed full management of the clinic now. Everyday, either Bill or I stay at the clinic here in town and one of us goes on "mobile" where we pack up the clinic Land Cruiser with medicines and medical supplies and drive to a village and see patients there. Some of the villages are several hours away and most have no electricity or running water. The roads to get there are quite rough and some spans are barely passable even in a 4-wheel drive. My favorite so far is San Jose. It is up in the mountains - a beautiful Q'eqchi' Maya village of wooden slat houses with thatched roofs. There are chickens and pigs everywhere but it is a clean village. It seems that everyone's yard is like a storybook with flowering trees and bushes. Unfortunately, i didn't think to bring my camera but definitely will next visit. I have seen multiple wild animals (including a gibnut and a coati) as well as large lizards and many beautiful birds. Last Friday I was in San Marcos. It is a Mopan Maya village of about 1000 people and it seems like a number of them had conjuctivitis ("pink eye")! We dispensed more eye drops than I have ever seen before.
There is a lot of COPD (emphysema) in the villages because they all cook on open fires inside their home. The thatched roofs don't allow enough ventilation and they are exposed to it from birth. We have an adaptor for the neb machine so that we can plug it into the truck to give nebulized breathing treatments.
It really is surreal at times seeing patients in the village settings - in very basic, dirty, and hot conditions under a metal roof - but it is rewarding at times knowing that we are the only medical providers that they can see each month. To be quite honest, often they come in with simple complaints just to get some Tylenol or Ibuprofen because they cannot get it in their villages.
Setting up for clinic in the Maya village of Summer Wood. The clinic building is only big enough for intake and dispensing medications. The patients are seen out back under the thatched roof.
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