El Cielito

Monday, May 19, 2025

Today was our first true clinic day! We visited the community of El Cielito, Santa Barbara which means “the sky”. This is very fitting because it sets atop the mountain in the sky overlooking miles and miles of beauty.

We were greeted by the community children at the front gate running to hug, high five, and say 'hola' to the team! We set up the clinic and began the day. Throughout the day our team had the amazing opportunity to care for over 100 people. Some members of our team were disappointed to not be proficient enough in Spanish to easily communicate with people. However, many expressed the joy they found in the already thriving new relationships with their Honduran translators.

Some other lows of the day were the limited resources and medications available compared to those at home in the US, and a couple technical difficulties with the electronic medical record. However, we are blessed to have Lori, the owner and developer of Backpack EMR, the electronic medical record, with us. She has been on top of fixing all the difficulties. We are also learning so much about the great homeopathic interventions available when certain medicines are not available, such as Moringa leaves for pediatric constipation instead of laxatives or stool softeners.

There were so many highs for our group, most of which involved the growth and development of Friends of Barnabas. Janet, Bill, and Sharon who have all traveled many times over the years but have not returned since the pandemic, shared the community was noticeably healthier and more educated than expected. This is thanks to Friends of Barnabas’s Healthy Communities Program.

Janet and Ethan shared about a woman who came to their station severely ill with chronic health problems and how she touched both of their hearts with her deep needs for care.

Bill and Gretchen shared just how incredible the dental team is and how amazing the equipment is to be able to fully serve these communities with top-of-the-line dental service. He shared a woman came in with broken front tooth and the dentist was able to fix it to look and function normal again.

Other highs included nursing students and new grads getting to build, use and learn new skills, and this team of many acquaintances and strangers have become a very cohesive, joyful team.

At the end of the day the community said goodbye just as happy as they were when we arrived. We traveled home down the mountain, ate delicious homemade tortilla soup and spent the evening resting and fellowshipping. Overall, it was an amazing day serving the communities of Honduras.

~Emberli Little