We drove to Nueva Santa Catarina this morning. In the past, we had usually gone through Chichi and Los Encuentros, providing a rare opportunity to enjoy some pavement, but with the construction on CA-1, it could take up to three hours to get to clinic. So we took the "shortcut" through Totonicapan today. It's off-road and pretty difficult driving, but Matt and the Toyota were up to the challenge.
As an extra added bonus, we had Malachi with us. He has been a tremendous help. For clinic today, were expecting about half the countryside to be there. We weren't there last month, so a full house was scheduled - somewhere in the neighborhood of 50 people. On our arrival, there was exactly one patient. Maybe the 40 degree temperatures and the steady downpour were a factor. In all, we saw around 8 people - 3 pregnancies, one newborn, and a few random other patients.
The original plan had been for Malachi to stay as long as possible, then we would drive him about a mile to where the chicken buses come by and he could get back to Xela like that. Since we got out early, we just drove him into Xela.
Duane and the boys had planned on coming to the house today to do the wiring for the addition. As on the previous three attempts, there was another emergency. One of our missionary family friends who lives near Lake Atitlan was robbed by four gunmen last night. Duane was going to try to fly down to help with the aftermath and was waiting hopefully for the weather to clear. At press time we have no idea whether he made it out or not. We called from Xela and offered to pick up anything they might need at Hiper Paiz (think: Walmart) and drive it to them, possibly spending a few nights to help with security. (The parents are actually in the US trying to raise support money and their 21-year-old daughter is running the orphanage essentially alone.)
We suggested that perhaps we could pick up some groceries and a microwave as a minimum and bring it over. After all, people still need to eat. Maybe some money, too. Deb said that the robbers had disconnected the microwave and had it set out to take but that they forgot it so they were good on that count. Also, she had asked them not to take her purse, since it didn't have any money in it. They rifled through it and decided there was nothing of value to them there so they left it. So at least she still has her passport and her bank card. She's afraid the house is being watched, so she won't go get any money, but she can if she needs to.
Also, her brother-in-law lives in Guatemala City and is coming up to spend some time so our presence, while welcome, isn't necessarily needed. So we came home and we'll just stay on high-standby for them.
Anyway, that was the day. After leaving Xela, we had another bumpy, muddy ride home, but we're here now and will be until Thursday. Matt has some recording scheduled for tomorrow (please pray for that - in the nearly two years we've been here, we've heard a VERY limited number of decent singers, and we're recording vocals tomorrow!)
In pics, the first is of Malachi doing a prenatal ultrasound. You can see our translator/pastor Matilde next to him. He is actually dressed pretty appropriately for the weather.
The second is what happens when you say, "Hey Malachi", then take a picture. Hee hee!
Third is the newborn baby we saw along with his mother. She is the one we told you about earlier who we had diagnosed with severe pre-eclampsia and sent to the hospital. She didn't go but delivered at home. Within a day, she seized. They took her to the hospital and we were not too hopeful about her chances, but she pulled through - probably due in large part to the huge number of people praying for her.
Fourth is a shot of the clinic room with Isaac trying to see what's happening on the exam table.
And last is what your shiny, clean truck looks like after four hours driving through greasy muddy roads. As the rainy season just started, there isn't too much deep mud yet, but all of the dust that had been on the roads just got turned into this 1/2" thick layer of slickness and slime. Fun.
No comments:
Post a Comment