Joy Brigade's Final Day

Friday, August 18, 2023

Today was the last day of clinics for the Joy Brigade Mountain Medical Team (MMT). We visited the Colonia III de Octubre community (named for the date is was established), a brand new participant in the Friends of Barnabas Community Health Development program. We received a warm and enthusiastic welcome from the residents, and their excitement was contagious. This community has created a very engaged leadership team, and it was obvious they had put much thought and preparation in advance of our visit. We continue to be inspired by how the children race to help unload the trucks and the bus. Often the bags or boxes are as big as they are, and it gives them such pride to be part of the day.

As always, we set up clinic at the community school and saw lots of families. We saw common viral symptoms of fever, cold, and cough. There were also several specialty cases today, and it turned out that Julia took care of most of them. One of our patients was a young boy with autism. He was incredibly lively and engaging and interacted with many of our team members. We were pleased to learn that he attends a school that welcomes both mainstream and special needs children, where he is doing well.

We also saw two children who are already in the Friends of Barnabas Extended Care Program due to congenital heart defects. One is a two-year-old boy who also has an extra digit attached to his thumb and a deformity of the ears. The other is a 16-year-old girl with Down Syndrome.

At the end of the day, one of the community leaders shared a heartfelt thank you with our team. He assured us that we were always welcome in Colonia III de Octubre and prayed God’s blessings on us all. We’re excited to follow the community’s progress with their education, health, and overall wellbeing in the months and years to come.

Friday is always bittersweet for a Mountain Medical team. We’re tired and we’re looking forward to going home and seeing our families, but we know we are leaving a big part of our hearts behind. The Joy Brigade has been blessed with incredible joy this week – the beautiful sights and sounds, the food, the bonds created between all the members of our team and the dedicated Honduran staff, and so much more. But most of all, we were blessed by the hundreds of people we came to serve – precious people who have left their mark on our lives forever.

~ Frances & Shayne