Exciting first day!

Wow! What an exciting first day we had at the clinic (hospital for updates and read below ...). We started the day bright and early, loaded the bus With All of the medical supplies, and then drove to our location of Lima. On the way it is enjoyable to glance outside and see the surrounding scenery. Pulling up to the clinic we saw how the people lived in the village. We saw small huts, With roosters, chickens and dogs roaming free in the muddy yards. Clothing hanging outside each house, with children playing in the streets.  

When we Reached the clinic Were Already 100 people waiting to be seen. We unpacked the supplies and Quickly Organized ourselves into teams. We met our translators, high school students who Attend an American school, and Quickly got to work. Total In over four hundred patients seen from newborns to Were In Their patients eighties. What was Their foreign language was familiar but was what was the look of concern on mothers' faces acerca Their children, the tears of a wife Concerned about her husband, and the smiles, laughter, and "thank you" from so many.

Exhilarating first day for the surgical team ...

The return to El Progresso was a welcome and, not surprisingly, exciting home (away from home) coming. Grinding through the surrounding villages on our way to the hospital in our stretch bus-thing, we smiled at local family, regaling in reminiscence, and were delighted at the sight of new construction and a burgeoning prosperity in a place blighted by poverty for so long .  

Our arrival at the hospital owner also brought similar feelings of reminiscence as we reunited with old friends and remarked that, as a place that has become so dear to our group, has continued to grow Also.  

After a slow start, the surgical team mercifully gave the team time to organize, we welcomed our first patients. The first day was mostly as expected, performing surgeries That would seem fairly routine in the states, yet become exercises in improvisation in El Progresso.  

Still, the passion and experience of our dedicated team, made the day a success, helping and healing, one patient at a time.