THANKSGIVING, 2013

Thanksgiving Day...

A day for giving Thanks.   I feel as though that that is all I have been doing since I am here!  I don't need a special day to do it.  I honestly have been giving thanks non stop.  From the safe trips all over, to the gracious hosts everywhere, to the beauty of the surroundings, to the time to even be here, to the touching sendoff prayer this morning at the little church, to the flow of patients and their treatment, to the miracle of hiring the doctor AND the nurse, to the Holy Spirit who has been faithfully surrounding me the whole time, to my special friendship with Jan, to the peace and refreshment I have found here, to my faithful church family, to my beautiful biological family who have supported, loved, and encouraged me to go, to the amazing number of friends who pray and donate and follow my crazy adventures, to my clean, comfortable little room at the clinic, to the hand made clothes rack and shelf, made just for me, to rice and beans and tortillas and plenty to eat, to my I Pad and Facetime, allowing me to communicate and see my family, to the pleasure of reading not just one, but several books, to the Bible study that we did, and to new ways to talk to The Lord, and new commitment to make Him first in my life, to walking and weight loss!, to my job waiting for me at home ( i hope...) and the nurses who have covered for me in my absence, to turkey and the fixings and a warm family dinner with the Feliciano family!  

    I give Thanks.

To the little faces and hugs at the other end, as I return home.   They said they would miss me at Thanksgiving....    

 Yes, indeed, I have much to be thankful for.

So, if you try real hard, you can come up with a list of things to be thankful for, too.  Even in dire, or ordinary circumstances, God is so good, and his blessings abound!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING from Chiapas.  

CARAVANA MINI....SIBAL

CARAVANA MINI.    SIBAL.    Week of November 18, 2013

Well,  Jan and I are taking a little shopping break after seeing patients in the rustic setting of the village all week.  We travel by combi (a little van) to the colonial city of SanCristobal.

 It is our stepping-off, and transition-home city.  We have a lovely, ancient, cheap hotel that knows us well.  It is a little more touristy here, and has several magnificent markets, including a native artisan market with hundreds of stalls, set on the giant steps and all around the ancient cathedral, and a thriving, noisy, dirty, crowded people's market.  We did not sample the seasonal delicacy shown here...fried giant ants, or something similar...

We will eat lunch in a restaurant and shop!    Jan is bound and determined to have a real (butterball, that is..) turkey, and sweet potatoes for Thanksgiving.  Neither can be found in Ocosingo.   I, of course, will be buying native made gifts!

The trip is 2 hours, on a beautiful day.   The combi  is actually pretty nice.  I have a little window seat, that actually has a lap belt.  There are children and old ladies, but no live chickens.  I buckle up and say a prayer.  I read a little, but I thoroughly enjoy gazing out the window at the stunning vistas that are all around.  There are green, lush hills and valleys and magnificent mountains in the near and far distance.  Around every sharp curve and switchback there is a breathtaking view.   

The dropoffs, landslides, and boulders in the road are also breathtaking!!!     But It is a great time for reflecting.   Sometimes I doze, as I have discovered that this truly is the most comfortable way to travel here.  It is not good to see what is ahead, or to anticipate every rut and sunken portion of the narrow and unmarked road...   The sight and thought of cars coming at us in our lane, or of us in their lane is disconcerting.  There are a few signs around, but they are completely ignored.  If it says slow your speed, they actually speed up.  If it says do not pass, they do.   Curves mean nothing.  Whoever gets there first, wins!   In Ocosingo there is one 4 way stop intersection, only one.  And a single, brand new red 4 way traffic light at another intersection.  They mean ABSOLUTELY nothing.  I have never seen anyone stop.  There are topes(speed bumps) all over the roads, 180 of them from Ocosingo to San Cristobal, built haphazardly to get speeding drivers to slow down.  They do work!     I rather like the topes....   Of course, the driver has just accelerated in the short distance before the tope, making the stop (usually in the other lane..), especially jerky....   Anyway, back to reflecting.  Riding in any vehicle here is a good time to get close to your God!

I reflected on the recent Caravan to Sibal.  It was great!

 Sibal, though difficult to get to, is a sweet village.

The church there, Pablo's church, is especially gracious.  They cooked and cared for us for 4 very full days.  This was the first fully Mexican caravan, and other than a little disorganization on Day 1, (ok, so it was really pretty chaotic...), things went very well!  By Day 2 the patient flow process was much better.  

Some  patients were Ill, needing acute care, but more needed routine care, and supportive medicine.  Remember, this is a very remote village, and these folks will not be able to easily travel to the clinic in Ocosingo.    

For most patients it was the first time they had seen a doctor, or ever been weighed, had their blood pressure taken, or had received any medication at all.  Hard to fathom that.  

Infections go untreated.  I had a lady with another acute ear infection, probably one of many.  Her hearing was gone.  Another little girl, 4 years old, had a front baby tooth break off from rot, and part was left in her little gum.  It was hurting.  We could give her medicine for pain, but there is no dentist available to fix the One man knew his blood pressure was high (there is a small government casa de salud nearby), but they have no medicines there, so he was not able to take anything for it.  His blood pressure was very high.  Jan expertly fit many patients with reading glasses.   We prescribed a lot of Albendazole, for the endemic worm situation.  

And on and on...    We saw 340 patients over the 3 days.  The new doctor and nurse worked very well, as did the para-medics who are so faithful to our mission.  They are self taught practitioners who are experienced, and enjoy the learning experience and camaderie that comes with the caravans.  

We left full and satisfied that we had served well.  The patients were grateful for our presence.   And we were humbled.  Our final dinner and prayer from one of the brothers was for God to watch out for us, and an apology that they could not serve us in a better manner...    

My reflection was on that thought, and the deep sincerity of it, why l feel so humble when I am here.   I have done nothing.  I am the one who has been blessed.    

My time here is running short.  There are now a lot of "lasts".   I am feeling sad. 

Until Dia de Gracias....         Carolina

SIBAL

Blog...Sibal

Jan and Pablo and I spent a pleasant 5 days in Sibal .   Pablo is pastor here, and travels here every month or so.   He is also responsible for the smaller congregations surrounding Sibal.   He is obligated to visit these remote communities at least 4 times  per year.   Thus, they base in Sibal for a week or so, and make 1 day/night visits to the more remote communities.   One of these communities, the medical team may remember, is Culebra, where we visited for a dinner invitation during a Medical Caravan, and experienced a Major hatch of flying termites during church service!   

It is 3 hours to Sibal , one of which is on a paved,  but winding, narrow road fraught with washouts, landslides still on the road, and unmarked huge sinkholes.   The next 2 hours are reminiscent of my original trek out to the jungle for the first of my personal caravans.  The gravel road is one lane, deeply pitted, potted, and puddled.  It is impossible to drive more than 10 or 20 MPH.  It is bone, belly, and bladder jarring!   I like this ride, though.   It is slow, and the vistas are spectacular:  rolling hillside with cattle up the hills, thick jungle, mountains you can touch, green and lush with the rain.  Looking down the edge of one side of the road there are surprise lakes, and on the other, up side of the road, there are corn, beans, and squash growing on the steep hill.   

We go over, and around several mountains.   it is the only road to this part of the country.  

Sibal is a tranquil, peaceful village.  It is lower than Ocosingo and sits in a little valley, snug against the sides of the mountains.  It is flat.  The houses are neat, well cared for.   There are 6 or 8 dirt paths that intersect, and some houses that go up the hill: the "suburbs ".    There are about 2000 people who live here.  There is a beautiful river, where people bathe and swim.   There are many boys and men on horseback.  Everyone has a pig and chickens.

The aging, but large Presbyterian church sits in the middle of town.  

It is surrounded by old sheds, kitchens, in addition to new low, long buildings with rooms and offices and a new large serving kitchen, that all open to the gravel courtyard.  

Today the men were leveling the surface to put new gravel.  They used gasoline in Coke bottles to destroy the weeds, the worms, and ants...

Pablo and Jan have nice quarters:  a bedroom, living room, and kitchen.  The sink and bathroom are outside, but are nice.   There is electricity (TV, refrig, microwave).  The toilet flushes and has a seat..    the water for the shower is hot once in awhile...There is a nice, long porch with a tin roof, so it is lovely when it is hot, or when it rains.    

It is good here!     

We will return in 2 weeks for our mini caravan, with Dr. Gerardo.  It will be his first village experience.  In this way, I feel like a veteran.

Piped in music alerts people to church, or loudspeakers announce a phone call to be taken at the only landline phone in the center of town.   There are no cell towers and no Internet.  On our walks, we pass a tree with huge gourds hanging down.  They split and clean them and use as bowls or scoops.  It is a jicara tree.  We pass the "park trees" , ficus trees that abound.    Everyone says "hola, Hermana " or " Buenas Dias or Tardes" .   We read, do our Bible study.  I have written an article on my adventure and how it may relate to cancer care.

Jan bakes bread here, similar to zucchini bread.  Squash is plentiful.   The natives do not make this kind of bread, and always ask her to make and sell it.   Yesterday and today she made 24 loaves and sold all.  They are announcing again on the loudspeaker, so she is baking again!  She ended up using 11 kilos each of sugar and flour, for about 50 loaves.    Yum!

I am hoping that we will be able to see Jan's cow while here.  Yes,  Jan owns a calf!   She bought him sight unseen, as an investment.   The cow can be sold, eaten, raised to have a calf, whatever.  The cow is pastured somewhere nearby and a brother watches out for her.  She's not sure if it is a male or female.

Saturday brings an open air worship service.   People are seated all around the courtyard, on the long porches, under the tin roofs.  The sound system works well!  

The Mariachis play and sing in the traditional manner, including .......

a serenade at our door at 12 midnight.   We had been given fair warning, but still we retired about 10 pm, only to be jarred awake @  midnight by the first blasts of the trumpets!  

At least 50 people jammed into our little room as we stood in our pajamas, grinning widely, listening to the music.  We then traipsed down, parade style, to the dining hall, where sweet breads and coffee awaited.  It is one of the amazing moments of being here.  Who would miss this??

Sunday, there was a big celebration for Pastor Pablo, on Pastor appreciation day.  Worship was scheduled for 7 am, but after the night of serenading, even the Mariachis were moving slow.  Pablo was recognized for his years of service to his church, his country and to his people, in God's name.  

He became very emotional as he described his journey, and deeply expressed his love and gratitude to The Lord and to the people of Sibal.    A love offering was taken, and everyone passed by to give a hug or greeting.  

The processional out, led by the Mariachis, included the throwing of flower petals, as we moved to the courtyard to celebrate with food!    The 2 cows had been slaughtered yesterday at the river....  And barbecued on the open fire, to be used in the caldo, with chayote and carrots.  

A pleasant time in the village, for sure.  The people all look forward to our return in 10 days with the medical caravan.  

We prepare to head back to Ocosingo on the bone jarring,  scenic, road from hell..... 

Well, I have run off at the I Pad again.   Hope some of you are enjoying reading!    

Hermana Carolina reporting from Sibal