Still, it is gratifying, espercially to see the improvements in the community thanks to the work of Salud Juntos (the non profit Jane is part of) in helping the community negotiate with the Ministry of Health to change their clinic from a building that housed an Eyecare brigade for two weeks a year to one which now has a full time nurse, a doctor three days a week, and two prometoras to give health education to the community.
When we first got here, we went to Punta Acote, a community north of here, where we are helping to pay for the building of another clinic.
The goal of Salud Juntos is different from the typical NGO in Honduras. Most of them come down with a brigade of doctors and travel around spending a week here and there treating patients, after which they leave til the next year. We are more interested in building a sustainable, locally controlled health infrastructure that can then be supplemented by specialist brigades.
Tomorrow is our last day at the clinic. Saturday, Jane and I are going to Gracias, the first capital of Spanish Central America in the 1500s. She flies home on the 3rd and I will spend another month taking Spanish in Guatemala.
Hasta Luego!