It feels as though it's been an eternity since I've been 'round these parts, and as usual I'm being pestered to update. So here we go...As per the previous post, you may know my sister visited me in Berlin for my last week in Germany. Instead of re-posting everything, I will just direct you to her blog for stories and photos. She captured everything much better than I could even attempt to.
Just days after moving back to the US from Europe, saying goodbye to many dear friends I met over the last year (photo above was taken at a little "going away" dinner we had the night before my sister and I flew home) I embarked on a long-awaited journey to Honduras for the annual HOMBRE medical brigade I've been participating in since 2005. This year we spent eight days providing medical consults to adults and children in some of the poorest areas of the country. The first four days were split between two villages in remote villages in the mountain, La Hicaca and Las Lomitas. We set up consult rooms for the first couple of days in la Hicaca, and also cleaned and distributed 25 new water filters to replace those that were left two years ago.The third day we made the journey to Lomitas, about an hour drive from La Hicaca. On a good day the roads are bad. This year the road was nearly impassable. The worst part is always the narrow, steep, winding road heading up the mountainside. My heart nearly stopped as I was trying to get one of our pickups to the top, and we got stuck in the enormous crevices. The only thing I could think about at that point was the story the priests told us about last year about a woman that died driving on the roads up in that area last year. She lost momentum, the car died, and as she tried to go up again she lost traction and fell off the cliff. You can probably imagine the terror surging throughout my body at that moment. I was about to make everybody get out of my truck so I could give it another go, but at that moment the priest came running to my rescue, and safely took us up the mountain. Padre Enrique is my hero.
In Lomitas we brought another 25 water filters for families that had never received one before. Their source of drinking water is the river that runs not too far from the villages. They previously had not been treating the water before drinking it, thus GI infections were common, and death in young children from dehydration along with diarrhea was just a reality. After cleaning and installing all of the filters, we gathered at least one person from each household to run through the fairly simple instructions on how to use and maintain the filter so it lasts at least two years. The entire system (bucket and filter) is purchased locally (in Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras), and costs approximately $25, and provides clean drinking water to an entire household for two years. It is such a simple and cheap solution to preventing illness and death in young children due to diarrheal infections. If you are interested in supporting the work done on these trips, including the purchase of these water filters and medications, please visit the Golden Phoenix Foundation website.
The trip ended with four more days of clinic in Coyoles (following a day of rest at the beach in Trujillo - photo above), a town surrounded by Dole plantations. This year we noticed more so than in past years the effects of poverty, low-level education, gender discrimination and broken families. As always, it was a pleasure to work with the local people who make these trips possible. The group of youth this year in Coyoles was more energetic than ever, which made working in the heat and humidity so much more pleasant. The photo below is of several of the doctors and students with the wonderful people we had the opportunity to work with again this year.
Immediately following the brigade (unfortunately I didn't even have time to make it to Tegucigalpa to visit all of my little loves and friends at NPH), I embarked on a journey to another part of the world that is unfamiliar to me...Washington, D.C. Days later I began a summer internship through the Global Health Fellows Program of the Public Health Institute. I am working in the Office of HIV of the Global Health Bureau at the Unites States Agency for International Development (USAID). I am working with the Orphans and Vulnerable Children technical working group, as well as with the team addressing the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV. My role is still a bit in the developmental stage, but it sounds as though things might become a bit more solidified this week. Great opportunities are popping up, and I'm meeting many wonderful people, and working in an environment that is new to me, and one which is providing an opportunity to learn another side of international health work.I guess that about sums it up for now.
Happy 4th of July weekend!
