Thursday March 22nd 2018
Thursday morning we awakened to the raindrops beating on the tin roof at Alfredo House and the aroma of fresh, homemade cinnamon donuts. We ate and assembled our team to head to the mountains of Honduras to visit our community.
We traveled about 2 hours up through fields of coffee into the clouds. Our destination was Santa Ana, Ceguaca, Santa Barbara. Santa Ana is a community Partner with Trinity UMC, Richmond, VA. We were greeted by children shouting with joy and waving at our team.
Santa Ana has a population of 750. Three main families comprised the 94 smaller family units. We were all amazed that many of the patients were fair-haired and blue-eyed. This we later discovered was due to the Jewish- Spanish migration in the 1500's.
Joseph went with the community leaders to visit a traditional home and coffee factory. The small adobe brick home covered with a tin roof housed 7 people with a modest kitchen, wood stove, and mattresses on the floor. The owner of the home was bedridden from a stroke. We learned that all 7 people sleep in the one room with 2 mattresses. Dr. Curry saw a 1-month-old with a cleft lip who is scheduled for surgery in 1 month. He saw another baby with a club foot. Roger help to treat a lady in the dental clinic with a profound deformity of her left hand and foot. This amazing woman had her 3 children with her. Roger was so moved by her story, he gave her his cross.
Bert cared for an 89-year resident and when asked "what made his life of 89 years better?” he said "electricity."
It was another 11 hour day as we arrived back to Barnabas house in the dark. Nury provided a special treat by orchestrating the creation of Bananas Foster. She enlisted the TUMC group and the student physical therapists in the preparation and cooking. It was a delicious ending to a wonderful day.
