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Serving the People in El Caliche




Tuesday, January 25th, 2022


Today is Honduran Women’s Day which is a day to commemorate the first social political feat in 1955. We started the day with a devotion from Dr Joe using the day’s reading from Book of Common Prayer. We headed south to Siguetepeque and then another hour on back roads to arrive at El Caliche. Along the way we had to stop for a rockslide and had to wait a bit while it was cleared.


This village was reported to have 39 families, 25 homes are reported to have outdoor latrines and 14 have flushable toilets. Most of the families walk daily to a nearby spring to collect the family’s water.


Dr Joe gave his cross to an eight-year-old with cerebral palsy. His affliction was rather extensive, leaving him with full use of only his left hand and arm. Understand that families here are like families everywhere - the mom and dad both seemed to help the boy everywhere and minimize the impact on the family as if they are trying to hide his affliction. Thankfully the parents agreed to refer him for braces, and he will generally need them every six months as he grows.


Dr Bob gave his cross to a mother with 2 children who had been sick for 8 days. She looked very tired and was reluctant to share, but she did share that she has dizzy spells a few times a day for years. As an Ear, Nose, and Throat professional, Dr Bob took a look in her ears and knew that a few days of antibiotic will clear this up in 2 days. Further thanks to our new EMR system, we have the ability to follow up immediately next week, without having to wait until our next visit to this community.


One of the things we do is evaluate children by measuring height, weight and head size. These three measurements are compared to age-based charts to determine whether or not the three measurements are in the same proportion and whether the measurements are below or above normal. In Honduras, most children tend to be below ‘normal’ size. In El Caliche, the numbers were typically further below average than the children we saw yesterday. Fortunately, none were malnourished.


After dinner, Debbie led us in a devotion where shared her passion for Julian of Norwich, the first English woman published who wrote about her visions. Julian is often remembered by a famous quote: “all shall be well, all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.”


~Joseph Thompson & Jim Huddle

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