Jinotega, Nicaragua: Third Clinic Day

The Jinotega orphanage; photo taken yesterday

The city of Jinotega lies in a valley.

Spectacular view of mountainous central Nicaragua

Lush crops cover the mountainsides; the dark green is coffee

Pastureland is what this mountainside is used for

A beautifully decorated building in the village we visited

The medical clinic of the village where we worked today

A farmhouse just beyond the clinic building

Three of our translators worked "intake" today

Alan at his "station" - Tom and Mitch as "gatekeepers"

Harvey (translator) dispenses medicines to clients

Kim Auth explaining prescriptions to client

Clients with a "grandma" - Fran taking blood pressure

Alan took this photo of me on Monday, and I love it!

These boys wanted a photo; I couldn't resist their insistence.

A pharmacy across from hospital in Jinotega

Typical street scene in Jinotega at the end of the day

The people we're serving in Nicaragua learn quickly how to "work the system." Some pretend to be ill so they can get free clothing and free photographs. Monday some people crawled through a hole in the fence to get another photo. We had to change our procedures on Tuesday and put a purple mark on the back of their hand if they had gotten a picture; but on Tuesday and today the fence around the facility was more secure, so it wasn't such a problem. Our departure today was delayed by the ministry of health--something regarding permission to prescribe a certain drug. Then we rode the bus about an hour to reach a little village high in the mountains somewhere south of Jinotega. It's very rich land for growing crops, and the people make use of it well. Almost everywhere it is possible to clear and plant a little field of cabbage, beans, or whatever, they have done it. In the forest areas they have planted coffee bushes and banana trees. The road we took off the main highway was narrow and rough--the kind of road where you pray you won't meet another vehicle around the next bend. Luckily we didn't meet anyone, but we followed a truck loaded with workers into the little town. I wondered why I hadn't seen a single tractor on this trip, and then I realized that a tractor would be useless in tiny fields on steep hillsides. Then, at the end of the day, I DID see a tractor--pulling a wagon loaded with farm workers. It could go where no bus or truck could go to get the workers to the fields and back. Horses, mules, oxen, and humans are the "beasts of burden" here.
Today's clinic building was the first this week to have adequate bathroom facilities--meaning a toilet that actually flushes without having to fill the tank with a bucket. For some reason most of the plumbing in this country is below the standard we're used to. You absolutely cannot flush toilet tissue down a stool. A wastebasket is provided for disposal of paper.
I have to comment that the meals at the orphanage in Jinotega are better than those at Los Cedros. We have had delicious chicken several times. We had pancakes for breakfast this morning, and the white pineapple some of us have enjoyed on previous trips finally made an appearance on the serving table this morning.
The statistics for today's clinic are: 153 patients served and 114 photos given out. We haven't been keeping numbers on the amount of clothing handed out, but it is substantial, and the looks on the faces of children getting a new pair of shoes or a T-shirt make the giving of them a joy. One of the team members working clothing distribution--Ashley Johnston--had a moving experience today. She speaks Spanish, and she was talking with a woman holding a month-old baby. She asked the baby's name, and the mother said she had not named him. With a little help from one of the translators, because she wondered if it was a cultural thing that babies aren't named right away, she asked why and when the baby would be named. The woman replied that she just hadn't heard a name she liked well enough. Then she asked Ashley to name her baby. Ashley suggested "Alejandro," the name of a friend of hers in Spain. The woman said she liked that name, and that would be the name of the baby. I told Ashley that the next time anyone asks her to name their baby, tell them "Edouardo" for me.
I have to tell you that I'm not the only one wandering around clinic-sites with a camera around my neck. Many on the team, even the very busy doctors, grab their cameras and take photos of some of the beautiful children we see and the beautiful scenery we pass through. Also, when we see things we seldom see at home, like ox-carts or people carrying a huge load on their heads, we grab a photo. Today when I was on a break, an old woman walked by wearing boots and carrying a machete. She stopped to talk with family and/or friends, so I took a photo. They're standing by the school bus in one of the pictures on this page.
One of the distressing things we noticed on Monday and Tuesday is how skinny the dogs are in this country, so when we went to Pali yesterday, dermatology P.A. Sharon bought a bag of dog food. Today, however, the dogs hanging around the clinic were well-fed, so the bag remained unopened. Just as we were loading to leave a very scrawny dog showed up, so Sharon got to break out her dog food and give it some. It was a very appreciative dog, wolfing down every morsel.
One unusual thing happened today that I'll share. There was a patient with a condition so serious she needed to be hospitalized, so the medical team loaded her into the bus with us, and we took her to the hospital in Jinotega to the emergency room. While we waited for them to check her in some of us got off the bus and bought ice-cream from a street vendor and cold drinks from a pulpuria across the street.
Our meeting and devotional session tonight was inspirational as Ashley and others shared their experiences of the day, and our pastor, Paul Dinges, led us in a prayer of thankfulness for the day and for the success of tomorrow's clinic. We won't have to travel so far tomorrow, we're told, so we don't have to leave until 8:00 am. Some of us could use that extra half-hour of sleep. All in all, it has been a tiring but very rewarding day. Please continue to keep us in your prayers.