Last Full Day in Honduras!

The team did two short surgical cases today. Usually no surgeries are performed on Friday so that there are no overnight patients over the weekend due to staffing issues, but the cases done today were outpatient procedures.

Our girls would prefer to watch children's programs in Spanish than one of our English videos.

Here is the nursing station in the inpatient ward.

The hospital has a very impressive warehouse of supplies-- both for the running of the hospital and for specialty "brigades" of medical personnel. The warehouse is very clean and incredibly organized.

This is Dido, the hospital maintenance man. He showed me his meticulous records of what he does each day, the supplies he uses, and the supplies he needs. At the end of each month, he provides an impressive spreadsheet showing the allocation of his time. He was formerly a bricklayer and has three children.

This is the the lady that works in laundry.

This is Gina, the head cook. She and one helper have prepared three meals a day for us during our week here. She arrives very early and leaves very late. She previously worked in catering and is an excellent cook. She says she does it all for the glory of God.

This is Gina's helper.

This is Sandra-- the jack-of-all-trades. She finished three years of med school before quitting when she became pregnant. Now she is training as a nurse as well as running the pharmacy. She was the one who did all the decorating for Abigail's birthday. She also act as a child life staff, distributing crayons with coloring pages and bubbles as needed.

At 9:30am, Ruth took the girls and I to visit our first regular school-- the Francisan School. The preschool and kindergarten years there are montessori-style. This is one of the younger classrooms. The serve kindergarten through ninth grade but add one additional year annually to their school. The school has 250 students-- the largest classes have 26 students with two teachers.

We had a chance to observe a physical education class do relays. Lillian wanted to join right in with the hopping relay.

We were referred to the school because they have three children with Down Syndrome who are mainstreamed into their classes. The school is bilingual with some classes in English and some in Spanish. The special needs kids receive special aid during the English classes.

This was the outside gate to the international school of Honduras which has the highest academic standards and the most elite population since the tuition is very high for Honduras. Their teachers come from the US to teach for one year. Most of the cars we saw leaving were nicer than our cars at home. We couldn't get an appointment to visit this school-- so we just looked from the outside.

Next we visited Discover Corner, the school that Ruth's grandson attends. It is on a gated street but it is priced to be very accessible to "all." This is the front of the school which serves preschool through kindergarten at this time. But, in two years when their new building is completed, they will open up an elementary school as well.

Here is Lillian saying "Ola" to one of the teachers. (She surprised us today by really saying "Ola" to someone--- and has continued to greet people that way.) Mrs. Elena has a child with autism and a child with Down Syndrome in her class. Wendy is the school founder who was educated in Ohio and takes great care to attend conferences in the US so that she can keep her school at an American standard.

The classrooms come off of a central area that is lit with natural sunlight and features a child sized kitchen where they have a cooking class every week. They also have a weekly movie, music and art classes, and physical education. There is a school nurse and psychologist who tests the children. There is also an outdoor play area.

This is also a bilingual school.

Having a refreshing popsicle with Ruth's grandson Serjillo (I don't have any idea how to spell his name.) on the front steps of the school. The director Wendy's mother also runs an AIDS orphanage in town.

We will be packing up to leave tomorrow morning. It has been a great week for us to see how we would function as a family overseas. Our hosts have been marvelous-- and our team has gelled well. We will all be sad to leave! I think this one will probably reappear as our Christmas card this year.

Tomorrow we will go to the local market for souvenirs before heading to the airport.