Medical Clinic

I know I am late on getting this out but I will have to back track a few weeks. We had out last clinic on the 5th and it went so great. We have encountered some unexpected obstacles, but nothing that God can't take care of. We have always been a bit guarded about certain things in the communities where we have been working. Ever since last year we have had many other eyes watching us. The political party that is in power has many small groups of people that are like watchdogs for the government. They mostly watch for who is doing what and does it affect their control over that area. Needless to say we have had our first round with these "leaders" in the communities.

We were told that they have been holding meetings in the area to begin to regain control over the area. They removed all the pta parents that were not in line with their political party and put others in place...as just one example. At out clinic in June we heard the "good news" that the ministry of health was going to begin to do a clinic 2 times a week. We thought great!!! This is exactly what the people need!! After the news had spread throughout that day, people kept asking us if we would still come. I didn't understand at first but after talking with many moms I soon realized the problem. The local health dept. only has the means to write prescriptions and give the most basic of medicines. And I thought what we have is basic, but nearly everyone walks out with what is prescribed. We also found out that they have been very inconsistant in the past. Sure enough when we came to our recent clinic they had already not showed up the entire last week.

Anyway, the building that we had been using, with permission, all of a sudden was no longer available to us. They had decided, a week before the clinic, that we could no longer hold the clinics there and needed to leave. Many parents stood up against them and said that they wanted the "gringos" here. We began to hear word from our friends in the community about all that was going on and to not worry there were other places that people already offered. The Catholic church even opened their doors to us, as well as a few people's homes. It was so touching to see the rally of the community. We continued to reinforce to them that we are here to help them and not concerned about the politics, God will take care of it. Finally we showed up that saturday and they had actually opened the school to us, for that month at least.

We were not certain how many would show, if any, due to the politic differences of many and the manipulation of those in power. Slowly they trickled in. By the end of the day we had 55+ in all. Throughout the day many continued to thank us for coming again and you could see their fears of us leaving were put at ease.

What is hard to wrap our minds around is that even the little that we do is still an hour closer to their home and many dollars cheaper. They receive all meds and consult for only $1. And they couldn't hardly make it to town for that, let alone think of how they would pay for their meds. There have been several that have walked 1-2 hours to come. Even after doing these clinics for 9 months now, I can't believe this is how people deal with medical issues. There was one grandma, mid 80's, that walked with her grandson nearly 2 hours to come for the meds that she needed. She knew that we always have medicine and knew it wouldn't be a waste of a trip, when she could be at home working. She had told Roger that she had 6 children but 3 of them had passed away due to the fact that she couldn't afford meds. or even to see a doctor. These kind of stories break my heart.

I walk away from every clinic tired and hungry, but the feelings of being overwhelmed by each new story that comes through those doors and the satisfaction to see one more getting the meds that they have needed for days. It would be hard for even the hardest of hearts to not come and be moved to tears. I know we are not in the jungles of Africa and I do know that it could be worse, but I am so thankful for the opportunity we have to be a part of these lives and help in any way possible. It is so incredible the feeling of being so close to everything but in reality being so far away. You can travel 3 miles outside of town and be in a different time period. What a priveledge to help and be a bridge to help for the many in this small part of Nicaragua.

NEW ADVENTURES

Well you won't believe it but we have chickens. I know, what are we thinking. Josiah says that at least we won't have to go to Pali (our local grocery store) to buy eggs anymore. The kids are so happy. A friend of ours gave us 3 of his chickens, they are only 3 weeks old. Josiah named 2 of them Ironhide and Jazz (from the Transformers, even though the chickens are girls), and Rachel named one Rachel, I guess she likes her name ok. Anyway, we have been making a coop for the chickens. We've all been having fun with it and the kids won't leave the chickens alone. They just want to play with them all day.

Also we were able to put up a tire swing for the kids. They are loving it. The most fun was watching Roger try to figure how he was going to get up that tree to tie the rope up. He's not 12 anymore and able to scale it with his sheer monkey-like abilities...hahaha. He ended up borrowing a ladder from the neighbors. :)

We are putting the finishing touches on our newest and latest zoo adventure. The dates have gone between the 4th or the 18th of July but it is looking more like it will be the 4th. Oh my goodness that is only 2 weeks away....so much to plan. We are also taking all 5 schools instead of just the one that we took last year. It could be easily 200 kids plus teachers and adult helpers. Rhonda M., we are going to miss you this year!! We are looking forward to the exciting day. And the day after we have our next clinic. Lots to prepare for.

I guess I will be learning to pace myself in the next couple of weeks.

WE'RE BACK!!!

It is so crazy!!! We had been in the states for 2 months (march and april). We then returned to our house and everything in order, thank goodness. The only thing we returned to no phone. Appearantly they were stolen or something...again...which meant we were without internet also. It seems like forever, or 5 weeks since we came back, but finally we have internet and phone again...YEAH!!!! It's amazing how we grow so accustom to the things that we have in our lives. Oh, and one day after we arrived i awoke to killer pain and long story short i was in surgery that night to have my appendix removed. What a welcome back home.

We have gotten back in the groove somewhat. It always seems like it takes longer than one would like. We were able to get a chainsaw up to the north, where the hurricane hit last august. They have been using it like crazy. We've had 2 clinics now. Today was the second. So much fun. And we are delivering more school supplies next week to all 5 schools. It feels nice to get back into things. We are also getting ready to do our zoo trip with the students again. However, this time we are going to do all 5 schools....call us crazy!!! It will be a blast. Just want to get it done before rainy season and we can't get in to the communities because of the roads.

These last few months have been full of their ups and downs but all liveable. It doesn't have to be easy it just has to be lived through and better on the other end. Success is so subject to the one that defines it.

We loved our trip to the states. So encouraging and full of love and friendship. I so cherish our times together with friends and family in the states. They are so valued to us. And we are so happy to be here, home, in Nicaragua, once again. It is just right.

I think this is probably too much for now but i am back in it again.
be a success,
rhonda

School has begun!!!

this week has been full of ups and downs and just plain busy.

we started mon and tues by delivering all the school supplies to the students and teachers.

mon, we were able to make it to 3 out of 5 of the schools. here the school day is till noon. many of the kids have to go home and help out and they don't have all the extras that take up time in the states, music, art, etc... we had such a great time. thankfully we were able to make it to those 3 with no problem....well the last was a bit interesting in our van. felt like we were about to tip over a few times but roger is a rock star driver. and of course i just held on ALOT!!

tues, we headed out to the farthest school, it took over an hour from our house. i felt like we just kept driving and driving. finally we reached a part where even roger had to get out and check the road. it was a bit rough but we had no idea what was in store. we go down a steep, rut filled road and we found a river over the road....yeah!!! so we stopped, assessed and enjoyed the view. we walked in the river and enjoyed this little gem in the middle of nowhere, really nowhere. got the camera and went exploring. about 10 feet from where we were parked i noticed that the boulders were quite big in the river and i couldn't see the rest of the river. it was the beginning of a 30-40 foot waterfall. WOW!!! so amazing. i think i got a bit too close to the edge, i got that funny feeling in my tummy. it was a great little stop while roger began to assess the steep incline to climb on the other side. not so sure the van was built for this..hahaha. we made it up and about a couple miles more we reach the one room school. it was a blast. we still had to get out again and make it to another school that was as hard to get to before lunch so we spent some time with the kids and had to jet. getting out prooved to be a bit harder. there was more sliding than anyone likes to see as you are coming down a hill and heading toward a river and getting back up the final incline took a few tries. i don't think 4 wheels on a van qualify for a 4wd. haha. about an 1 1/2 later we made it to the next school. we had to ditch the van and walk with the supplies for 200 yards or so.. not so bad. thank goodness it was the other one room school with less than 20 kids.

it was such a great couple of days. it was so much fun to do this as a family and see the looks on the kids faces. it seemed as the farther out we went the kids changed. more open, so grateful and enjoying the small blessings in life. i definately had my moments of laughter and joy and tears. i am truly blessed.

oh and the rest of the week, i won't say much about that. let's just say it consisted of our van being in the shop. enough said. we did get it out sat. which was just in time since roger was heading to northeast nicaragua for a week with some guys from louisiana. it sure makes it easier to get to and from the airport with a car. thank God, He is always on time.

IT'S BEEN TOO LONG!!!!

i know it has been forever since i blogged. january was a crazy month. it all started with an awesome clinic. we had over 55 people show up. it was non stop for 5 hours and went through tons of meds. we even had people that had to wait outside to see the doc. that was fun!!!

we then got ready for a trip to new orleans. we usually don't go to the states til march but roger's sister was expecting her first baby. he was 10 days late but boy is he cute!!!! that was a nice little break, if you could call it that.

we were so glad to be coming back home a week ago and we were so happy to be back into warmer weather, yeah!!! we hit the ground running once we returned.

we have another clinic tomorrow, so please pray. and we also have the first day of school on monday for the schools that we are working with. we have taken on 4 more schools with a total of 300+ kids. it will be so exciting!!! there was definately no down time.

i am so excited to see what God is doing here. and so glad to be back in the groove of things!

Christmas in paradise

I had a hard time trying to amp up for Christmas time. Our friends Mitch and Ranae had moved back to the States and other friends here all were heading back to the States or Canada. And of course the warm weather is hard to get use to, especially when I grew up with cold Christmas'.

At the last minute we found some of our friends, one of the teachers at the school we help out at and her sisters, in town and wanted to know if they wanted to come over Christmas day or eve to hang out. The tradition here is to wait til 12 am christmas to really celebrate. they shoot fireworks have a big dinner and open gifts. the family that we invited over don't really have the resources to celebrate. they don't do presents or fireworks and they just have same dinner as they always have, beans and rice. it is so hard for me to see families that can't even go to the local $1 store to get a gift for their kids. we invited them over for christmas eve to celebrate with us, they were so excited.

it ended up being 13 plus us 4. everyone wanted to come. we had grandma, her 3 daughters, grandchildren and 2 neighbor kids came. i really didn't have much planned so we grilled hot dogs and bought fireworks. we all had a blast!! it was so great to see all the kids light some fireworks and the old faithful sparklers. it made it really special to just spend time with each other and not focus on who got how many gifts, or the best gifts. we didn't stay up til midnight but trust me the fireworks woke us up anyway...haha

Butterfly, Flutterby

sunday, it was just a nice day. no other explaination. we hung up the hammocks, there was a slight breeze and just a bit of clouds. (sorry to all those with the freezing weather) it was so peaceful. as we were swinging away, the most beautiful thing happened, hundreds of tiny yellow butterflies were flying by. we were blessed enough to be there at the right time to see as they passed by. if there was a perfect day here, the best family day!!!

adios and enjoy your own "butterflies" wherever you are.

enjoying where i am,

rhonda

ps. to all those with the snow and the freezing cold, i do envy you a bit. it is so much easier to get into the holiday mood with a bit colder weather. and josiah continues to pray and ask if God can make it snow here in Nicaragua too.;)