Day 3 - Sunday (Feb. 7) - VMC

Village Medical Clinic - Progresso

The Village Medical Clinic moved to the village of Progresso. Using key learnings from the previous day, set up started a little easier. However, shortly into things, we realized there would be a whole new set of challenges. We were setting up in a school and it was hard to find regular chairs -- most of the chairs were small and had a desktop connected to it. We worked with the local contact and were able to obtain chairs in several locked classrooms on the second floor. After that issue was averted, we realized that the people in line waiting to register would soon experience heat exhaustion with the sun bearing down on them. Using "creativity" and "flexibility" as hallmark traits, Ed Carl optimized the flow while providing shade by creating small queues in front of each station and moving the bulk of the line to the shade. (God brought the right people for the right moment on this trip.)

After getting the initial kinks worked out, we began the process of screening, diagnosing, and treating the people waiting. But we ran into one more snag -- and a big one at that. A large number of Mennonites had heard that we were coming to Progresso. And while we were happy to help them, we had a big barrier... they only spoke German. Who would think we would run into German-speaking people in Central America -- go figure. Well God had prepared help for us. One very kind gentleman was able to speak English, Spanish, and German. He translated for every single Mennonite, which meant he had to stay for the entire day. His kindness and generosity was a godsend.

We helped the largest number of people at Progresso, with over 200 people being seen. In addition to handing out over 25 pairs of glasses, we were also able to distribute over 30 Bibles (providing both English and Spanish translations).