Thursday, July 28, 2011, I started off on a journey with a medical/dental team to a place called the Mosquito Coast, known as the jungle of Honduras. This is an indigenous region located on the east end of the country. The purpose of our trip was to reach out to those in need, sharing Jesus (the Gospel) and to provide medical and dental care at no cost to the people in three separate villages (Utlalmo, Belen, & Betania), to include others in the surrounding areas. We spent 2 days in each village. In 6 days we attended to a total of 571 patients and extracted 966 teeth during our visit to these villages.
The mode of travel into the coast was by land, air and water. It took us 2 days to reach the Mosquito Coast. We started with a 5-hour bus ride to La Ceiba where we spent the night. The next morning we boarded a small Cessna Aircraft and flew into Brus Laguna, one of the larger cities in the Mosquito Coast. Although, a small plane it turned out to be a very smooth flight. As the plane began its descent, I looked down and noticed that we were about to land on a small dirt road in a grassy area. I braced myself for a bumpy landing, but to my surprise the pilot made a great landing.
We quickly moved our gear/medical supplies from the plane to a van that moved us from the landing strip to the dock, where we loaded into canoes for a 1.5 hours journey down several lagoons, connected to one another by channels. What a wonderful adventure it was traveling parallel to the ocean in route to our first site.
We camped out for 2 days at each place making new friends, enjoying the fellowship, and serving the people; attempting to meet medical needs as best we could. Unfortunately, there were some cases that were definitely beyond the scope of what we were equipped for. These were far and few between, but nonetheless they caused my heart to bleed. There is so much you wish you could do; but could not.
There were so many sick babies with fevers in excess of 100° and not wanting to eat due to parasites in their body. The people living in this region, make their living by working in the bush, off the waters chopping grass from sunrise to sunset. Some work as fishermen while others dive for lobster. Some may think, wow what’s the problem? I say that there is a great difference in enjoying the lobster at your table and simply hunting them down to sell so that they can care for the family.
In translating for the doctor and nurse I worked with, I could see there is a great need for a medical facility to help provide daily care and follow-up for the people. It was such a heart-breaking experience as I heard the stories, symptoms, and struggles of the people here in the coast. Many things gripped my heart during our journey, but the two major cases where I felt helpless was when a 13 year old boy showed up at the end of our day, having walked all day with his parents to get to our site. The parents came with great expectation, but in the end there was nothing we could do aside from providing a tube of cream to help with the painful rash being caused by the constant leaking of urine. The young child suffers from Epispadias (a congenital defect resulting in the urethral opening on the dorsum of the penis). In talking with the parents, the boy had undergone surgery in Spain, to correct this defect, but unfortunately for the boy, there were some required follow up appointment and surgeries to complete the process and since the parents could not afford it, nothing else was done. I was tasked to break the bad news as the parents awaiting some sort of good news. As I shared that we were not able to do anything for their son, the father became listless and the mom began to cry, while the boy just stared off into the horizon. I felt awful.
The other situation was a 75 year old man, who according to his children was married a week prior and was doing well. Days later the old man stopped eating and became extremely weak, where he could no longer walk. Two of his children came to the clinic asking if we could make a house call to see if we could help. The doctor and I, decided to accompany the man and woman to their home. Upon arriving they led us to the man, who was lying in a hammock strung from the floor joist of the home. It is customary for folks in this region to sleep underneath the houses since they are built on stilts over ground due to floods. As soon as we looked at the man, the doctor said that the man was extremely sick and felt that he may not make it through the night. As the doctor examined the man, he said that his entire right side was paralyzed. The man was very despondent and could not see or talk. The only sound coming from his mouth was a very load agonizing moan since he was experiencing strong pain throughout his entire body. As we dug deeper, we found that about a year back the man was hospitalized for 28 days battling cancer and ultimately was sent home to die. I felt led to pray for the man, so I asked the family if I could and they said yes. As I started to pray, many in the crowd began weep. It was like a family reunion as if they sensed the old man was coming to his end. After praying with the man, I spoke with him briefly; letting him know that his children where present and that they loved him. I asked him not to give them a hard time since they were only trying to help him. While talking with him, I touched him on the back and I noticed that all of sudden he sat up strong and smiled. I spoke to what appeared to be the mans oldest children to share the doctors prognosis and that they could walk back with us to the clinic to pick up some pain pills to help ease his pain. That was the end of our visit. The next morning we were told that the man passed away. Not sure why, but this news really affected me as if though it were a family member.
In a nutshell, what an awesome experience and a privilege it was for me to serve God’s people.
P.S. - I will be posting photos soon.
