This was my second NY/HELP
trip to Honduras. Our group of Dr. Gordon Comstock and me, was small but
achieved a great deal. It was very satisfying, yet I think the accomplishments
of a group of 6 to 10 would have been awesome. Sign up for the next trip in January 2017!
We had a task list of 12 items given us by the NY UCC
Conference’s NY/HELP Honduras
Steering Committee. Even with Dr. Comstock spending 10 hour days seeing 103
patients, we actioned each item.
Before I hit the highlights I want to share I feel that my
unplanned and unexpected trip was part of God’s plan. It has been a lesson I
seem to have to keep learning. When you care and help others God will bless
you. First the trip and our experiences was tremendous. I was able to get to
know Dr. Comstock and confirmed my sense he is a modern day hero – 24 trips in
the last 25 years to help the same tribe of less than 5,500 people at his own
expense. I noticed this year, that for less than I spend on fast food in a
year, I was able to make a significant contribution. (By the way, I am not a
fast food fan.) A few dollars invested in the tribe’s future has really paid
off for me. My outlook, happiness and sense of purpose have greatly improved.
Let me tell you about our trip. We were blessed by
great help from Mario, the loyal taxi driver who has supported NY/HELP for 10 years. Mario met us at
the airport at 10pm and had us to our hotel before midnight. I felt very safe
with him shepherding us.
The next morning, he was back at 5 am to take us to the bus
station so we could catch the first express bus to Yoro. Even though old school
buses are used and also larger charter type buses, ours was closer in size to
trolleys, seating about 25 people with no on-board bathroom. The nearly 4-hour
express ride cost 100 lempiras (Lp) which is about $5 US. Let me digress to say
the bus conductor hawks for passengers as
the bus travels; he calls out our destination and seeks more passengers.
Our NY/HELP
coordinator, Joel, met us at the bus station with fellow tribe member, Osmán. Osmán
owns an old Toyota pickup truck, the only 4-wheel drive vehicle in the tribe to
my knowledge. As a side note, Mataderos
is where the middle school (grades 7, 8 and 9th grade) is located
and is where Osmán lives with his family. The $120 scholarship I donate yearly
pays for one student to attend for a year. I was able to talk with my student
this year; it was so rewarding to meet him and the other students.
Before journeying to the mountains where La Laguna is, in Yoro we bought food supplies
for the week and 36 dozen diapers for the clinic. This is the closet commercial city for people
of the tribe and where they come for most of their health care visits beyond
the level of help the clinic’s nurse can give during the year. We drove an hour
back towards San Pedro Sula (where we flew into) and then headed up into the
mountains over 4,000 feet above sea level and 1200 feet above the 2-lane highway that connects San
Pedro Sula and Yoro. We made one stop to buy water for drinking and cooking
before going off the paved road (which was built by the US Army Corp of
Engineers in the early 1980s). It took nearly 2 hours to drive up the logging trail to reach the clinic. There was a new
section of logging trail made during the last 2 years and we were able to drive
through Mataderos which saved us nearly a
half hour. Osmán lives in Mataderos which
is about a one hour walk from La Laguna
where the clinic is located. I was very happy he drove us all the way to the
clinic. Lunch was ready for us and we dined on beans rice, and tortillas.
We got settled and discussed the week ahead with the staff
and got prepared to see patients Sunday morning. We learned from the staff what
was going on and what the tribal council was thinking about. We went to bed
shortly after supper.
This photo is of our support staff: Left to right, in front are our cooks Ondina
and Aracely, and nurse Mirtila; in back are David, Gordon, and coordinator
Joel.
When we got up and got ready for breakfast at 6 there
were already patients waiting for the clinic to open. The word was out that Dr.
Gordon Comstock had arrived. I spent most of the day walking around La Laguna. I went to the school and admired
the fine job that had been done in January putting new metal on the roof of the
two buildings and fixing the roof on the outdoor eating area. The school is
located above the clinic on the hill with a huge soccer field which is used
every night by the youth, once the day’s school and work is completed, for a
couple hours before sunset which was about 7 pm. The soccer balls are a
wonderful gift and we have found the more expensive ones called “One-World” balls last much longer as
the normal air filled balls puncture easily on the fences. Put a fence around a
field and your family controls the use of the land and the horses, cows and
pigs roam freely, so the fences protect the banana plants, coffee beans, corn
and other crops.
Each day I tried to learn new Spanish words from the people
who came to see Gordon and also from the staff. I helped out carrying water and
other housekeeping chores and exercised by walking around the village. Each
meal was special because Gordon and I would talk with various people about the
items on our list of things to accomplish. Really he talked and explained what
was said and I sometimes offered some follow-up questions or comments.
Generally, I tried to express pleasure in the satisfaction they expressed about
new kindergartens, furniture for them and the roof on the school and other
projects completed with villagers and NY/HELP
last January. It is clear these folks are grateful for the assistance and
caring attitudes of the people who travel from New York state to partner with
them.
After 4 days of seeing patients we were ready to return to
Yoro to finish handling items on our list before going to the airport. On our
last evening in the mountains, we spent several hours in discussions. First
with our coordinator, Joel, about his duties and how things were going for him
and within the tribe. There has been much satisfaction expressed about us
hiring a coordinator from the village. He is very well respected and walked to
many villages, helping them select participants for the sewing program that
will start in January 2017. One of the cooks, Aracely (Ruth) will being helping
Connie Houde with the sewing program and Aracely was optimistic about how this
will help each of the villages and the women of the tribe. We also talked about
the clinic with our staff nurse, Mirtila,
and the patients and projected expenses of health items that needed attention
off the mountain. The next morning before we left the clinic, Gordon saw 6
patients arriving before 7 am who had walked 3 hours to see him.
Osmán arrived and we loaded our bags – several bags
going back to NY empty because the supplies and medicines had been delivered.
Once Gordon had seen the patients that arrived Thursday morning, we departed,
again going through Mataderos and
stopping at the middle school. Gordon talked with one of the teachers and
discussed the computers in use there and she explained how they could be
improved upon. This school has solar panels so they can charge the batteries of
the computer. The garden started 2 years ago was still in use. Several students
showed me things within the garden and tried to share with me their excitement
about us visiting. Several of the boys were playing marbles during recess. I
was amazed at how good the boys were on the rough ground of the school yard.
The adult son of the principal came to the school while we were visiting and we
learned why the girls were dressed up. In fact, we got to watch a dress
rehearsal of a dance by 12 middle school students, 6 boys and 6 girls. The
rehearsal was in preparation for the upcoming celebration of the “Day of the
Indians.” We went to the community
center which is close to the school. The teacher used a smart phone and a
speaker to play the dance music and the students danced and sang to the music.
A very impressive number and their joy in the dance was rewarding to see and
feel.
Before I leave Mataderos,
let me tell you about a student at the elementary school who had been playing
marbles and who had been intent on talking to me even though I did not
understand his Spanish. He pointed to Gordon several times while trying to get
me to understand what he was saying. My “no
comprendo” did not discourage him. He was so sincere and earnest
that I asked Gordon to come over to translate. We learned he was Josue. The
name was one I knew because two years ago when he was 5, he was a little runt
of a
kid who had been born prematurely, and then had severe blockage of his
portal artery, resulting in intestinal bleeding. NY/HELP
funded an operation for him to have a shunt put in. Gordon was as surprised as
me, although he had seen him August 2016, at how much Josue had grown over the
last year and it was twice as amazing for me who last saw him in 2014. The
young man was so alive and happy. He was very competitive in the marble games
and seemed to be extremely well liked by his peers in the school. NY/HELP makes a difference and we can
do it because of your contributions.
I had mixed emotions as we left Mataderos
and drove down the steep mountain to get to the paved road. Excited
about getting back to my family for sure, but also a strong desire to see what
I could do to help get water to all the homes and work with the teachers for
the school gardens and spend more time with the student I sponsor for his
middle school education. I would like to assist in a historical account of the
tribe and complete a census to know who lives in which villages. I look forward
to the time when I can communicate in Spanish with the people of the mountain.
The auto repair section professor was also a graduate of the
program but from 17 years ago and had returned to teach after working in
several of the larger cities. CEVER also teaches high school classes for
students who wish to combine their skill training with a high school diploma.
Osmán was kind enough to take us back
to the hotel and dropped Joel, Gordon and me off at the hotel around 5 pm.
Gordon was interested in going to the boarding house. It was about a 2 mile
hike. We were able to see Pastor José Feliciano and house-mother Petronida, two
people that have over the years been very close to NY/ HELP. Youth from the village used to stay in the boarding house
and attend a high school just down the road. This couple started at the
boarding house with help from Bill Briggs, the NY Conference minister in the
1990's. José Feliciano is a retired E&R minister. His wife still oversees the boarding house
which has 23 students living there. They have a home on the property in
addition to the boarding house and have a large garden to aid in feeding the
students boarding there. This year it has been very dry in Honduras and we offered
to help get them a drip-irrigation kit for the garden.
That evening Joel suggested we eat at a new Chinese
restaurant down the street from the hotel. The food was very good and cost the
3 of us less than $24 US. Each plate had more food than we could eat.
We went back to the hotel and enjoyed our first showers in
over a week. Hot water cannot be over-rated!
God is good. The next morning, we were up early working on our list. We
went and got pictures from Joel’s camera transferred to a flash drive, picked
up markers and other supplies for training classes and meetings, and found a
place to get Joel’s NY/HELP computer
operational. In the hotel the night before, we could not get it to connect to
the internet in order to transfer the pictures. We invested in this
repair/upgrade so Joel would have Microsoft Office and internet access to send
reports to NY/HELP. Currently he has
to come into Yoro to access the internet but with people using solar panels and
satellite dish TV; I suspect soon the village will have internet. Even though
Gordon and my cell phones would not get a signal in the mountains, some members
of the tribe had various cell phones with the ability to get reception to call
and text. This was not possible two years ago.
We worked with Joel until 2:30 and crossed the street arriving at the bus station at 2:50 to find that the 3 o’clock bus had already left (it was full so no sense in waiting around). I was alarmed to find our there was only one more express bus to San Pedro Sula that day – at 3:30pm. I immediately bought our tickets and took a seat to be sure we would have passage. That bus did not leave until it was full which was close to 4 pm. We collected more people who stood in the aisle as we left Yoro behind. Joel got off the bus as we reached La Habana, the turn-off for the mountain. We are lucky that Joel takes time away from his farming to be our coordinator. I believe him to be a good asset for NY/HELP and his tribe.
We worked with Joel until 2:30 and crossed the street arriving at the bus station at 2:50 to find that the 3 o’clock bus had already left (it was full so no sense in waiting around). I was alarmed to find our there was only one more express bus to San Pedro Sula that day – at 3:30pm. I immediately bought our tickets and took a seat to be sure we would have passage. That bus did not leave until it was full which was close to 4 pm. We collected more people who stood in the aisle as we left Yoro behind. Joel got off the bus as we reached La Habana, the turn-off for the mountain. We are lucky that Joel takes time away from his farming to be our coordinator. I believe him to be a good asset for NY/HELP and his tribe.
We were again blessed by God when we reached San Pedro Sula
bus station. This place reminds me of Grand Central Station in New York City.
Mario, responding to a text from Gordon, was there and found us – very much
like finding a needle in a stack of hay. He whisked us to our hotel and had
dinner with us and another surprise came as we ate. Our old friend, Jimmy
Alvarado, arrived at the hotel and it was old home week for Gordon. Jimmy had
been the NY/HELP coordinator when
Gordon first went to Honduras. He now runs an English school in San Pedro Sula.
Gordon was able to go and visit the school.
Mario was back at 4 am to take us to the airport. We arrived
very quickly since the traffic was very light. We were through customs and
security quickly and had time to relax and buy breakfast before our plane began
to board. The trip was drawing to a close and counting the blessings of this
trip left me breathless to see God so active in our lives and journey.
Now a month later I am amazed at how the blessings keep
coming. I am convinced my NY/HELP
volunteer trip with Dr. Comstock has helped my life greatly.
