On our very first Sunday in Honduras, Ned took us to Danny and Ruth Castro's church. (Ruth is the executive director of our hospital, and Danny is the retired spiritual director.) Lillian climbed right into Danny's lap.
Abigail had been feeling sad, missing our home church-- but God turned her Yuck! into a Yeah! with a nice Sunday school teacher, Jenny, who spoke English and a group of girls who included her by playing games that required no Spanish, like "touch" (or tag).
This is the courtyard of CURE Honduras, a pediatric orthopedic hospital that serves patients from all over Central America. (Jay had a patient who traveled 9 hours to get to her 7am appointment this week.) The plants were provided by the family of a grateful patient.
The land for the hospital was graciously donated to CURE. It is surrounded by a high wall/fence that is guarded by two armed guards around the clock. It is within these walls that we are living until our rental home is ready. We have enjoyed getting to know the guards-- this is Bilhilio who has six children.
This is the waiting area where clinic patients and their families wait. The families arrive on the day of their appointment at 7am for hospital devotions-- and then they receive a number for their turn. Then they wait in this area for their number to be called. They may be waiting for up to six hours for their appointment.
There is a television mounted on the wall. It is on this screen that the spiritual director shows the Jesus film, Veggie Tales cartoons, and various Bible stories.
Although most patients come the day of their surgery and leave soonafter, some patients need to spend the night before their surgery due to long distances traveled or after their surgery due to the nature of their procedure. This is the ward in which the children and one of their parents will stay.
Here is Jay in clinic. I'll let him write more about his work in a later post.
And Jay in surgery. One of the hospital's goals is to involve more Honduran physicians. This week one of the most prominent Honduran orthopedic surgeons came to CURE to do some arthroscopic surgeries. Jay also operated on a two-month-old fracture (the age of the fracture, not the child) of the femur that had not been in traction. A very difficult surgery.
Another fracture that was weeks old by the time Jay saw the patient.
There are some Honduran medical students rotating at CURE now. So Jay is giving a Powerpoint talk on compartment syndrome in the conference room. In the foreground in purple scrubs is a visiting college student from the US, Sarah Black, who is the daughter of the orthopedic chairman at Penn State, Jay's former boss.
And last Wednesday, we had a most unexpected surprise! When we came to Honduras in 2009 as a family, Abigail bonded with a patient who came for surgery. It was this friendship with Myrah that led to her decision that she could live in Honduras as a missionary. It was incredible when Jay ran up the steps to the apartment to bring Abigail downstairs to see Myrah who happened to be back for her surgical follow-up!
We are so excited about the CURE staff. We have just loved our new family and look forward to getting to know them better. This past Saturday night before he left in the morning to return to Hershey, Ned took our family, Ruth and Danny Casto, and two other CURE doctors to dinner. In the foreground is Dr. Canales who is general practioner who works at CURE. He's been so helpful to Jay in translating for him in the clinic. Behind him is Dr. Mineusa who is in private practice orthopedics with his father after his orthopedic residency in Mexico and a spine fellowship in Spain. He also works for CURE around his practice schedule.
Now to the family adventures... one of our adjustments here is that we cannot drink out of the tap. We must drink bottled water from dispensers all over the hospital. All fruits and vegetables have to be washed in tap water with a few drops of bleach.
This is Grace Zablah who is the Honduran clubfoot program coordinator! She has been so helpful to us in our rental home search-- acting as our guide around the city, translator, and general advisor in terms of safe and unsafe areas to live. It's been a joy to spend time with her.
This is the trusty CURE van (nicknamed "Eleanor" by Bunny Schwentker) that has taken us all over SPS and back in our school and home search.
Traffic is much different. Pedestrians, motorcyclists, bicyclists, and horse carts weave through the vehicular traffic with no rules. Aggressive driving is rewarded. New lanes of traffic form without warning. There are few street signs and some missing manhole covers. No speed limits except those imposed by speed bumps. And accidents abound. I've driven by two fatalities in our short time here-- seen only the morgue truck in one circumstance, but saw the body bag being loaded in the other. Pray for safety for us as we travel around the city.
This is Diunsa-- a Walmart-like store where we can find household goods for a reasonable price.
We grocery shop in stores, but buy our fruit from a truck near CURE. The fruit is picked at the peak of ripeness, so we have to buy it and consume it quickly. It's mango season! A small watermelon, six large mangoes, a bag of green-but-ripe oranges, and two bunches of bananas cost me about $4.
After our school visits, we decided on the bilingual Village Montessori-- a very small but classical-yet-progressive school in the north. (It was also exponentially less expensive than the big international school.) The girls are thrilled since they attended a montessori school in Hershey. It gives us a few years to make the final decision regarding any further schooling. They wear these uniforms four days a week-- and a PE uniform on Thursdays. On the first day Abigail had music class in Spanish with a translator. The class is learning to play the recorder (flute). Abigail's class has 12 children-- including the director's child. Lillian is in a class of seven.
Before school began, the teachers spent three hours with our girls one-on-one to get to know them better. We are so grateful that God provided a lovely and safe school that our girls love.
Across the street and half a block away is the swimming pool where the San Pedro Delfin swim team practices. They are the most successful team in Honduras-- according to their website. Beginning next month, the Montessori children will be coming here on Mondays for swim lessons during PE.
One huge difference for us in starting Honduran school is the fact that we need to purchase all the school supplies and books. This necessitated a long trip to the school supply store with two lists of about 30 items each-- thankfully we looked so helpless that three ladies helped us find everything.
After 1 1/2 weeks of daily trips out to see potential homes, we did find a rental house within our budget in a safe neighborhood. We have been repeatedly warned by North Americans and Hondurans alike that SPS is not a safe place. We were advised to find a home in a gated community. El Barrial is a neighborhood of about 50 homes within a gate and wall that is guarded around the clock. No one gets in without an appointment that is confirmed by phone on that day.
The home is just right for our family. God was certainly in the details of this! The family are strong Christians who are moving to the capital city. She owns an Italian restaurant where she makes gelato-- even flavored with basil and avocado. The house is one story (safer for our one year old Charlotte and very unusual for SPS) and shaped like a U around a covered patio and a small yard where the kids can play within my line of vision from every room in the house. There is a door that divides the social areas from the bedrooms so we can feel free to host Bible studies or invite friends to dinner while still respecting our children's bedtimes. The house is clean and well-kept and the kitchen will be a joy in which to cook! There is even a water filter built into the kitchen tap and a garbage disposal-- which is also unusual for SPS. A wall and gate surround it for security, but inside it still feels open with a view of the sky!
It was our hope that we could find a safe neighborhood where we could take walks or even bike rides-- also a very tall order for SPS where this is very unusual. It turns out that El Barrial is a neighborhood designed around a small eco-tourism center where people can rent a little cabin, tent, or even apartment on stilts to enjoy an area of nature within the city. There are trails on which guests can walk or bike around a farm and a pond where you can birdwatch. In eco-center (where they recycle) they have a laundry, minimart, and cafeteria for guests that we can use. There are also activities-- story time twice a week, movies under the stars, chess games, Honduran cooking classes, and even urban gardening classes. All within the safe walls of our gated community. You can read more about this unusual place on http://www.techosverde.net/. God has given us a wonderful place to call home. This is a photo of the urban community garden.
And a few more photos of our Saturday adventure with Ned Schwentker. Ned took us to Pulhapanzuk Falls (about an hour away) where we took this photo. Abigail is looking forward to returning for a longer visit to swim and do the child zipline.
Then we drove another 40 minutes to the largest lake in Honduras-- Lago de Yojoa-- to have lunch. There are about 15 fish restaurants in a row-- but we knew to go to Iris' because it's a favorite of Danny and Ruth's.
We picked our fish from a freezer full of freshly caught and frozen fish.
Then we washed our hands under a spigot overlooking the beautiful lake. The temperature was very nice-- cooler than SPS at the higher elevation.
Iris scaled, cleaned, and salted the fish before frying them.
And then she cut some plantains into chips for frying too.
And then we ate it at a table with a view.
On Sunday we took Ned to the airport for his return to Hershey-- a bit symbolic to us of the baton being passed, a story that goes back eleven years to our trip to Kijabe, Kenya where we met Ned for the first time.
Then we visited an English-speaking church of about 50-60 international Christians-- many of whom are missionaries. We will visit our friend Aracely's church this coming weekend.
Thank you for praying for us. We are adjusting to our new life here. And we can definitely testify to the gracious care of our loving Father during this time.
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Awesome post, thanks for sharing. Praying for you guys.
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