Tuesday, June 19th 2018
If you close your eyes, you heighten your other senses. This is how God created us. He wants us to stop and close our eyes at times. He even wants us to close our mouths at times and rely on the strength of our ears to hear. It is amazing what happens when you stop and just listen to the world around you.
The sounds of Spanish dance around us. The language flows like honey and starts to stick to every fiber of your being, a commitment forms to work harder on learning Spanish fluently to cross the language barrier. When we hear the stories, we start to see the bigger picture. They hurt, they have losses, they struggle, and they don’t want to need help. They want their independence, they want things to be better, they want a secure government and an economy that provides employment opportunities. Your mind starts to be consumed of thoughts, such as, “What more can I do?”, “Will it ever be enough?”, “Are we truly meeting their needs?”
While we can't address governmental issues or help produce jobs, as a medical team we can assist Friends of Barnabas by addressing other basic needs. Through Community Health Development and Mountain Medical Teams Friends of Barnabas provides ongoing health education and meets the primary healthcare needs of a community. Through the Extended Care Program children with long term healthcare needs are connected with specialists and provided with medications. Through Early Childhood Development both parents and the medical community in Honduras are encouraged to be more active in the growth and development of their children. All of these programs improve the overall life and health of the people we meet.
When we stop and listen, we hear those small spoken words that start the investigation process and we start identifying the bigger pictures that affect these precious communities. We realize we cry out to the same God, we hold our children close to our hearts, we share in losses of loved ones, tragedies, families torn apart, and we start to realize what we all need is love and understanding. How else do we understand until we close our eyes, shut our mouths, and just listen to the world around us.
Today’s clinic was lighter than anticipated but surely filled with the laughter and cries of many children. This community was dominate in youthful populace. Many children required extractions of teeth from poor dental care. There were 11 referrals for continued care in specialty services to continue to follow them and assist in education of the family in treatment and services needed. This was a community filled with extroverted, enthusiastic, excitable children, with majority under the age of 12. They surely enjoyed their stickers, one boy even made sure no one went without. He even reserved special stickers for school so that no one was left out of the “sticker club.”
~Maggie Smith
