Carolyn in Chiapas : MANOS DECRISTO

Well, the groups arrived with narry a snare! Go figure....

Rich's daughter's suitcase did not arrive with her, but was retrieved 3 days later. All of our "carry on stuff". arrived unscathed, untouched, and intact. Everyone got a green light! The groups brought tremendous amounts of supplies and drugs.

This is such a blessing to the clinic, and to its budget. It cuts way down, the amount of money needed to support each Caravan. We have figured that it takes about $2000 ABOVE what is carried and donated, to support a week of patient care here in the clinic.

Pero, depende..... for example, yesterday and today we saw more than 300 patients, nearly double the expected number of people. This brought down our supplies already! Muchas gracias to all those who have contributed to this cause, either with supplies, medications, or hard cash! We could not do this without the support of others.

As I said, we approached the clinic bright and early Monday morning, and found the waiting room FULL with those already registered, and a line out the door to sign in. Many had been there since 4 AM. The word was out!

We stopped the action, and called for silence, and the pastor assigned for the week, led us in prayer.

There were many voices praying along, some quiet folks, and some with raised hands. Pretty sweet start.

Our team, being the veterans, friends, professionals, and servant minded, filled-with-humor-and-grace people that we are... went to work! We have so many dedicated native folks who help, who come to each Caravan to work alongside us. Many hands, literally, make the work light.

We have delighted in having Dr. Rich Silver, from the Village Church, Obstetrician and Gynecologist extraordinaire, here with us this week. He lends such expertise, flexibility and warmth that we have afforded him the congeniality award!

The women have flocked to see this specialist! AND, a colleague donated to Dr. Bill, a wonderful portable ultrasound! Something we have been wishing for, for some time. We have used it repeatedly, and Dr. Rich will instruct the clinic professionals to use it when we are gone.

We also thoroughly enjoyed having Rich's daughter, Marie and her boyfriend, Otto, join us for a few days.

Marie is a children's immigration lawyer in Chicago, and Otto is a musician, who lives in Tuxtla. Marie has spent time in Tuxtla during her law school years. She is fluent in Spanish and we really enjoyed learning about her work, so important, and timely these days. Marie translated and Otto entertained the kids with his music and puppets!