here are the abc’s of this year’s nicaragua mission:
rancho Alpes, west of Leon, where we unwound friday night and saturday morning with a feast (or two), zip lines and…(see K).
a green Band-aid on carla’s toe marks the spot where she was stung by a ray (or bitten by a crab, or cut by a bottle of tona, or attacked by a great white). (see O.)
another busy, busy Clinic. four full days, well over 200 patients served by 3 nurses (cindy, kevin and sue)…and
…Doctors — we have two with us this year. doug, back for his second tour. “terrific” tim, his first with us. both are amazing to watch, a blessing to us all and under rabid (right tim?) pressure from the team to return again next year.
Escuela — where the classes are held. (theirs and the ones we detail in M.)
Fatigue sets in. saturday’s bus ride back to managua, awfully quite.
a pair of reading Glasses, Given to a young woman in the clinic when she told the doc she couldn’t read her bible. maybe now she will do more than read the word.
the Hole. (okay…look at T.)
courtney was Inspired as she translated for clinic Intake.
the first year the mules have had a Jenny. (amy, like so many mules, was unable to escape the hole.)
Karaoke. (not pretty.)
Leon, our destination on friday night.
Med-bags. that’s what we call the 400+ home health kits we distributed to the people of jinocuao. and gringo graham from costa rica not only led the organized classes, but also held impromptu and 1 on 1 sessions for people who couldn’t make the regular sessions.
so maybe they can’t make bbq in North carolina, at least they made josh, paul and doug…and sent them with us to nicaragua.
the pacific Ocean beach (on saturday afternoon) had dark gray, burn-your-feet sand, surfable waves and cantankerous critters (see B).
handmade Pick-ax handles, invaluable to the hole.
there were Quite a few spiders around to keep the puma busy.
Rosa has a cashew farm, is one of the community leaders, one of our cooks, and a very funny lady. (and she says nancy is much “wiser” than carla.)
the clinic saw its first Scalpel hauled out (and the little boy hid under a Sheet the whole time).
out in the middle-of-nowhere nicaragua (which is where we do our clinics and construction jobs) Toilets are latrines. for four days, the construction crew cut through well over 7 feet of rock (disguised as dirt) so someday soon, a new high school will have its potty. a latrine, a project, a movement: the hole. (and yes, we gathered around it and blessed it on the way outta town.)
there are many Untold stories from this trip. please ask a team member about them.
we were Very lucky this year to have a new clinic building to work in with a nicaraguan doc and 2.5 nurses. they were indescribably welcoming and helpful. (and one of them may soon be working for doug.)
lots of White meat (and dark meat) chicken along with plenty of rice and beans, even homemade french fries — all cooked by the ladies of jinocuao. could this be the best-fed nicaragua mission team yet? what a blessing.
Xiomara, one of the beautiful names (when pronounced as intended) of one of the beautiful ladies we were lucky enough to meet in jinocuao.
You ever thought about coming on the nicaragua mission trip?
Zero five hundred — the time we leave for the airport on sunday morning.
