In July we took a break from clinic and construction and had the opportunity to host Princeton Church of God’s education team. What a gift this team was to our ministry and the people here in the river valley! This team loved every person radically, always jumped in to help in
whatever capacity needed, and did I mention how fun they were—always laughing, always encouraging, always loving.
With them they brought thousands of gifts to put in student and teacher bags on school visits.
And when we say thousands, we mean thousands—sixteen suitcases full to be exact. These
gifts included everything from slinkies to soccer balls to full-size pixie sticks to journals to
sunglasses—you name it, and it was in there. These are what dreams are made of for these
little ones. Only being there would you be able to picture the pure joy that came from receiving
these. We are so thankful for the time and resources, effort and thoughtfulness that went into
making this happen.
Although we took a break most of the week from clinic, our full-time staff was able to continue
seeing patients on Monday. This allowed our chronic patients to receive their monthly
prescriptions as well as allow the team an opportunity to see what our day to day looks like.
Some of the team with medical backgrounds even helped us run clinic in the first half of the
day. The second half of the day was spent in preparation for school visits and nailing the skits
and dances that the team presented at the schools. Thanks, Momma Marla—school visit
veteran and dance extraordinaire.
Throughout the remainder of the week our team visited five different schools in three
days—one of which was a two-hour hike to Los Limpios and another was an hour hike to El
Paraiso—and we saw a cumulative of almost 200 kids. The people on this team were
troopers—for reasons we can’t mention. You just had to be there. The villages were so
welcoming; blessing us with baleadas and coffee as we entered the schools. Truly a family
affair, the families in the villages gathered around to watch the joy unfold. In each village, our
team performed multiple puppet skits and dances on handwashing, teeth brushing, and
nutrition followed by education stations with hands-on teaching. It was in these stations that
we got the opportunity to interact with each child individually. We then ended each visit
presenting the gospel through worship. Every child received their own goody bag complete
with a dewormer and bag of vitamins—we are a hospital after all and vitamins nullify all the
candy, right?
Although I’m convinced we’ll never get these songs out of our heads, it was a week that marked
our team and the people we met for the rest of our lives. We’re so thankful for Princeton
Church and their hearts for people and service!
We also would be remissed not to mention the McLeod, Cox, and Sillcocks families who
graciously gave up their summers to spend with us here at the hospital. They helped in every
facet from clinic to electrical to team hosting to every area in between—jumping in wherever
was needed. We were so blessed by them this summer and so thankful for their time and
families!
Written by guest blogger: Micah Farr, RN.
