Nicaragua

Hello, my turn today.  It was another busy day at the hospital today.  From what I could see,things moved more smoothly today, but a lot of that is being in the rhythm on that second day and knowing what you are facing.  However, by way of a disclaimer, I am in the childrens ministry end of things, so have a very different perspective from the docs and nurses.  I have the wonderful job of coloring with and meeting the children who throng the hospital, children who are patients, children who are with patients, or children who just wander in from the neighborhood because the hospital is a safe place to hang out.  They are precious.  My Spanish may be useful, but today I found that it would have been a lot more useful to know Moskito.  Most of the children that came today spoke Moskito as their primary language.  Luckily there were bilingual children, too.  Yesterday I was very distressed that there were any kids there because here it was the first day of the new school  year and they should all have been in school.  According to many of the children they do not go to school because they cannot afford the uniforms and supplies.  Others say that education is not a priority for many of the people.  Either way, by today I had had an epiphany.  I was there to do school for them.  We covered a wall with beautiful art throughout the day and I think we succeeded in raising the morale for some of the patients and families that passed by also.  The place is so bleak, peeling walls, trash everywhere, dogs eating the trash in the middle of the courtyard in the middle of the hospital, an old army barracks, open plan with outside corridors.  Our team is a model of efficiency passing by the chaos with patients on gurneys, doing incredible things.  We have a new nickname for Cole, which is Dr. Cole.  He has been observing in the OR and has been witnessing some amazing things.  Today he spoke of the removal of a cancerous tumour on a ninety year old, which involved some plastic surgery for reconstruction.  He said it was incredible to watch.  Something quite interesting today.  There was a team from Lincoln, Nebraska, Union College, in fact.  They had run into some trouble and had had a large amount of money stolen, which was holding up their trip, but they were learning about things at the hospital, and then two of the California team members took them on a tour of the orphanage here at the compound.  Speaking of the California team, they are so much fun to work with.  I for one am learning a lot from them.  Karl and RJ continued their work on Maria Elenas house after getting everyone shuttled to and from the hospital, and shuttling drinks and lunches and fixing things as needed.  Ask Karl to tell you about the six head cattle drive along the main street followed by a vaquero cowboy on a bicycle. Sue said to say that surgery is going remarkably well and we are blessed with some amazing surgeons and she is blown away by their expertise.  We have also commented that the doctors are some wonderful human beings that are great fun to get to know, who are not at all standoffish, and happy to share their knowledge.  It is a blessing to be here to be a blessing.  Thanks to everyone for their support and prayers.  Catherine