Week 2: Medical Brigade

I planned to spend my second week in site working with Jovenes sin Fronteras for two days and Agua Pura for three days…but it didn’t quite work out like that. Monday morning I showed up at the Jovenes sin Fronteras office to wait for Darwin, one of the educators, so we could go give an HIV/AIDS workshop at the middle school. After 40 minutes Charles, the other educator, showed up to tell me that he didn’t know where Darwin was and couldn’t get a hold of him. I guess this was my first experience of getting blown off with no warning or explanation, and luckily it didn’t really bother me. I decided to walk around town and see what I could see and who I could meet. I went to Hondutel, a place to make phone calls (only $0.10/min to the states), to check out their schedule and I saw a flier on the door that advertised a medical brigade in town. So I asked if anybody knew about it and a man came out to tell me where it was. Well I had no idea what neighborhood he was talking about so he told me to wait 20 minutes and he would take me. 30 minutes later he drops me off in a neighborhood about a 10 drive outside of town and I walked up to the people in scrubs and start introducing myself. They were so happy that I spoke English and showed up out of nowhere. Since I didn’t have work for the day I told them I would stick around and help with translating as much as I could.
As I got to know the group I figured out that they were optometry students from The Southern College of Optometry and all members of the Fellowship of Christian Optometrists. They also brought along an optometrist, a nurse, a nursing student and a future Spanish teacher, 11 of them in all. They teamed up with La Iglesia de la Gran Commission, a local church, and worked out of the house of one of the members. I also met a missionary family from the states that is living in Santa Barbara and working with the church. They were able to get donations from a number of organizations and bring over 1,000 pairs of donated glasses, $60,000 worth of eye drop treatments and various supplies necessary to do the eye exams. In five days they were able to see 1001 patients and give away hundreds of glasses completely free of charge. The first day was a little crazy, we weren’t quite sure how to best organize the space or the jobs and we didn’t know the right vocabulary yet (but I quickly figured out blurry, cloudy, clear, teary, dry, painful, etc.). By the second day we had rearranged the set up and things started falling into place. It was very satisfying to put a pair of glasses on somebody and just watch their face light up because for the first time in their life they could see clearly. It was also heartbreaking to tell those that had serious eye problems that we couldn’t help them and that they would be near blind for the rest of their life. The first three days were pretty easy for me, but Thursday it got rough. A mother brought in her 11 year old daughter with seriously compromised vision and I had to tell her that there was nothing anybody could do for her and she would be like that forever. I started crying and so did the mother. At that point I felt so helpless I just wanted to go outside and cry and get it all out but I couldn’t because there were 100 more waiting to be seen. Another aspect that was very difficult was telling people they needed surgery. We probably had about 50 or more people come in with cataracts that were making them close to blind and would need surgery to have them removed. So I had to explain this to them and tell them that they needed to go to San Pedro and pay for the surgery and that glasses wouldn’t do anything to help them. Upon hearing this most asked how much the surgery would cost and explained that they were very poor and didn’t have the money. It felt so wrong giving them advice I knew they could never take but I didn’t know what else to do. I tried to remind myself that even know we couldn’t help everybody we helped hundreds of others. Since being in Peace Corps this is the first thing that had really affected me. I knew that I would see things and have to do things that would dig into my heart but in three months it hadn’t happened yet (not even hearing stories from people living with HIV/AIDS or commercial sex workers or seeing drunks passed out on the road got to me emotionally), I wondered if my heart was getting a little hard. Well, if it was, this week definitely softened it up.
I ended up working with the brigade all week and accompanied them to lunch and dinner as well. It felt good to be needed and appreciated and it was a joy to get to know all the volunteers. Most of them had never been out of the country and some of them had never been on a plane. A few had some Spanish background but most of them had to learn on the job. Although they were just here from a week I can definitely tell that the experience gave them a broader perspective on life. It also made me realize how comfortable I feel here. It was funny to realize that so many of the things that shocked or interested them were totally normal to me. Although the week was challenging in so many ways they were so positive and loving. It was really refreshing to be around such caring and good natured people.
I can honestly only say that there was only one negative aspect about the entire experience. Along with the group of 11 came another American who worked administratively with medical missions in Honduras. He spends part of his time in Honduras coordinating eye surgeries and treatment. Although he was generous to donate his time and was able to refer people to his clinic for surgery I think he is the rudest person I have met since being in Honduras. He was tall, fat, loud, rude, arrogant and spoke atrocious Spanish. I’m sure he has some good in his heart or he wouldn’t be spending so much of his time trying to help people but he definitely didn’t wear his heart on his sleeve. Not only did he physically look down on Hondurans when he spoke but he had a way of cutting them down in every other way as well. Although I couldn’t stand to be around him and was embarrasses to be seen in public with him I was thankful for the reminder he gave me. When my dad finished his Fulbright service in Korea they told him that they liked him because he wasn’t too tall (and they weren´t just talking about his height). It reminded me how very important humility, patience, empathy and respect are in the work that I am doing. However frustrated I get with Honduras or the people I am working with I need to keep my ego in check and respect them as every human being deserves to be respected. It is also an encouragement for me to continue to improve my Spanish.

Step 1: Sign in and wait
Step 2: Eye Chart
Step 3: Check eye pressure. In order to check eye pressures it is first necessary to put drops in the eyes. In Spanish the word for ‘drop’ and ‘cat’ sounds very similar and one of the nurses kept saying “I’m going to put a cat in each eye, don’t worry it doesn’t hurt.”
Step 4: Check retinas

Step 5: Get glasses

Step 6: See doctor if something is wrong
Step 6: Evangelism. Being the Fellowship of Christian Optometrists and working with a local church the group’s goals were two-fold; save people’s eyes and their souls. In fact, 44 souls were saved last week.