El Zapote

Tuesday, April 26, 2022

After breakfast, we boarded the bus for an hour and half dusty, bumpy ride to the village of El Zapote, San Luis. There are 400 people in this community and 105 homes.

Upon arrival the community members aided in unloading our supplies from the team bus prior to setup of each clinic. Meanwhile, the children were laughing and playing outside the school yard. All except Ester, whose father was the leader of the community; she was allowed to follow him while he was assisting our team. She was a mischievous little girl that never left my station. She quickly stole my heart and my sunglasses.

And Alex.... he was so excited as his mother was walking him to my station to be weighed and measured. His excitement was not to see me but to ride the weigh scales as he thought it was a toy car.

Hazel who is one of the RN’s, saw David, a 17-year-old who shaved part of his fingertip with a machete earlier in the day. He had an hour walk to the clinic with his mother, who also had fallen a week earlier with a possible broken arm that had not been addressed. The finger was cleaned and also seen by the doctor. Dra. Moncada instructed Hazel to clean his finger well with antiseptic, apply Bacitracin and a sterile dressing. David was referred for a Tetanus shot.

After exiting the clinic, there was a commotion outside the medical clinic door as David had passed out and hit his head against the concrete. Fortunately, there was no additional injuries other than the finger starting to bleed again. A new dressing was applied, and Tylenol given for his pain. Hazel gave David her cross and she and Lewis prayed with him and his mother.

I fell in love with Honduras five years ago on my first visit to this beautiful county. The people in the villages are so poor in wealth but so rich in heart. They may not have much, but their love, happiness and gratitude shines through their eyes. God’s beauty is magnified here!

~April Barber