My Blog

Day Six: Hope to the Hopeless; the dump

Fri, 9 Jul 2010 11:42:08 -0500

July 9, 2010
Yesterday was my first experience at the Tegucigalpa Dump. 1.2 million people in the capital city. unfortunately, several live in the dump. Before we exit our vehicles, we take off all jewelry, hide all our backpacks under the seats and caution all to stay close together (within arm’s length). We all have mentholatium under our noses to cover the smell we know is going to be there, yet when we open the door of the van we are knocked back by the stench. This is what some call home. As we make our way out of the van we can see that the people are not paying attention to us at all. A truck has just pulled in to empty it’s load and they are running to meet it. 30-40 people frantically dig through the pile to find something, anything they could possibly sell, wear or eat. They are primarily looking for cardboard or plastic bottles that they can sell to the local recycling station. Some lucky ones have found a large piece of plastic that they have stitched into a bag with twine. These bags slung over their shoulders contain their treasures. Desperate men, (young and old), women, and children. We stand there in disbelief.
Also watching the people and swooping in are the thousands of buzzards that are their constant companions. As quickly as we can we set up our medical station and prepare to start treating people. Jerry, Jared and I set up a security perimeter around our ladies and the lines begin to form. We could not have asked for a smoother process. They are kind and polite as they patiently wait to explain to Anne and Kristen there ailment and they do whatever we can to help them. Stephanie washes their wounds, Linda dries their wounds, Kristen and Anne supply Tylenol, ibuprofen, antiseptic, and bandages. My youngest daugher Kristen and Anne Taylor are in their element now. Going through more people then we can count they put smiles on faces and relieve their pain. It is amazing watching them work.
Jerry, Jared and I are constantly scanning the crowd for any possible threats, but, God has provided a safe bubble in the middle of the chaos. As we stand around the pickup truck that has transformed into a hospital, the men come up to us and try to communicate with us. Sometimes it is just a handshake or a fist bump or a smile, but sometimes there are broken Spanish phrases exchanged. As I scan the crowd I see a young boy, probably around 8 years old. He turns to look at me and he has a KU Jayhawks hat on. By that point we are used to the smell and the filth, but that young face will haunt me. The hours fly by and we pack up our stuff and head down the hill in the van. Coming up the hill is another truck that has joined the continuous parade to unload. A young woman clings to the side of the truck to ride it up the hill and hopefully get a jump on the others. She looks to be about 8 months pregnant. What a humbling start to our day….
As the evening comes, our schedule is tight as we only have the church building for one hour and it is 1 ½ hours away. Dinner is scheduled for 5pm but we are already running behind. The house building crews return and the food distribution teams are scrambling to get cleaned up and ready to go. Frank and I are walking down a drive way when we hear fireworks. Fireman Frank jumps into action as we look towards the building we eat in and see that a power line has broken loose and is dancing on the top of the tin roof. Frank gets our teams out of the building and away from any water they may possibly want to instinctively throw at the fire that is starting. Jared runs back into the building and throws all the breakers, but the line is an external power source so it continues to dance on the tin roof. The flames start up as we hand Frank a long bamboo stick and he gets the wire off the roof and in a secured position. The men form a line and we passed buckets up to Fireman Jeremy Eagleman and the bucket brigade quickly contains the fire.
Now we have 10 minutes to eat and we run to the bus to start our journey to the other side of Tegucigalpa and up the side of a mountain. The streets are so steep as we approach the church, we are unable to get the bus any closer so we walk the last ¼ mile in the rain. As we walk into the church the other groups from the US have already assembled and within the first song, we all know it was so worth the trip just to be in this room for this short hour of praise and worship. I can’t imagine this church has ever had 318 people in it singing in it’s 500 years of existence. They are filling the pews, sitting in the floor, standing on the edges of the room. No piano, no organ, no sound system but the sound of the voices is amazing. As we finish up, we get a surprise visitor that joins our group. It is the Honduran Minister of Energy. As a translator tells us what he is saying, he speaks to us wishing he could find away to harness the energy in this room. He is so gracious and thankful for the teams in the room and the houses and food we have supplied, but most of all he is thankful that we are taking God to the people he represents. One of them most humbling things he says went something like this… “please know that the Honduran people are praying for the United States and I am praying for all of you. I selfishly ask that you continue to pray for me and the country of Honduras because we need it more.”
After leaving the mountain, we head to Hospital Escuela. Arriving at 1030pm we quickly organize two groups to pass out blankets to the families in sleeping in the hallways. In order to get through the hospital gate we had to bribe the guards. 3 blankets is a small price to pay for entrance. We have found out that when a child is hospitalized, some have families stay with them for the duration of their hospital stay. Other children have no one that visits them and they can be there for several weeks. The thought process behind this is that the mother knows the sick child is being fed and cared for so she stays home to care for the rest of the family. This leaves these children alone in this hospital. Doug and Donna Griffith of Joplin MO, found a way to get a donation of several pallets of blankets, linens and towels that we sent down on the container back in May. We have a definite idea on where they are needed! As we walked down the halls there are several family members sleeping in the floors. There were so many amazing moments but I will only relate one. Makayla Griffith leaned over to cover up a man and his wife as they slept. As she laid the blanket across them they opened their eyes and were so excited to see this ‘angel’ above them covering them. They thanked her over and over again, in Spanish, with huge smiles. It was an amazing moment. This was happening all over the hospital that night. In a matter of minutes we had passed out hundreds of blankets to those who had nothing. It was a one of those wonderful times that God places you in the midst of an immediate need with exactly the tools you need to fill it.
In one day I experienced what I would hope is the closest to hell I ever come and then experienced the glorious mountain top experience. The amazing thing, or maybe the ironic is that God was in both places, the dump and the little church in Santa Lucia.

james

Day Five: Impossible House

Thu, 8 Jul 2010 08:35:00 -0500

July 8, 2010
Today was another great day in Honduras full of Gods love and blessings. The group I was with went to do an impossible house, a house that sat way up on a steep mountainside. Mark had told us that we would spend most of the day just moving wood from the base of the mountain to the top of the mountain. By Gods great glory when we arrived the people who transfer the wood to us in the mornings found a road that led straight to the base of our work site. What a blessing it was, and a relief to my sore shoulders. Before we were able to build we had to tear down a house that had termite infestations and no floor so water ran through the families house every time it rained. The build went beautiful and once again I was amazed by another one of the woman on our trip. Little Leslie Trotter got up on the roof of the old shady house and pulled nails so that we could get all the tin off the roof. What a lady. What made the build even better was that the family that we built for had been waiting for this house for three years and you could see the relief in the fathers face when the house was finished. I have to mention the amazing dinner we had from Las Carnitas. Well worth the wait in the rain.
Kyle Fritz

Day Four: The local helpers

Wed, 7 Jul 2010 08:58:04 -0500

July 6, 2010
Wednesday, Workday 4.
You never really know the build site before you show up. It could have the lumber literally lying at the foot of the house, or in our case, the foot of the mountain quite a ways from the house. For some reason, the challenge of just getting the tools, lumber and people there seem too much at times, let alone getting a house constructed in under a day.
Our build today was to be simple to start, build two homes with both sites pretty close together. Funny how plans change even when you have the best of intentions. But after realizing supplies and lumber would take 2 hours to get to the locations, and each location was resting on solid rock, this became quite a challenge.
We had to literally use a hammer and chisel to break away holes in the rock foundation to put our posts in, something that is so challenging and time consuming you’re beyond exhausted before the first timber is even standing. But here’s where your attitude comes in check, the locals. The locals, the little mountain people who have nothing to gain in some cases pull together to help their neighbor and friend.
The locals covered our site, working hard with the chisels while very old women helped haul lumber up the mountain, I mean 6 very heavy boards on their shoulders following a trail covered in mud and rocks and their walking with no shoes. They’re showing us up for sure. Makes it hard to have a bad attitude about working when you see how much they’re helping with our effort, our job.
I could go on about our hard, but that’s not what stands out to me, it’s the people of Honduras who are so willing to help every time we begin a project. Out group continued construction, but they continued to haul heavy timber, up hill, without shoes and doing it all without help and with a smile on their face. Incredible. Hannah, Megan and I hauled 6 sheets of tin up the mountain while a single man double my age hauled 12, again with no shoes. Incredible.
While we were finishing our work and the house was nearing completion, they were cleaning up our site and preparing their home. Incredible.
But the most incredible story of the day was when the future home owner, a women with three children and one on the way and no husband for support, left the worksite and walked down the mountain to the city of Ojojona to a store to get each worker a bag of water. Each bag is 2 limperas, so when she returned with 10 bags, or 20 limperas worth, she had spent a dollar of her money to make sure we had water. Crazy when you realize that people here live on one dollar a day. This woman who has so much responsibility with no man to help her who we’re suppose to be helping spent an entire day’s wages, walking up and down the mountain, to make sure we’re taken care of. Incredible. I mean simply incredible to witness Jesus in her and her servant heart.
We finally finished this nearly impossible home, proving nothing really is impossible and gathered inside with the woman, her children, and her mother. After praying over her and her family’s new home, she was so moved she cried and hugged, I mean bear hugged, every worker inside. Incredible. The people of Honduras continue to prove their love for us, our work, and our Lord and Savior.
Incredible.

Kyle Calvert

Day Two: Hospital Escuela

Wed, 7 Jul 2010 08:20:48 -0500

July 5, 2010
Hospital Escuela
Tuesday, we had the opportunity to send a big part of our team to the Government ran Hospital in Tegucigalpa. It is a very busy place in in some cases a little antiquated in their equipment and procedures. I was told of incident that I want to record.. and hopefully I get all the details correct.
Anne Taylor and Kim Long (two of our nurses) had a chance to visit the neo-natal unit at the hospital. They met a Dr. Flores who offered to give them a private tour. This part of the hospital is very up to date with it’s equipment. The Doctor had received donations from GE and others of $1.2 million to get new equipment. Since those donations, they have managed to reduce the infant mortality rate by 50%! He informed them that this does not solve all their problems. Just recently he put in a request for 10 “Pick-lines”. A small item that is very much needed for babies since their veins are so small and difficult to insert IV’s. The hospital warehouse informed him that they did not have any and there was no money to buy the lines. What no body was aware of is that God knew of this need before the doctors of Honduras even realized there was one. Weeks before our trip, some nurses at Shawnee mission medical decided they were slow enough one day to spend some time cleaning out their surgical kits. On completion of this task they decided to send the old supplies with Anne to Honduras. The items were boxed and put in a container on the back lot of the Overland Park Church. There they set for a few weeks and then they were placed on a truck with 30,000lbs of other items and taken to the train station. From there, they were transported on a train to New York City where they were off loaded to sit in a shipping yard for a few days. Then the container was loaded onto a ship and started continued it’s voyage over the oceans, down the eastern US coast, through the carribean sea and into the Porta Cortez in northern Honduras. Once again it was placed on a truck and driven to Tegucigalpa to be unloaded in a warehouse waiting on our team to arrive. This same small box ended up in Anne’s hands as she met this Doctor and he explained his need. Anne handed over to Dr. Flores, not 10 pick lines, but the 14 pick lines that were in the box. God is an expert at Logistics. Who else could have set things in motion before the need was even discovered and put all the pieces in place to connect these small items with the need at the instant it was required.

Day Three: Houses, Hospitals and Hope

Tue, 6 Jul 2010 23:42:34 -0500

July 4, 2020
Today at the hospital escuala, I went there thinking I was going to have the opportunity to play and see smiles at the goodness we would be doing. Arrogant perhaps… Really I just wanted to love some kids and know I left my mark. Conveniently on the ride there a massive migraine decided to show up to which made my vision blurred and my whole left side numb and tingly… That devil…. It’s very tough to focus on the needs of others when all you want to do is lay down or pass out. I prayed for healing and to toughen up… I took a deep breath and turned around to see a small boy transferred to a bed, screaming in pain with tears falling onto his mother’s arms. I was quickly positively distracted, and my heart fell. I stayed there beside him as they bandaged him. I saw the deep appreciation from his mother. I had no idea what to do. I wanted to inject him with morphine or hold him in my arms and assure him everything would be alright. But neither were possible, so I blew bubbles, and he immediately quit crying… I showered him with toys and necessities. I wanted to do more, I never saw a smile like I had planned… but the look in that mother’s eyes were memory and goodness enough for me. God is good, and I am excited to see how I can be more of his hands, heart, and feet.

Leslee Trotter….