Home stretch

For the past week or so, I've been working with Scott Booth and his wife, a dentist and dental assistant, translating for them as they see a multitude of patients who are in desperate need of dental care. The Booths have been coming to Ahuas for the past 7 years, doing fillings and root canals along with some heavy duty cleanings (Scott likes to refer to some as “archeological digs”). Aside from the interesting experience of translating a bunch of dental terms that I've had to learn along the way, the one takeaway that I have is: brush your teeth. Brush them often. And floss, too, while you're at it. Seriously. Some of the patients have been downright disheartening – the worst being a 12 year old girl with 16 cavities who will need a full set of dentures before the age of 20. This is not uncommon.

I've also been helping the clinic's administrators with their bookkeeping and electronic accounting. Several figures stand out to me as I've been going over the yearly budget. The clinic's yearly operating budget is somewhere around $520,000. This includes salaries for 2 doctors, nurses, all prescriptions, 200+ major surgeries, 600+ minor surgeries, 100-200 deliveries, on top of over 6000 outpatient appointments.
The average salary for a family practice physician in the US is around $180,000.

The average salary for a specialist in the US is $250,000+.

Does something seem wrong with that to you?

I recognize that the following is just my opinion, and some of you may disagree with me. However, consider the impact of a group of seven family physicians (remember, family physicians earn the least among all physicians) who commit to living on $100,000 a year. I think most of us can agree that $100,000/year is enough to provide for, at the very least, all the necessities and a moderately comfortable lifestyle. Yes, giving $80,000 a year is a significant amount of money. But we are called to honor God with all that he blesses us with - and I firmly believe that those who are blessed with skills that allow them to earn a higher income have an even greater responsibility to bless others in turn. This hypothetical group of seven physicians would be able to support an entire clinic in a developing country, with no outside support, and provide that amount of care...free of charge. A group of specialists could have an even greater reach, not to mention those in the business world or otherwise.

So why doesn't this happen more often?

I'm not sure. Maybe it's because I'm young, naïve, and idealistic. Maybe it's because I just don't realize how much things cost in the real world. Maybe it's the attitude that just one person, or a few people, can't really have that big of an impact. Maybe I'm ignoring just how fun a comfortable lifestyle is. But maybe...maybe it's because people get too set in their comfortable lifestyle. Maybe it's because they're afraid of giving so much that they'll have to start giving up things of their own. Maybe there's a problem with the attitude of the “American dream” – a nice, big house, in a nice, quiet neighborhood, with nice, quiet neighbors. Removed from the problems of a city. Removed from brokenness and desperation. Removed from those that are hurting, but who don't know the healing power of faith.

Jesus didn't live like that.

I would argue that as Christians, we're called to live differently. We're called to take care of the poor and the widows. We're called to care for the foreigners in our midst. I've never read anything about how we're exempt from doing this if it would leave us not having “enough” to make our lives “comfortable.” The American dream tells us to raise our family in the safest possible area that we can – safest meaning isolation from brokenness, evil, poverty, anything that may be perceived as “dangerous” in the typical meaning to you or your family. I would argue this lifestyle carries dangers and risks of an entirely different kind...risks that your children will grow up so sheltered, so comfortable, that they may fail to see to see and understand the need for God in this broken world. When their surroundings provide all the comfort they need...what reason will they have to turn to God for comfort when things go poorly?

Please understand that I'm not trying to judge people's own spending habits or lifestyles. I'm just sharing reflections with you all as I begin to shape my own. It's my hope that they might challenge you a bit, and help you to take a fresh look at the world around you... and not just at your immediate surroundings. I'm talking the whole picture – the real deal – with brokenness, evil, poverty, discrimination...the uncomfortable parts included. That being said, I know I'm 22 years old, with a very small amount of real world experience. The only thing I understand with much confidence at this point is that there's a heck of a lot more that I still have to learn.

Also- I think you can see exactly where I'm posting from by clicking on the "location" at the end of this post, if you're curious. (it should say Honduras).

Location:Honduras

A good Friday indeed

It's been quite a while since I've updated. The roller coaster of an experience continues – at times, slow, monotonous, and lonely – a bit like the feeling you get when you hear the fateful click-click-click of the first ascent. Those times are hard. However, I've been trying to remind myself that at the end of every climb is the drop – and while fear and loss of control are still present, it's the thing you look back at after it's all over that makes you smile and want to do it all over again. It's fast-paced, exciting, and sometimes I barely have time to catch my breath from one morning to the next.

A fun story to start off with – Brian, a 4th year medical student from the University of Maryland, and I helped with the delivery/resuscitation of twin boys early one morning. The mother had been expecting just one child, and didn't have names for either of them – so she named them Brian and David.

Some people say that needs exist everywhere, and in a sense, they're right. However, I think many people fail to grasp the scale of needs in a developing country versus a suburban hospital. We complain when we have to wait more than a half hour to see a competent, dedicated, knowledgeable doctor with nearly unlimited access to prescription drugs. Critically ill patients here make multi-day trips in river-boats, trucks, and by walking paths for a chance to see the doctor that they'll gladly wait all day for. If someone's too ill to walk, relatives will carry them in from neighboring villages if they can't afford to hire a truck. Dr. Rudy told me of a woman she knew who carried her dying father over 3 ½ hours along a dirt path to the clinic some years ago. That's sacrifice.

Many patients come with life-threatening illnesses that are readily treatable at outside facilities in larger cities. Most of these treatments would cost $500-$2000. When travel expenses are factored in, this is prohibitively expensive for most. For those who can't afford to go, some stay here, and we do the best we can. Some simply go home to be with family. It's one of the harder things to deal with. Disproportionate distribution of resources is such a large, systemic problem that thinking about how to fix it quickly becomes overwhelming – but that doesn't lessen the frustration I feel when I see the consequences of it day after day.

To change the subject, I've been struggling with my plans for the next few months. I originally came down with plans to stay until July 14th – however, It's become apparent to me that the 2 ½ weeks I gave myself between arriving back in the US and starting medical school simply isn't enough to readjust, move, and situate myself in a completely new environment. I have also struggled with the nagging doubt that I could be learning more in a clinic and town where only Spanish is spoken – i think i mentioned before that almost all residents of Ahuas prefer speaking Miskito to Spanish when given the choice, so I haven't been using my Spanish as much as I had hoped.

So I had many questions and no answers – Should I stay? Should I look for another clinic? Maybe another non-medical volunteering opportunity? Have I finished the work God brought me here already? I didn't want to stay simply because I was obligated by the date on my plane ticket. With internet speeds approaching 1kb/sec on a good day, about 1/1000th of a typical hi-speed connection, internet research for other opportunities was tedious and frustrating. I was running out of time to make a decision, so after much prayer and thought, I set a deadline of April 22nd – Good Friday – to decide when I was coming home. That morning, after leaving the 3 ½ hour long church service (normal by Miskito standards – I'd like to see a Southridge congregation sit through that!), I still had no idea and was ready to put my options in a hat and draw one out of desperation, when I received a message from Sarah Fisher, a good friend from college, telling me about her dad's plans to bring a medical and dental team to a town near San Pedro Sula from June 11-19th, and asked if I would like to join and help translate for the medical team. What an answer to prayer!

I'm planning on doing some traveling to see more of the country before I leave, so right now I'm still deciding between two options – travel for a week before working in San Pedro, or travel after. Depending on that, I will be home sometime between June 20th and 28th by my best guess.

One last thing, a request for prayer – sorry, this is a long entry, and I promised before I left that I wouldn't write long blogs...oops! - the clinic was robbed yesterday afternoon. Thieves broke in and stole over $8000 cash. Luckily, one of alleged thieves was caught, and some of the money was recovered. However, he maintains that he's innocent, and his family is, to say it lightly, not happy with the clinic nor the patients who identified him as one of the men who was leaving the clinic around the time of the break-in. Please pray that cooler heads prevail and that tension between the clinic and this man's family are resolved. I've learned that thieves, drug traffickers, and others who commit crimes like that here are not necessarily bad people. Some just don't see any other option – if you were a man who worked long, hard days, and barely had enough money to feed your family each night, how many of us wouldn't be tempted to work in an operation so lucrative that the traffickers' planes are often burned and written off as a minor expense after delivering the shipment of drugs?

I heard Michigan got some snow a week ago or so. Que lastima. Hope you all are surviving...

Dave

Location:Honduras

Two weeks in

17/3/11
First things first – sorry for such a late update.

I've been gone about two weeks – time has felt like it was crawling at times and racing at others. I've seen so many interesting medical cases – some incredibly sad, some disheartening, and some happy. I have felt alone, isolated, frustrated, and useless – but also excited, welcomed, helpful, and hopeful. This much in two weeks.. I can't wait to see what the next few months will bring.

Yesterday I hiked to the river to swim, about a 3 ½ mile walk, and part of it is through jungle terrain. While dodging spiny trees, muddy sinkholes, and other fun obstacles, I was able to see my first wild monkey (and 2nd, 3rd, and 4th as well!). Tiny, white faced ones – they stared curiously at me and Daniel, another volunteer doctor from Austria, for about 10 seconds, then swung off into deeper territory away from our path. So cool!

Things that are becoming more and more normal: seeing dogs and chickens walk through the hospital hallway. Being woken up by a cacophony of sounds coming from dogs, roosters, parrots, vultures...and God knows what else is outside of my house. Seeing free-range cattle roam anywhere they want (from what I am told, people in Ahuas buy them as an investment – very little cost to maintain, reproducing=an increased return on investment, and when the family needs money, they simply butcher it and sell the meat). Taking cold showers. Being hopelessly lost when anyone is speaking Miskito (although almost everyone in Ahuas is fluent in Spanish, Miskito is the language everyone uses, unless I am being spoken to). Hearing all the teens blasting music from their cellphones – a mix of reggaeton, other Latin American music, and American pop – I have heard Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber quite a bit. Eating rice and beans at every meal. Having miskito people say I look much younger than I am (I've been told anywhere from 16 to 18 in the past several days), and I'm sure I'll think of more.

I'm learning so much...way too much to boil down to a small blog post. To those of you who are praying for me, thank you, so much. There have been many times where I've felt very alone in a very foreign place, and the knowledge that I have support coming from home is invaluable. It gives me strength to push through the times when I feel most isolated.

I would love to hear from you guys! Unfortunately, mail is pretty out of the question – a postcard from the states once took 8 months to arrive – so if you want to drop me a short note, e-mail is by far the best: david.t.schrock@gmail.com. Otherwise, please continue to pray for me and that I be useful to the clinic and doctors during my stay here.

I figured out how to reduce the size of pictures so I can upload one every once in a while – here is a picture taken on the path that I use for running (and also to get to the river) – this terrain is very typical of the La Moskita region of Honduras, and strikes me as very similar to the African Savannah. Needless to say, it's beautiful.. so peaceful. Hope you enjoy it.

Location:Honduras

Friends and family- I'm sorry it has taken me so long to check in. The internet is extremely slow and limited here - I'm talking not enough bandwidth to upload pictures. A huge disappointment, but it means you all will have LOTS to look at in a few short months. I have to keep it brief, but I made it safely to Ahuas on tuesday afternoon- after a plane ride on a small prop plane, a boat trip thru jungle, and a ride in the back of a truck over what looked like the African savannah. I have videos, but will wait to post them.

Unfortunately I will probably be limited in the amount of blogs I will be able to post. I am trying to keep detailed notes, so when I do have access to connect to the internet, it's a flurry of emails and blog updates. Please don't take no update for a week or two to mean anything bad - quite the opposite!

Rest assured that I am already being challenged in new and difficult ways unique to an experience like this. There is nothing glorious about it - but I am a better person for it.

Thank you for your thoughts and prayers. They are, and will continue to be, a vital form of support.

Pues, me voy a dormir para que no vaya a morir.. Early morning tomorrow.

For some reason the last one didn't post, but it's on my YouTube channel under "la ceiba bus vid." just open one of the other ones and find it on the right side of the screen under related videos.

Made it to la Ceiba-tomorrow's going to be an early morning- here's some videos of my bus ride today, the last one is by far my favorite...enjoy!

No turning back now..

Greetings from San Pedro Sula... Day 1 = Done. It's late here (my flight was delayed aost an hour from florida), and I'm typing this out on my iPod, so I'll keep it brief.

First- thank you to all of you who have told me over the past couple days in one form or another that you are thinking of and praying for me. I can't express how blessed I feel to have so many people share so many kind words. You all are awesome.

Tomorrow will consist of waking up, continental breakfast (niiiiiieeeece!), and finding a bus station to take a bus to La Ceiba.

What I do know: it is hot here. I am tired. What I do not know: what this bus trip will look like tomorrow. Any of you who have taken a bus in Latin America know what I am talking about. But that's part of the adventure, I suppose...

Things you can pray for: Safety. Rest. Peace. AC on the bus. Kidding... But you can throw it in there if ya feel like it.

Sidenote: seeing lightening from a plane is pretty awesome.

Will try to update once I have arrived in La Ceiba tomorrow. Until then, nos vemos amigos... que tengan un buenísimo día mañana.