This time last week I was in a pickup truck traveling through beautiful Honduras during a 6 hour ride to the airport for my departing flight. Penn State's first trip to Honduras with Global Medical Brigade was incredibly successful: we treated approximately 1300 villagers, who would otherwise have no access to basic health care. I'm so proud of my group for all their hard work! We performed 3 different "brigades" in 3 different rural locations outside the capital of Tegucigalpa. We set up these makeshift clinics in schools, using the different classrooms for the examination rooms, pharmacy, etc. Each morning when our bus arrived at the site there would be a huge line of people already waiting, many having walked hours for this opportunity to receive medical attention.
These rural villagers are basically untouched by the modern world - living in small shacks, on dirt roads, and forced to consume water riddled with parasites. Living in unthinkable conditions, these people maintained an incredibly happiness. Their spirit and gratefulness was truly inspiring. Beyond some additional Spanish vocab and conversation practice, I learned alot on this Spring Break trip. By interacting with the villagers and our Honduran trip leaders I was able to have an inside view of the country. For example, I learned about "Honduras time", in which everything usually runs 20 mins late and strict schedule, like those in the U.S., don't exist.
Penn State's Global Medical Brigade club hopes to continue trips to Honduras in subsequent years so to get involved look for information at activity fairs and around campus!
Posted By: Clare, Seville, Spain, Spring 2007
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