Baby Birds

Thursday, June 23, 2022

And just like that, our baby birds have grown up and flown away!!! I don’t know if you remember my mentioning the three baby birds in my very first journal entry, but on my morning walk to check on my little friends, I found their comfy nest empty! They are now part of the lovely chorus of singing birds that I hear every night as I fall asleep and every morning as I wake up.

I cannot express how impressed I was with my teammates today. Everyone was ready to leave for our fourth village, La Danta, by seven o’clock in the morning and served joyfully throughout the day. The drive was over two hours in length as La Danta was the farthest our team had journeyed into the mountains during our time in Honduras. We briefly stopped at a coffee shop along the way to La Danta where the team enjoyed coffee, soda, and some donuts! I was very close to successfully ordering coffee in Spanish, until it came time to check out and the very patient barista asked me three times to confirm what I had ordered. Thankfully, a pharmacist friend on the team came to my rescue and confirmed the order. O well…maybe next time I order coffee here…

The team agreed that La Danta was our favorite village thus far. The elementary school that we utilized as a clinic was more spacious than the previous facilities and included a large cement open area for the children of the community (and team members!) to play soccer together. Most patients received medications such as guaifenesin, cetirizine, and saline spray for cold, cough and allergy symptoms. Many of the pediatric patients in the community had to receive nebulizer treatments due to wheezing and coughing. We continued to give “Wellness Bags” to each family which included Tylenol, Tums, toothpaste and toothbrushes. Every patient was so beautiful and so kind. One beautiful little girl named Lauri (she is the adorable little girl with braids in the included photographs) insisted on sitting on my lap while I examined her mom and two sisters. It was a challenge to continue to assess the family while holding her, but I adored every moment of it!

Just like the baby birds, we too will be flying away from Honduras and its wonderful people all too soon. Yet, we still have tomorrow…one more day, one more community, one more opportunity to help our friends here in Honduras to become safer and healthier than before. It’s going to be our best day yet! If you think about it, keep my teammates in your prayers.

~Mary Dolan