A Flurry of Activity

Saying goodbye to our van

“Why isn’t she at a doctor’s office?” The question came from a frightened girl who was watching me care for her little sister, Nora, the girl I had in the clinic in town last week. This sister didn’t know me, and wasn’t at all convinced that I had the slightest idea of what to do next. While it is frustrating and discouraging, it is also something that happens all the time. Each time a new kid or staff member arrives on campus, they fear that I won’t care for them well since they come from underprivileged families, or that I don’t know what to do since I wasn’t trained here and my treatments are quite a bit different from their traditional medicine. I have to remind myself that their fears are valid, that quality healthcare isn’t usually given to those who aren’t well off here, and that the only way to win their trust is over time.

I turned to the older sister and began to explain. Showing her the x-ray and ultrasound and explaining them, going over all the lab numbers with her, and explaining the history of the illness, I watched her face for some sign of belief. There was none. I couldn’t read her face at all! We sat in silence for several minutes. I was nervous, hoping I had explained everything sufficiently because if a child is unhappy with our care, they can complain to their parents during visiting hours, which can get us in trouble with Social Services. A lot was hanging on my beginner Spanish! Suddenly she broke the silence. “So you said too much Tylenol is hard on the liver. My aunt takes a lot of Tylenol and she’s pregnant. Is her baby going to be ok?” I breathed an inward sigh of relief. Trust had been won!

This week has been quite literally a blur of activity. School is starting on Monday, which means we have around 40 more kids who will arrive in the next few days, so preparation is constant.

Last Friday was full of cooking. I made bagels for the student missionaries, vegan cream spread, soymilk for Nora, who is on an anti-inflammatory diet, along with whole wheat bread for her to eat. I also had baby Jose, and hand-kneading bread with him in a front pack in 100 degree weather was quite the workout! When Sabbath finally came, we all collapsed around the table in the boys’ house, grateful for the rest.

Adventures with baby Jose

Homemade bagels! Not the prettiest but really yummy!

Sabbath was peaceful, with our first service in our newly roofed church followed by campus-wide naps. While everyone slept, Treson and I watched the little kids play and held baby Jose. In the evening, Maddy made us Korean pancakes which were so delicious! And then the chaos began.

The little boys brought me flowers at church

Sabbath afternoon baby duty

Outside playing

The Leones house was loud on Sunday morning as rain pounded down on the tin roof. The boys crowded around my computer to watch some Shaun the Sheep, which works perfectly for them since it doesn’t have any talking and therefore doesn’t need to be translated! Carlo and I cooked for much of the day, making corn chowder, scones, and other dishes. I also spent a significant amount of time discussing Nora’s situation with her house parents. They were having a terrible time getting her to eat and were worried about her weight, requesting that she stop her strict diet. She is an extremely picky eater, and therefore was eating hardly anything at all. I weighed her again, and she had lost a pound since arriving a week and a half before. With her being so thin, I agreed for her to stop the diet and try to gain weight for four weeks before trying again. I had a serious talk with her, doing my best to use her getting to eat normal food as leverage for her to agree to eat her special food next month. She agreed to follow the plan and happily sat down with a bowl of rice.

Rainy morning activities

On Monday, the chaos continued to build. All of the female non-house-parent volunteers moved out of the Flores this week and moved into an upstairs above the Harding house. The clinic is moving up there with us too, and ironically will be put into the room where I was bitten by a bat the first week I was at Familia Feliz! Thankfully they killed the last bat a few days ago. The boys are also moving. They will be living about 5 minutes off campus with Melissa’s dad. Amongst the frantic scraping of old paint, cleaning, and packing, we also are turning the Flores house into a new girls’ house and have been searching for beds, shelves, and other furnishings. And then our van, the only mode of transportation other than our dump truck, broke. The engine blew up, so it wasn’t worth repairing. By God’s grace, we were able to fundraise more than the $5,000 needed to pay for it within less than 24 hours! Thank you so much to all of you who donated!

We also are going to be having two weddings in the next few weeks, so I have been drying flower petals in the clinic for the flower girls, scoping out a good outdoor location, collecting décor wherever I can find some, and trying to figure out food ideas.

Kittens were also born this week!

On Tuesday, one of Nora’s house parents brought her to the clinic. She looked so sick and was crying in pain, as she had when she first arrived. I knew her diet had been helping, but we did not realize how much until then. She begged to start eating her special food again, which was pretty significant for her since she didn’t like any of it. I kept her in the clinic, trying to keep her hydrated and as comfortable as possible. As it became nighttime, I hung up my hammock next to her and dozed off to sleep. I was jolted awake about every 45 minutes as she woke herself up sobbing in the night. I was so sad; I remember doing that when I had Lyme disease. She was taking quite a bit of pain medications, but still had so much pain. Such an awful way to feel. The night was a constant cycle of me singing to her until I fell asleep and then her waking up again and us going through the same process.

When Wednesday morning finally spread across the sky, Emilianne kindly came to relieve me for a little while and I drifted off to sleep. After an hour, I walked over to the Leones because Carlo had been taking care of them for the morning by himself. I cooked lunch, played with the boys, and stayed by to talk with Hermana Emi about wedding plans. I got back to my house just in time to carry all of my belongings to our new room upstairs. A little girl had gotten a bullet ant bite, and another kid joined her in screaming in pain because he had diaper rash. By evening, I was exhausted and sat down in a corner of my now mostly empty room to rest for a few minutes. My thoughts were jolted to nursing again when I heard the familiar “Teacher Sierra!” coming through the window. Someone had cut their leg. After bandaging it, I went to supper and returned to feed Nora. She was doing much better and ready to go back to her house. When she had finished her food, I carried her back to the Lilas since the inflammation was still painful and went to get ready for bed.

As you can see, this week has been packed full of work! And I didn’t have the space to share more than half the stories! It’s exciting though, because it means we’re about to start a new school year. The many struggles with gaining trust have been discouraging. But God is teaching me patience and humility through the process, for which I am grateful. Let the new school year begin!

Juancito