Well, our last group of nursing students is on their way back to the aeropuerto as I type this. Yesterday Eddie and I had to drive Drs. Dave and Mary Kay Ness to the airport for an emergency trip back to the states, and I am worn out. So today I will rest and write this blog, before Eddie brings the next group of students and we head out to Ixtayutla tomorrow.
Before I get started, did I tell you that Drs. Mary Kay and Dave Ness, and our friend Bertha Guild arrived from upstate New York? We met Dave and Mary Kay the first time we came to Roca Blanca in February 2004 and have become close friends as we work together every year.
Before I get started, did I tell you that Drs. Mary Kay and Dave Ness, and our friend Bertha Guild arrived from upstate New York? We met Dave and Mary Kay the first time we came to Roca Blanca in February 2004 and have become close friends as we work together every year.
Dave, Eddie and Mary Kay getting ready to bed down in Cerro del Aire
For those of you who know of Dave and Mary Kay, you may remember that we have been praying for their daughter-in-law Cindy for the last few years. Cindy has been fighting breast cancer, and it appears that the fight may be over soon. Please pray for them all, Eric, the doctors’ son, and their grandchildren Aiden and Lucas, as well as Cindy.
Chico State University Nursing Students
Nine students and their instructor, Janelle Gardner, were with us for a week. They traveled with us up to a very small Chatino village. We held a clinic, they did health teaching and also distributed clothing.
Janelle and toothpaste
The girls brushing...
Jill and Valarie sizing up the children for clothing
It was a bit of an adventure. They slept on the concrete floor of the little church and discovered that roosters in actuality crow all night long. They used a pit toilet with a hole in the ground, sticks laid down with a wide gap for the floor, and colorful tarps that blew in the wind, for privacy. Our cook however had cooked for gringos for years, and she provided us with the best of Mexican style food, plus French toast!
Susan, Lisa, Cassidy, Jill and Becky getting ready to bed downWe saw over 60% of the 80 inhabitants of Carrizal. We found that the hygiene teaching that the students brought was very much needed. We saw mostly skin infections and parasites, especially skin parasites such as scabies and lice.
We left Carrizal earlier than we had planned. The medical clinic had been announced to the adjoining villages, but events preceding our arrival came into play. There was news, or rumors, of children in the region being kidnapped and murdered around Puerto Escondido, and people had been be warned to avoid strangers, especially gringos. We had been given permission to be in the region, and Laura is familiar to the people of the villages that we passed through, still because of the fear the people did not arrive and so we left a day earlier than planned.
Dave, Laura and Mary Kay interviewing Paulino
Hogar de Nueva Vida
We did get to take the students to an orphanage in Puerto Escondido the following day where they did health teaching and handed out new toothbrushes. While there, we encountered Paulino, a man who hand been sleeping outside of the gate of the orphanage. A pastor had found him down at the central market, very sick and probably dying. He had no doubt suffered an embolus in his leg some months ago, and probably a bleeding ulcer. The greatest need Dave and Mary Kay found when they examined him was nutrition.
Our medications and supplies are supplied by the generosity of many... thank you!
Thank you, thank you!
When the students arrived from California they were carrying extra baggage…..loads of vitamins, Ibuprofen, Tylenol, bandages and medical supplies. Cassidy brought money from a couple in her church, which probably purchased the equivalent of over $300.00 U.S. in medications. Perhaps you don’t know, prescription meds like antibiotics are cheaper here, but over the counter meds are not. Some meds that we like to use are not even available to us, especially Neosporin and Triple Antibiotic Ointment.
Also provided by Cassidy were a wide variety of items (filling 3 duffle bags) collected by an organization whose purpose is to salvage valuable, unused items from hospitals, like I.V. tubing, bandages and tape. These are things I was becoming desperate for.
Drs Mary Kay and Dave arrived with their pick-up carrying computers and boxes and boxes of medical and pharmaceutical supplies, including Lidocaine with epinephrine and injectable Benedryl, things that I had, but were expired, and was not able to replace here. Also, their church, Elim Fellowship of Lima, New York sent money for medications which will help us this month as we go back up to the mountains.
It has come to our attention... some of our friends, specifically Laura and Sue has given our blog address to their supporters to inform them of clinic activities. Laura, the director of the clinic and Sue co-director of the Roca Blanca ministry are very, very busy people. So if you are new to this blog, Welcome!
I wanted to add a calendar of upcoming events so you can pray for us:
Oral Roberts University Leadership Class January 22 - February 18. This will involve two trips up to the Ixtayutla Region.
David Nelson and students February 16 - 22. David is Laura's fiance, he is bring a group of his students to do children's ministry, and we plan to go to the Itayutla region as well.
When the students arrived from California they were carrying extra baggage…..loads of vitamins, Ibuprofen, Tylenol, bandages and medical supplies. Cassidy brought money from a couple in her church, which probably purchased the equivalent of over $300.00 U.S. in medications. Perhaps you don’t know, prescription meds like antibiotics are cheaper here, but over the counter meds are not. Some meds that we like to use are not even available to us, especially Neosporin and Triple Antibiotic Ointment.
Also provided by Cassidy were a wide variety of items (filling 3 duffle bags) collected by an organization whose purpose is to salvage valuable, unused items from hospitals, like I.V. tubing, bandages and tape. These are things I was becoming desperate for.
Drs Mary Kay and Dave arrived with their pick-up carrying computers and boxes and boxes of medical and pharmaceutical supplies, including Lidocaine with epinephrine and injectable Benedryl, things that I had, but were expired, and was not able to replace here. Also, their church, Elim Fellowship of Lima, New York sent money for medications which will help us this month as we go back up to the mountains.
It has come to our attention... some of our friends, specifically Laura and Sue has given our blog address to their supporters to inform them of clinic activities. Laura, the director of the clinic and Sue co-director of the Roca Blanca ministry are very, very busy people. So if you are new to this blog, Welcome!
I wanted to add a calendar of upcoming events so you can pray for us:
Oral Roberts University Leadership Class January 22 - February 18. This will involve two trips up to the Ixtayutla Region.
David Nelson and students February 16 - 22. David is Laura's fiance, he is bring a group of his students to do children's ministry, and we plan to go to the Itayutla region as well.
Laura and LeeannPersonally speaking. Eddie has been asked to work with the base water chlorination projects. We currently do not know too much about this, except that Roca Blanca has been instrumental in helping procure safe water for Yucuya'a in the Ixtayutla region. Now we understand that these $5,000.00 U.S. chlorination units are being purchased by supporters in the U.S. and Eddie has been asked to work with the installation project.
This requires prayer to accept such a responsibiltiy, it could have many ramifications in our lives and ministry. Please pray. Also, thank you who have been responding to our request for support. Please continue your prayers.
Eddie and Leeann
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