Los Panqueques: Honduras 2013

There are many who want to go away from home and explore for a time. I was given an opportunity as such. From the rat and insect infested medical center where we stayed to the smiling mountainous villagers with gruesome medical problems, my daily travels and experiences not only spurned me on for future work, but also blessed me more than I expected.

I made it to the Greenville airport and flew into Atlanta. While in Atlanta I waited for the rest of the team to show up, but had no idea who any of them looked like. The plane was leaving in 30 minutes, but I could not find my team. Finally, I went around asking everyone I saw if they were from Alabama, which is all the information I knew. Finally, I found my group and made it safely to San Pedro Sula, Honduras. I was told shortly after I landed that San Pedro Sula has the highest murder rate in the entire world. I recently researched that statistic because I could not believe it and unfortunately my friends were telling the truth.

Our 2 hour bus ride to the city of Siguatepeque was interrupted by a stop at a street vendor. These guys were selling the most amazing pineapple I have ever tasted. The way they sliced up the pineapple, coconuts, and mangos with machetes was more of an art form than anything else. After a long, much needed nap, we finally made it to the medical center, where we would be staying for a week.

The medical center.

The center was unfinished, but the group of college students who were staying there the whole summer said it was in much worse condition with many rats, boxes of various equipment, and dirt everywhere before I got there. I quickly found out that there was no ceiling and that the walls did not completely reach the roof, which let in every flying insect there was in Honduras to our humble abode. I was told that I could not drink any of the water, which was fine because we used 5 gallon water jugs all week. My first shower was pretty cold, but was glad we at least had running water. I asked if there was any warm water, and the response was, “It's random between cold and frigid.” I definitely could tell when my shower was frigid, but honestly, after the initial shock, your body acclimates enough to get through it. The one rule that caused the most problems was not flushing down toilet paper; every single day there was a toilet that was clogged.

Throughout the whole week (Saturday-Wednesday) the medical team drove about 30-60 minutes to a rural village to treat ailments, infections, poor vision, and cavities for over 100 people while also entertaining the children; Thursday we treated patients at the clinic we stayed at. We used the villages' local church building as our medical center and a school classroom or open field as our art class. We had 6 stations: triage, doctor, dentist, pharmacy, eye care, and art class. After we had seen all the patients, we were able to help serve a different volunteer group by helping them prepare several hundred hotdog plates and ice cream cones for the locals everyday. I had so much fun entertaining the kids before the food was served by launching water balloons 100 feet in the air, playing soccer, throwing the Frisbee, and singing songs.

Hotdog plates for everyone!

Singing songs!

Can you catch the water balloon? Nope.

I scream for ice cream...quite literally.

The first two days I worked in the pharmacy with three middle school kids from our medical team. The nurse would come out after every patient and tell me what medication and how much to fill. Honestly, it was rather boring, until I would get to talk to the patient. I got so much joy from just interacting with the locals.

The next two days I helped out in the art class. I would have to say during these two days I had some of my best memories and most fun. We would start off by using watercolor pencils to do a landscape of the Honduran city and country side. The church would have light coming from it because, “Jesus’s light is always on inside.” We would do another picture using numbers to draw a guitar; we told them to title it, “Dios Toca!” or “God Rocks!” There were other pictures we did with rainbows, which was always fun because they got to use so many different colors. After art class we would play pictionary—boys against girls. I have never seen so much intensity from a simple game of pictionary: kids jumping up and down, pointing, and yelling so fast in Spanish. Even though the game was chaotic, everyone had a blast!

I don’t think I will ever forget getting mauled by kids for bracelets. I had a bag of rubber bracelets and was trying to separate them while the kids were doing their art projects. These bracelets could be found at a dollar store, but in these kids’ eyes, they were like the most prized possessions you could ever get. My situation was akin to me swimming with a gashing cut in open water at dusk; I found out my predicament the hard way by being rushed by over 40 kids yelling in Spanish while pulling at my shirt trying to get the bag. I thought I could instill order by telling them that they have to sit down and be quiet in order to get a prize. These kids outwitted me by following me around the room and then sitting right in front of me. Every time I moved, they moved. I could not believe how intelligent they were.

The last day at the villages, I decided to try something outside my comfort zone and work in the dentist clinic. I helped hold the light, utensils, the syringe, and the spit bucket; I even was a human booster seat for the little ones. Although after only holding the spit bucket for 5 minutes, my stomach could not handle the gruesomeness and had to let someone else hold it. The most exciting thing I got to do was actually pull a tooth all by myself! Even though that was fun, I was torn inside by the amount of cavities these people had. I personally saw a kid have 10 teeth removed; I was told another had 14 done the day before. Not only was the unruly amount of cavities heart wrenching, but I saw a little boy with 5 worms in his head. Internally, I was disgusted that a 6 year old had to endure that.

Painful tooth? We will pull it!

The last day providing medical assistance happened at the clinic we stayed at. There was a more relaxed feel because there were not as many people. I took this opportunity to wash some clothes the old fashioned way--by hand. I am not thankful enough for so many modern appliances and devices I have. After all the patients were seen at the clinic, we went to a restaurant on Lake Yojoa and had fried Tilapia and plantain chips. They didn't just serve us the meat, but rather the whole fish. I will admit that the tail tastes like crispy chips and is pretty good. We then were able to go to this amazing waterfall. I would have been happy to have just seen it, but I actually was allowed to go to the bottom and even look behind it! We then went into a cave inside the waterfall, which was awe inspiring. To top it off, we all were able to jump in two different spots: a 15 and a 35 foot jump into the water below!

Lake Yojoa

I totally looked upwards behind that ginormous piece of God's creation.

My last day I was able to be a tourist and just see the sites of Siguatepeque. Supermarkets are the equivalent of a large grocery store. There you can have a steak dinner (I only paid $7!), buy groceries, and even watch a soccer game. Walmart really does not exist in Siguatepeque so a supermarket is the closest thing. Thankfully we were able to go to the small shops and bargain. I really do appreciate the opportunity to haggle since it's so uncommon in the US.

I had the mindset going into this trip of how excited I was to serve, but I was the one who was served. The locals were so welcoming and treated me like a brother or a son of their own. They also taught me a lot about how to slow down and just savor the experiences of life whether that is spending time with others, playing soccer, eating dinner, or just riding in a car. The local villagers have a miniscule amount of amenities, but ironically, they are not depressed, stressed, and lazy. Yes, there are major problems like a lack of healthcare, gang violence, and corrupt police. There were no free government programs, good public schools, libraries, and quality hospitals where we lived. Despite all that, these people worked so hard and had such a good outlook on life even with extreme poverty. I was so overwhelmed with how much I waste and how much I take for granted. My outlook on life was definitely changed for the better. This trip has fueled my passion for doing medical missions long term and I can not wait to be apart of another trip.

Thank you so much for supporting me through this experience. I was laughing almost everyday as I received support letters because I was overwhelmed at God's goodness. I now laugh while writing this letter because God received so much glory through this trip both from the Honduran people and the US volunteers. I saw spiritual growth from our medical team through our nightly discussions and from several Honduran people through conversations. One of my favorite lines from a hymn I used to sing in my college ministry sums up my trip well:

To God be the glory forever and ever.

To God be the glory forever, amen.