San Fransisco

July 3rd 2007- Travelling with the Medical Unit

I woke up this morning feeling completely refreshed. Maybe it was the 12 hours of sleep but I did feel good. Today, I had decided that I would head out with the medical unit and see how they conduct their visits to the rural communities outside of chinandega. Tham routinely amazes me. She is in her early 50's and is from Vietnam. I had met her family when I first arrived in Chinandega and she was travelling with the medical units as well. She told me that basically we would be acting as pharmacists and counting vitamins and painkillers. Most of the complaints she mentioned, originated from chest congestions and malnutrition. We didnt leave until 10 am and we had to make many mini stops along the way. We pilled all the boxes of medication into the medcial unit and we were on our way.

Cows!!!

We were supposed to go to a community 3o minutes outside of Chinandega. However, upon our arrival we realized that another organization had already set up a clinic and was administering their services to the locals. So Artturo and the good doctor decided that we would go to San Francisco about an hour away.

San Francisco is a rural community about 10 minutes away from the Honduras border. On the very bumpy ride ( i swear i still have back aches from it) I had the opportunity to learn more about Tham. What an amazing person! I thought Iris (her daughter) was amazing with her complete devotion and passion but I can see that her passion comes from Tham. Tham had told me about her journey that had eventually taken her to America. Under the communist regime in Vietnam, her family had been routinely arrested because her father was well known and a prominent chemist. Being a christian minority also made it worse for her family. She fears even today that everytime she returns to Vietnam the secret police will have her under surviellance and having a green card, she is seen as a traitor.

I am humbled in her presence. She escaped Vietnam at the age of 17. She almost got caught escaping and even had a gun pointed at her while she was trying to flee across the border into Cambodia. Thankfully, they had enough money to bribe the police into letting them go. She was doing this all to experience freedom, something that we take for granted. Her faith and her belief in god, a brighter future kept her going. All she had a was a single bag of clothes and very little money in her pocket. She told me that after fleeing Vietnam in secrecy with just that one bag, she knew she could survive anything. I feel so lucky to living in a time and age where we dont have to constantly face that fear. We can do good and being around Tham motivates me to do more. Tham has seen so much and travelled to so many places. She can speak 5 different languages fluently and is a very content lady inspite of her misfortunes. From Cambodia, she went to Thailand and then to Phillipines. Eventually, her family went to Argentina where she met her husband Claudio. Her love story is equally amazing. They were set up by her father! Claudio works for the FDA now and is a micro biologist and they have been together for 30 years now.

Everything about this trip has led me to believe more and more in destiny, to have hope and realize my faith. I need to be more passionate and learn to rely on others. I can't do everything by myself! Above all I need to believe in love and I think thats probably the greatest revelation of all. Love for others, to allow myself to be loved and just treasure the good people in my life. We only get one chance in life and we need to act on it. Despite all the up's and down's (mostly down's i think) i need to have faith and live through the mistakes I make.

At San Fransisco, we unloaded the medicines and set up shop. Unfortunately, (or fortunately) the doctor had visited the community a week earlier and there were not a lot of patients. I was bit disappointed because i really hoped to use what little spanish i knew. But, it gave me a chance to observe my sorroundings. This community too had been built by some sort of sponsorship. However, due to it's remote location, the housing was not kept up and seemed older and crumbling. I had found out that Amigos had dug a well here so that the locals did not have to walk 30 miles to get water. I also noticed that the latrines in the village had EU signs on them.

The couple hours at San Fransisco passed by very quickly. The kids here are so much more shy. They dont want to come talk to us. But, they are more than happy to just stare at us. So cute!!!I realized that Tylenol and children's vitamins were in high demand. Cough syrup is measured by the eye and poured into tiny plastic bags and handed to the patients. We were using very basic methods. I think maybe i can help to my buying over the counter presecriptions or by getting some sponsorship for the clinics. They are in bad need for mobile ultrasound units. There are so many young preganant girls around- some as young as 14 and it would make a world of a difference here having this sort of technology.

After a relaxing day at San Fransisco, we made our way back to the Casa. For some reason, this ride seemed so much longer and hurt ten times more. I really wish the government could be more accountable to their citizens. Nicaragua is such a beautiful country but there is very little infra structure there and the road are in bad need of improvement.

We returned to Casa Blanca at 3pm. Tham and i decided to take some of the girls to the market. I was craving for some fresh fruit and i knew they were going to roast another pig tomorrow. So, i decided to load up on some snacks. We walked around the streets again and then went grocery shopping. So much fun! I think it probably had more to do with the air conditioning then anything else. Did you know that Campbell's makes pork stew in a can? Wierd. And i found my favorite milk from my childhood...NIDO!!!! Makes the best indian sweets ever.

We returned home at 6 and showered. oh how good cold water feels on a warm humid day! I was going out for Taqitos with patty and jeremy. So, I changed and waited for everyone to return. I really felt that I hadnt accomplished much after seeing all the weather beaten kids come in. Patty, the Jer Bear and me headed out for taquitos...soo good. They are tortillas with meat and deep fried. yummmy...its funny after taking that night i found out how unsure I am in my path and what I really want. More self discovery I guess. After returning, we all sat up talking more. Kelly is such an amazing girl and I am really glad i am getting to know her better. So full of life and full of passion. Time to call it a night. I am kind of sad. Tomorrow is my last day and I really dont want to leave.