From Water Project Evaluation to Project Appendix Removal!

Following my time with the King’s Water Project Team I was scheduled to visit seven communities around Honduras with some very special visitors from Canada.  Henry and Susan Bosch, from my home church Inglewood CRC in Edmonton, came down for two weeks as part of Henry’s sabbatical project regarding past water projects.  In the past 17 years over 20 teams have traveled to Honduras in partnership with the King’s University College, the Christian Reformed World Relief Committee (CRWRC) and the Northern Alberta Diaconal Conference (NADC).  Working for NADC for almost 20 years, Henry has been in charge of promoting and coordinating funds for each water project.  This year Henry has taken it upon himself to gather more information about these communities following their water projects. 

In each community we met with the local leaders, members from the church and various men and women who supported and worked with the team during the project.  They gave an account of their community before and after the water project, the benefits of having taps in their homes, the quality of their water and their experience with the team of young people from Canada.  Common elements from each meeting included benefits like improved water quality, reduced incidence of illnesses such as diarrhoea in children and less time spent hauling water daily - meaning more time for homework and play for children as well as less stress on mothers.  Some villages even described how their water project experience led them to work together and cooperate towards other goals in their community’s development.   We visited the community of Julian only a couple weeks after they celebrated finally getting electricity which, besides water, is one of the major benchmarks of a developing town. I know we were all pretty proud to hear this success story because behind every CRWRC project is the desire to empower people and encourage them to take initiative. 

We also got some great responses regarding their time spent with the teams.  Each meeting at least three or four people took their turns to genuinely thank the Canadians for coming all that way to dig trenches with them, worship with them and give them hope.  Henry communicated that back home there is always the question whether the community would be better served if they skipped sending a team and just sent a bigger cheque so the locals could do more by themselves.  The response to the money vs. team question was overwhelming – they felt the presence of the team was a great motivator, that they felt honoured to have guests come from so far away and that they genuinely enjoyed forming relationships with the young people despite the language barrier.  It was really encouraging to see and hear their testimonies because they prove that each year CRWRC, NADC, King’s and all their supporters aren’t just contributing to a 3-week work project – we are all participants in the transformational development of Honduras.  It is truly amazing what God is able to do through many committed hands and hearts. 

I was very fortunate to accompany Henry & Susan Bosch, Ana from CRWRC and Dilia from Diaconía Nacional on their visits to Las Mangas, Julian, San Pedro de Catacamas – Plan de Argueta, Chapernal and Coyolar, which was 5 out of the 7 we had scheduled.  The rest went on to visit Los Ranchos and Varsovia without me due to a silly little organ called the appendix.  The day I was supposed to go to Los Ranchos my fiancé Isaí took me to the clinic in Santa Maria del Real after almost three days of fever and an ever increasing amount of pain. 

After a couple of clinical exams, an ultrasound and some blood tests, sure enough I was diagnosed with appendicitis.  Once that was established then came the tedious task of deciphering my emergency travelers insurance coverage and the even more important issue of where exactly the operation would take place.  The best hospital would have been in Tegucigalpa – a 5-hr bumpy ride plus waiting time in the hospital, then there was the hospital 40mins away in Juticalpa – but with considerable risks of infection or complications due to their limited facilities, and finally the little clinic in Santa Maria where I was already being treated.  We went with the clinic in the end because at least we could be sure of the cleanliness and the anaesthesiologist was a family friend of my co-worker.  The surgery took a little over two hours and went really well.  Luckily my appendix hadn’t burst quite yet – they said it was pretty close though – so they were able to stitch it up right away.  Apparently once it bursts you have to leave the wound open for a couple of weeks to clean out all the venom – yuck! I spent the night in the clinic and received a tonne of visitors from the church, co-workers, friends, and from my fiancé’s family. 

Appendicitis is such an odd illness because the appendix doesn’t seem to have a purpose other than to explode and that it is totally spontaneous so it could happen to anyone, anytime, anywhere.  My parents keep telling me that I’ve been having such bad luck with my health since I’ve arrived  but at least in this case it has nothing to do with what I ate or with the water I’ve been drinking.  Of course I would never wish that kind of pain on anyone but I’ve been thinking that maybe this was a good experience for me at this moment in my life and in Honduras. In this past month I was in my weakest state and I needed help just sitting up.  However, in this past month I have felt the love and support of an incredible community here and I feel more a part of it than ever.  I also received a great deal of prayer and emotional support from my family, friends and church community back home which has been awesome as well. 

At this point it has been a little over a month since the operation and I am feeling great.  I still can’t lift anything heavy or exert myself too much risking a hernia but I’m back at work full-time.  I already gave 20min presentation at one of Diaconía’s training sessions for Sunday School teachers the other week and thankfully it went really well.  I was a little nervous about getting back into the swing of things and having to speak by myself (in Spanish, of course) to a whole room full of people but it turned out to be a great experience.  Right now I’m preparing to travel around Olancho for the next few months giving small seminars to school children regarding sexual abuse.  The unfortunate reality is that child abuse is common but lacks public awareness and resources to help identify and deal with its effects.  For me it’s a lot more difficult to talk about this subject than giving tips on teaching Sunday School classes but it’s also very important and I hope to grow from this challenge.