14 de septiembre 2006

it´s been a long few weeks since i have written. sorry about that. my computer is being worked on right now. evidently, someone has been hacking in... a lot... it´s been a hard few weeks. well, where did i leave off? ohhh, so amber's house has been wonderful! i love living in a house and having a new experience. i love Baxter but think that i appreciate coming here more when i don't live there. her house is less than 10 minutes communte to the clinic, to church, and the mall. it's been such a blessing- although most nights all i do is go there and crash! last week was a hard week. there were lots of deaths that occured. the family i have lived with multiple times in the past has had the same lady working for them for 12 years. her name was mirna. she was 29 and married almost (minus 1 day) six months. she died due to complications with a ceasarean section. she developed a massive blodd clot in her leg and nothing was done. she become septic and nothing was done. her son, norman de jesus, will never know his kind, funny, full of life mother becuase of stupid medical errors. her death was completely preventable. she died last sunday. the custom here is a lot different than the states when someone dies. she was taken to the morgue for the cause of death certificate- the whole family and friends waited outside- until 11 pm. then everyone went to the funeral parlor and waited for the body- until 2am. then everyone goes with the body back to the house of the person where the wake is held all night. she lived in a part of town that no one should be from- one of the most dangerous parts of tegucigalpa. a colony where gangs are everywhere. a place a blonde headed gringa should not be - especially the hours i went. it may have stupid, but i knew God would protect me. the next day, we took the body (oh, to be blessed to have a truck) to where she grew up and her other two children live. the village is called sabona grande- about 1 1/2 hours from the city. the body was on display for the community in her mother's house for another night (mon night). there usually is not a funeral service. just everyone together. the family feeds everyone and you just sit and wait. the next morning, the village people carried her body miles to the burial site in the next town. it's a amazing site to see a village come together for one of their own. a problem arosed was that tons of people kept passing out. it was hot, emotional, and a long time where people didn't eat or drink. they were dropping like flies and of course, the nurse of the bunch attended to most. all i heard was: gringa venga, gringa, gringa, gringa! later that afternoon, when i was driving home, jeanne white called to tell me that her daughter lost her baby- she was six months pregnant. The baby's name was Ruby. well, that was tuesday. then next day, the whites went to be with their daughter. i so admire their family. also wednesday, i learned that another friend's mother died suddenly. so, last week was really hard. please pray for these families who lost loved ones. mirna's little girl rosebel's birthday was on saturday. i, along with marlen, her mother and her sister threw her a birthday party. she told me at her mother's burial that she wasn't really dead since her birthday was saturday and she always brings her a pinata. rosie had the time of her life. it was her first birthday party with friend and presents. she seemed so happy. i bought her a doll with a carring case and clothes, etc. but she was more excited about the soap i brought. why did spend so much on the candy for the pinata? i should have filled it with soap, toothpaste, pencils, etc. but seeing her smile, is more that i could ever try to describe. well,,,, about work.... i have been really busy with the nutritional program director writing the reports for the US sponsors. if anyone, anyone, would like to participate in sponsoring a malnutrished child, please let me know. it is breaking my heart. we enrolled a 2 1/2 year old girl today who weighed 14 pounds. a man from texas has been here filming a promotional video and took the reports back with him on tuesday. today is thurday and all the groups are starting to arrive for the encuentro- a youth rally. it's a highlight of the year here. youth groups from all over central america come for a long weekend to hear speakers, gather new ideas, songs, etc. it's magical. i love it! it's a huge family reunion. this school which normally has under 200 people expands to 6-7-800 people. i hope to be able to post pictures soon. well, love to all. take care. Dios le bendiga!