At today’s worksite we sorted something different. Do you know how some girls are embarrassed about purchasing feminine products? Well I no longer am. Today my group sorted multiple boxes of Kotex, Poise, and Depends. I DON’T THINK I’VE EVER SEEN SO MANY FEMININE PRODUCTS IN MY LIFE…IT WAS INTENSE! The East Letcher Ministry Center receives more donations than their own community needs so the three palettes we sorted today were being shipped to places like Africa. Moving on to our next task: clothes sorting. We spent the better part of an hour organizing Men’s, Women’s, and Children’s clothing. Once the clothes were sorted, a line of people began to browse for easy finding. Meanwhile the other group was back at the house that we worked on yesterday, finishing up the dry wall. Back at the Community Center Kendra, Anne, and I were sorting out simple stuff like shampoo and soaps. We decided it would be a good idea to take these toiletries to the line of people that waited for their monthly free food pickup. The minute I stepped outside, I was mauled by people from every possible angle. But something today caught my attention. There was a woman in her 40s, who came up to me, and looked at me with the kindest eyes, and she said to me “This is the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me, God bless you child.” From that moment, I didn’t really take the compliment that importantly, but as it lingered upon me for a bit, I realized that you can change the world, by one random act of kindness at a time. 

-Allyse Hackler 

Today for recreation, we enjoyed a nice game of roundball on the Homes Inc. Forum (aka the half court basket). Jay Lehoczky, Andrew Garner, Kelly Ingersoll, Matt Cockle and Jay Todd Max and myself were playing our beautiful game of intense competition, when suddenly, Jay Todd went up for a rebound and landed on Mr. Garner’s foot.  Mr. Max ended up spraining his ankle and the game ceased due to this accident.  We also went to some Bentley store that had random items.  We also played the bean bag game, as well as listened to a huge rainstorm, complete with hail. Later we had pasta for dinner and I wrote seven letters to my sister.  Then we went to Mike Johnson’s Dairy Bar, and realized that there are Pepsi and Coke ads on the premises.  Mike Johnson’s is no White Castle, but its still pretty baller.  Then we had worship and I wrote this blog, which coherently isn’t that good, but we didn’t do much of note, unlike last year where we went to WHITE CASTLE.

-MATT MARTINY 

Tonight in worship we wrapped up the entire week.  We discussed many important events that occurred during the day.  A few examples were of what happened today while renovating the new build and what happened while working in the east Letcher ministries (elm).  Although I only worked at the new build, I heard some funny and interesting stories which made me feel good about what our group had conquered this week.  Also in worship, we said many prayers thanking God for the opportunities we have been given and how God allowed us to help less fortunate people than ourselves.  Closing up the worship tonight we gave out our prayer partner gifts and said our closing prayers. 

-JEFF JENSEN

Worship: Our worship tonight started with the idea that we all have had and continue to have different identities. God knows our pasts, our present and who we are becoming. God loves us despite our pasts and constantly challenges us to become who we really are meant to be. We sang songs and prayed. We shared thoughts about our past roles in life. We reminded each other that we are all LOVED children of God.
Work: Today got off to a pretty slow start as we sat around for most of the morning. We were so effective in our previous days of work that they had to scramble around during the morning to find more work for us to do. Once going we continued to tear it up, putting up new insulation and dry wall in a house that had suffered smoke damage last winter, but had sat idle until now. We also discovered how hard it is to hold the very heavy pieces of dry wall to the ceiling while somebody comes around with a screw gun to put it in place. We also successfully completed the removal of an old tub and shower along with the replacement of a new one. Tomorrow I expect a completely finished and dry walled house.

Food and Fun: This day involved much free time which allowed for lots of fun and games. The bulk of that free time presented itself in the evening. Andrew, Jay and Matt C. took the opportunity to take their newly purchased basketball shooting sleeves on a test run on the court. Ben, Kendra, Allyse, Justin and Kelsey spent their free time working on dance moves for the upcoming dance-off that the group from Connecticut, who is also working with Homes for the week, had challenged us to in the morning. Many adults enjoyed the hilarity provided by the game Would You Rather, as they laughed the night away. The rest wore out arms and friendships in the competitive battle for bean-bag toss dominance. Kelly and JT fought their way to supremacy in this contest. Another popular activity was decorating the stoles which Kelly had introduced for us to give to our prayer partners. After a day of much gaiety and feasting, which included home-cooked food at the Cozy Corner, it seems that everyone fell asleep fat and happy!

The mission trip, up until now, has been quite an experience – it has known no shortage of exciting events and inspirational moments. Today has been the second full day at Neon, Kentucky. We have finished the demolition of the house we were assigned to. The destruction of a house within two days has brought a great morale boost to the group – Seeing as the normal destruction of such a house would take around five days. Tomorrow we are to move onto a new project, and rumor has it that we are doing drywall of some sort. No promises are being made, however, so the verdict waits until the morning. I seem to be growing out of my shell every passing day at these mission trips and the trip to tall oaks – which most definitely is a good thing.

-Ben Giguere

After a very productive but long day of work, we loaded up the vans and headed back to our bunk house. I’m always amazed at just how dirty we get, but after cleaning up, dinner crew started to fix a Mexican food feast. They made tacos, fajitas, nachos and homemade guacamole. It was great! After dinner, we loaded up the vans and headed to Mike Johnson’s Ice Cream Shop to celebrate Ben Giguere’s birthday. We then headed to Dollar General to do some shopping and finally back home to hang out.

Later, we gathered again for worship. Worship is one of my favorite parts of mission trip. In our small and intimate services, we are able to talk about and reflect on the day. What went well, what did not. What was funny, and what was difficult. I think worship, more than any other daily event, brings us together the most. It is in worship that we are most comfortable with each other. It creates the awesome bonds that only mission trip can.

After worship, a few more laughs and games finished up our evening. I’m completely exhausted but still excited for the work we will be able to do tomorrow.

-Kelsey Wehr

We woke up and ate breakfast together, then took off for the worksite. We started our first day of work by demolishing a house. It was very entertaining for many of us young people as we got to use sledge hammers to destroy walls, and we also got to watch all sorts of things be burned in a huge, flaming fire. It was a lot of fun as we all worked together to get this house down. One thing that stood out was all the bees and wasps, and about 10 people got stung at least once. It was a long, hard-working day, but at the same time it was very nice knowing we were helping the community.

- Scott Kennedy

We enjoyed a lunch of cold cuts, baloney and peanut butter sandwiches at the job site. The day started cool enough but by 1 p.m. it was eastern Kentucky warm. We left the site at 4 p.m. returned back to clean up and eat dinner…at a Pizza Hut where with 10 young hungry men (along with “some” of the leaders and girls), we managed to eat them out of house and shop. This outing was followed by a stop at Wal-Mart for more food, of course. We returned to our quarters where Kelly and Justin had a meaningful devotional closing for the day as we were all ready to hit the bed in nearly comatose state.

-Carty Johannsen

The drive I heard was very interesting and full of many trees. Many people said it was a scenic route. The only problem was that I was in a van full of girls and I fell asleep the entire time. We did stop and eat at a few places but most of the time I was asleep.

- Kyle McCallister

Three words that come to mind to describe our first day – early, rainy, and beautiful. Yes, our day started early. After receiving a blessing from Glen and praying with our families, we pulled away from the church at 6:22 a.m. Not more than two hours after our departure it started to rain……and rain…..and rain. As one of the drivers, I became frustrated with the rain and the constant motion of the windshield wipers. (This was supposed to be a beautiful and relaxing drive to the mountains!) Little did I know that the beauty was waiting hours ahead of us. After more than 12 hours of driving (and constant rain), the beauty was finally upon us. It was like the heavens opened, the clouds separated, and I heard the faint sounds of the Alleluia chorus. We had reached the mountains and it was beautiful! The last two hours of the trip was just gorgeous.

- Anne Ingersoll

It´s Sunday morning and we´re having breakfast at CEPAD before heading out to the airport to fly home. What an amazing week this has been. There are many more stories to tell and photos to post, so please check back throughout the week for more on our wonderful adventure.

We are all anxious to see family and friends and sleep in our own beds tonight! Thank you for following our journey. We have felt the prayers and good wishes from our friends in Kansas City, around the country and around the world. I suspect we´ll all return with a different perspective on life. I know I will.

Lara

One of the highlights of this trip so far was the church service we attended on Tuesday evening. The church is in a tiny building that we’ve been using as a classroom for Sue’s daily workshops on health care. (It is also the room in which previous mission teams from our church have slept.) Dozens of people packed the small sanctuary, including many small children, some of whom danced and clapped in the aisle and others who peeked in through the windows. We were surprised to learn there is a new pastor in Guadalupe, Israel Sanchez. He visited the clinic on Tuesday before church, complaining of headaches after he finishes preaching, and it was easy to see why. His booming and animated voice reverberated throughout the small room in crescendo after crescendo, always punctuated by “en Su nombre!” (In His name.) The congregation was inspired by his enthusiasm and responded back in kind. They joyfully sang hymns and spoke prayers. Here, when the pastor leads what we might think of as the pastoral prayer, instead of listening to his prayer and praying silently to themselves, the church members also speak their own personal prayers aloud, which creates an amazing buzz of collective praise.

We were surprised that the service lasted just more than an hour – we were expecting two at the least! Pastor Sanchez seemed to recognize that it had been a long day for our team and we were exhausted. He did invite “Carlita la pastora” back the following evening to offer a reflection, which we politely declined!

Yesterday was a calmer day in the clinic – Kamille, Sue and Jane saw fewer critical patients. We sent Raul and his mother out again, this time to see a Nicaraguan doctor so he would have an acceptable referral at the hospital. The doctor he saw recommended he be seen at a special hospital in Managua which is equipped to treat dermatological conditions. One of the goals for this morning was making arrangements for this to happen. Kamille is concerned that his condition is so severe, even the hospital won’t be equipped to help him, but at the very least, this will hopefully be a better evaluation than he’s received to date.

The boy with hepatitis was also seen by a Nicaraguan doctor who prescribed medications which will help him recover. After a couple of frustrating days, we were encouraged that two of the most severe patients we’ve seen had positive news.

The young mother with the dehydrated baby did not return yesterday, but we spoke to her mother-in-law, who said that the baby was doing better. Sue encouraged this woman to bring the baby and mother back today for follow-up care.

Today there is a buzz of activity on the farm. James is helping the family which runs the farm fix a mechanical problem on a piece of equipment which runs their water pump. He quickly diagnosed the problem, but as is often the case, we don’t have the parts or supplies to fix it. Harold, our CEPAD coordinator, will go into Matagalpa today to try to purchase the $5 part they need. Fixing the pump will save them much time and labor.

Ken, Lance and Linda are building two more picnic tables for the farm. (Ostensibly, I’m helping…which I know my husband will laugh at the thought of!) The lumber they are using was cut yesterday from trees here on the farm with a chainsaw. It’s one thing to cut a tree down with a chain saw; it’s another thing all together to actually cut trees into useable lumber with one. Yet another example of the people here making do the best they can with the resources they have. Some power tools like a circular saw appeared on Tuesday sometime, so the process is moving along more quickly than the work we did on Monday. The table they built yesterday is beautiful and looks like something you could buy at Home Depot. Lance and Carty actually created it without a pattern, just a scribble on a piece of paper indicating what they wanted it to look like. We hope to make two more today.

Ken and Linda cut lumber for the farm´s new picnic tables.

Yesterday afternoon and again this morning, a group of us hiked along the narrow main road – which we’ve learned they call “the highway.” Seeing the village on foot is a whole new experience. There is so much natural beauty here, I’m simply in awe of everything I see. And yet, the reminders of poverty are inescapable, and I feel a little discouraged that we’re merely offering a tiny bandaid to people with gaping wounds. Last evening, Carla offered this meditation, which you might recognize from the cover of last week’s church bulletin:“Nothing that is worth doing can be achieved in our lifetime: therefore we must be saved by hope. Nothing which is true or beautiful or good makes complete sense in any immediate context of history; therefore we must be saved by faith. Nothing we do, however virtuous, can be accomplished along; therefore we must be saved by love.”

Reinhold Neibuhr

The people here have hope, they have faith and they have love. It is inspiring to share these things with our hermanos and hermanas (brothers and sisters) here in Nicaragua.

We complain constantly about the health care crisis in the United States, and it truly is a crisis when millions of poor children and their families (and some not so poor, comparatively speaking) don’t have insurance and therefore don’t have access to quality health care. Even those of us lucky enough to have insurance have trouble navigating the murky bureaucratic waters of HMOs. But in Kansas City, if you break your leg, if your baby is having fever-induced seizures, if you are having a heart attack…if you have any type of emergency health care crisis and you go to the emergency room, chances are you will be treated regardless of your ability to pay. It is far from an ideal situation, but it is something.

Here in Guadalupe, not only have they never heard of health insurance, they don’t even have access to doctors or hospitals or dentists, and even if they did, they couldn’t afford to go to one. There is a public health nurse and a clinic in Guadalupe, but the nurse is here infrequently, and we’ve learned that many of the villagers are hesitant to go to her.

In previous visits to Guadalupe, when our medical team has seen patients who were in critical condition, we have made arrangements for them to go into town to a hospital. Last year, a baby with a horrible wound on his leg surely would have died had we not made arrangements for him to be taken to the hospital and treated. We have learned he is okay now. But things are different this year. Early yesterday morning, we sent two patients to the hospital in Matagalpa – the boy, Raul, with the skin fungus around his eyes and his scalp; and the baby with the heart murmur.

Raul’s mother had taken him to the hospital before, but she did not want to take him this time around. She told us that she was scared to take him; she’d taken two other children to the hospital and they had both died. With our encouragement, she agreed to go, but she forgot to take her paperwork from previous visits, so the hospital refused to treat him. When she returned to the clinic in the afternoon to report to us, Carla sent her home to get her paperwork. When the mother returned with it, Carla found that it was from 1999, when he was 4 years old. He’s almost 13 now. And he still has a tragic skin fungus.

Sadly, the hospital also refused to treat the baby with the heart murmur because he didn’t have a referral from a Nicaraguan doctor. A doctor did listen to the baby’s heart and announced that rather than a heart murmur, “the baby’s heart has air in it.”

Bureaucracy indeed.

Yesterday morning Kamille treated a baby with a fever so high, he began to have a seizure right on the examining table. They saw a boy who had previously been diagnosed with Hepatitis, but whom had obviously never been treated. He was so jaundiced, the white parts of his eyes were yellow enough to notice from across the room.

Just before lunch, a 15-year-old girl came in with her 2-month-old baby. The baby had a 102 degree fever, was listless and clearly was severely dehydrated. The mother was also dehydrated and therefore wasn’t producing enough milk for the baby to nurse adequately. Kamille wanted to sent them both to the hospital; in the United States almost any baby under 3 months with a high fever is hospitalized and given intravenous fluids. In a child that young, a high fever can turn deadly very quickly. As you can imagine, his young mother was terrified. To make matters worse, she apparently had no family. The anguish on her face was palpable. The baby was given acetaminophen to reduce the fever, but the dehydration was still a significant concern, considering the mother’s reduced capacity to breast feed. As the acetaminophen kicked in, the baby perked up; in the mean time Carla went in search of a baby bottle so we could get some fluids in him.

Here in Guadalupe little shops inside people’s homes dot the streets. Most of the goods – things like sodas, soap, candy, snacks, etc. – are sold out of a window. At the fourth place she stopped, Carla finally found a baby bottle. We mixed some rehydration salts with water in the bottle and the baby drank nearly the whole thing. He looked like a different child in a matter of an hour or so. Crisis averted, at least the immediate one, thanks to the excellent care provided by our team. The mother and baby are to come back to day for follow-up.

Sue comforts the young mother whose child is severely dehydrated.

Today at the farm, Lance, Carty, James, Debbie are finishing up some projects at the bunkhouse and are building picnic tables for a new outdoor dining areas.

CEPAD’s farm is a teaching facility and is used for conducting agriculture experiments which will help families learn how to farm their own small plots of land using techniques for sustainability. Periodically groups of townspeople come in and learn how to grow crops to make themselves self-sufficient. Afterward, they have an obligation to go back their villages and teach five other families what they’ve learned. If families can grow their own food, they have a much better chance of improving their nutritional intake and ultimately their health. In some cases, they might be able to sell the crops they grow as an income source.

As we reach mid-week, we are still as energetic and enthusiastic as the curious children who follow us everywhere. It is heartening to see that children in all cultures play, smile, joke and laugh. Yesterday I was testing out some of my rudimentary Spanish on a group of boys, one of whom was eating an orange. I think I asked him if he was eating a spider. They all got a good laugh out of that. In the afternoon, I took video of Debbie playing with the kids, then played it back for them on the video camera’s screen. They were fascinated to see themselves and practically mobbed me, asking for mas, mas! (More, more.)

We only wish there were mas we could do to for the people in this area. The need is vast.

Lara

These girls pose with postcards from Kansas City.

PS: Note to our families – everyone is healthy so far, we are eating well, the weather is wonderful, and we all miss our spouses, children, parents, friends, and family. And a special note to Greg: Nancy says she’s going to be so excited to get home to a clean basement!

Another gorgeous morning here in Guadalupe. We are enjoying a breakfast of bananas, cantaloupe, toast and jam, plus fresh pineapple juice. I have been surprised that our food has been good, and we’ve only had beans twice!! The family who lives here at the farm has been preparing our meals each day and they do a great job given the limited resources. They do have a refrigerator and a blender, but that’s about all in the way of modern tools. The food is cooked over an open fire. Dishes are hand-washed. Our medical team returned late last evening after a long day in the village. Kamille saw about 100 patients yesterday with the help of Jane and Sue. Lance rigged up lights in the community center, and Carla, Nancy, Carol, Mary and Linda set up and organized the pharmacy. Sue taught a brief class to about 50 families, instructing them on the proper way to brush teeth and wash hands, and explaining the contents of the home health packets.  Most patients were treated for things like skin rashes, minor infections, or general having general aches. Some patients were treated for chronic stomach ailments. One lady requested vitamins for her brain. (Carla said if we find any of those in our stash, she’d like some too.)  

  Village people form a line in front of the clinic, anxious to see the doctor.

Several patients were in serious condition. A boy, Raul, who was seen when our team was here last June was back. His serious skin infection around his eyes and scalp haven’t improved since the last visit; he is still in very bad shape. Our team arranged for him to go to the hospital in a nearby town to be treated for this condition. Our cash donation is the only way he and his family are able to go to the hospital.  

An 8-month-old baby was brought in with a skin rash. Kamille discovered during a cursory exam that in addition to the rash, the child has a serious heart murmur. We made arrangements for he and his mother to go to the hospital as well. At first his family was skeptical, and they certainly didn’t have enough money to consider visiting the hospital on their own. Carla asked how much they needed: 300 cordobas. That’s $15 American, less than most of us spend in one day on going out to dinner or a movie.  

At the end of the day, the team did a home visit to see an older woman who couldn’t leave her home. She was in such bad shape, Kamille thought she must be in her 80s. She’s 63. She’d probably had a stroke, and she is literally wasting away, unable to eat or drink anything. In the United States, if a doctor were to see a patient in this condition, hospice care would be encouraged. But they have no such resources here. We will visit her again today after a group visits the nearby town to buy Ensure (a nutritious shake-like drink) which will at the very least provide her some nutrition.  

Kayon tells us they are appreciative of our visit, because professional attention is simply something you don’t get when you’re poor. Despite the desperation in some families there are smiles and enthusiasm for our visit, especially as we are working to give them information they can use long after we’re gone. 

As Carla puts it, we hope to empower the community so that they feel stronger when we leave.