Nicaragua- volunteer mission

So Reed and I went to Nicaragua on a volunteer mission and here are some pics. Actually there are a lot of pics, sorry!

This may not look like we were there to work, but we were. However, we did not hesitate to use the facilities of the near by resort every night to relax.

Just getting friendly with the animals.

There was a day that we were asked to help with a sensus for the ministry of health. We went to one of the poorest communities, Virgin Morena. Our job was to hit every home in the community and have them answer questions like what's the highest education in the house hold, how many people live here? Also to evaluate the living conditions like, how many people slept on one bed, how did they cook their food, where did they go to the bathroom, what water did they drink, what their home was made of. This was one of my favorite things on the trip. We got to see how the people lived and be quite immersed in it. I was able to go with one of the locals, Eveling. She was 17 years old and volunteered to help us.

This is one of the homes that we went to that day. This was actually a really nice home made out of brick. It was a small one room house for 8 people. This kids were so cute. The little girl next to me kept following me around; she was a doll.

This little boy was from one of the homes we visited. I just love home much he loves his little truck.

I don't know if you can see very well but this home was made sticks and garbage bag-like plastic. They cook indoors with wood and smoke fills the house. The mother of these children was 21 years old. There were 3 families that lived in this home. But they owned their home and the land around it and that's all that matters to them. They take a lot of pride in owning their homes.

Cute kids!

This is the government clinic that we helped with quite a bit. The health care there is socialized, so it's nice that health care is free. But the government only gives them an allotted number of supplies every month and when they are out, they're out. So when we got there they had no infant tylenol. How sad is that! They can't even treat fever in a baby. We were able to give them several bottles that we brought.

This is the bed in the government clinic. The pad on there is a camping pad that one of the volunteers donated. If not for that, the sick patients would have to lay down on a hard wood bed.

This was our mode of transportation on these awesome dirt roads. I've never sweat so much in my life just riding 3 miles on a bike.

This was so crazy. The pig has these sticks around it's neck so it doesn't get out.

On another day we were able to go out with a local nurse, Martita. We checked on potential H1N1 cases and post partum mothers. Another favorite part of the trip for me. The people were so gracious and just welcomed us into their homes like we were family.

This was our group. There were 5 of us volunteers. Greg was our coordinator (top right) and Sara (top left) was the intern that helped run things. We had a great group.

Reed entertaining the kids with bubbles. It was always a hit. The kids just loved him.

Our little group going from house to house.

This is a 16 year old new mom of 9 days, doing very well.

We went to this house to check out someone with a fever and cough. When we got there everyone had one thing or another for us to check out. Man, I love being a nurse.

This is the cute 9 day old baby doing very well. We also visited a 22 day old baby that wasn't doing so well. It had been over a week that the baby hadn't been doing well, but they have no way to get to the clinic other than walking. So by the time we got there, the baby needed to go to the nearest hospital which was 1 hour away, dirt roads all the way.

We did a little skit in two of the schools to help kids stop passing lice to one another and how to prevent H1N1. Spencer, the 16 year old, that we took with us was the star with his sweet juggling skills.

Go Red Sox!

One of the cute families that we went to visit to help teach how to clean things, because their daughter had lice.

Reed doing his Spanish thang. He was amazing! Everyone was so impressed with how this very white gringo could speak their language so well.

Part of our skit. I was the sign holder. Huuu in english means Booooo!

Spencer entertaining while I'm washing Rosita's hair.

Cute little Rosita waiting the the lice shampoo to take affect. She was so stinkin' cute!

This was us at the near by resort, Rancho Santana.

We found lice in their little girl's hair so after school we went to her house to check out her family. And the mom had lice and had the longest, thickest hair I've ever seen.
It took almost 2 hours to comb through her hair.

Reed became quite good at combing girls' hairs. She doesn't look too happy, though.

Here's the team in action. We washed about 40 kids. Don't ever get lice!

The dream team!

Pumping water from the well at the school to wash the kids' hair. I got tired fast.

This monkey may look all cute, but it freaking bit me. I am not a fan of monkeys any more.

We were invited to a local birthday party for one of the doctors. It was very generous to invite all of us to come and feed us all. The doctor is on the top left with the green blouse. She is 24 years old and doing her "residency" for 2 years in Limon. She is from the main city, Managua. And she was not thrilled that she was there.

Eating some awesome Nicaraguan food on the beach.

Washing dishes after a meal (not really, they wouldn't let me touch a plate. I'm just pretending)

Martita (the one next to me) was one of my favorite people in Nicaragua. She was the nurse at the government clinic and one of the hardest workers I've ever met. She loves what she does and it shows. I think every nurse should spend a day with Martita and remember why they became a nurse in the first place. And she makes a whopping $125 a month.

Dinner at Yolanda's. I had lobster for about $10. It was awesome!

Getting gas at the only "gas station" for miles.

Dividing up the vitamins we brought to give to kids.

The last day we were able to go to Granada. It was a very cool city, which they say is the oldest civilized city in the Americas. We were able to go on a sweet boat ride in Lake Nicaragua and see all the little islands.

We had an amazing experience and I'll never forget it. It made me appreciate all that I have and not take it for granted. I wanted to thank our amazing parents that flew all the way out to Minnesota to watch Jensen. I also wanted to thank all the people that made this trip possible and helped us get enough money to take several meds and supplies to the much deserving people of Limon. Muchisimas Gracias! Thank you very much!