The Friends of Honduras medical/dental brigade returned to Intibucá in July of 2019—this was our 9th brigade to serve the people of Guanacaste; our 4th brigade to Aguacate. We were 22 strong this year—12 from the St. Louis region and 10 Honduran partners.
Over 5 days of clinics, we served over 1,000 patients. Once again, we were able to provide a year’s supply of medicine for patients who would never be able to afford them. What a gratifying experience this has been for three children with chronic illnesses who are now able to attend school. In addition, Beatriz who suffers with rheumatoid arthritis, is now experiencing life without constant pain.
Fabiola Zeron, our Honduran dentist, worked until dark to treat those who would never be able to afford dental care. Teammate Jennifer spent her days giving the children fluoride varnish treatments. And from our pharmacy, every child and adult, once again, received toothbrushes and toothpaste.
During our medical trip in July 2017, we discovered Reynaldo, a little boy from Aguacate with cleft lip and palate. We referred him to Smile Train for specialized surgery. As you can see, Smile Train is truly “Changing the World One Smile at a Time”.
Our partnership with the community of Pimienta, Cortes, Honduras has brought us many blessings. In preparation for this trip, we funded the purchase of 12,000 pounds of beans and rice for distribution to the people of the communities we serve. Dr. Raul Ugarte, physician and mayor of Pimienta, along with volunteers from his community, managed the work of loading, transporting, and processing all of this food.
During our trip in 2018, the community of Aguacate asked for materials to build a new kindergarten. Over the course of the past year, thanks to our generous donors, we were able to raise enough money to purchase the building materials. We have only been back from our trip a month and construction has already begun!
We are so very grateful to all of our generous partners who make this work possible, including:
- Smile Train international children’s charity
- Kingsway Charities medicines and medical supplies
- Americares Medical Outreach for their material contributions
- Goldsmith MediCenter Pharmacy provider of affordable seizure and arthritis medicines
- Blessings International provider of low-cost medicines for missions
