Tuesday May 3, 2016

School was back in session at Palo Blanco today! There was no mistaking that when you heard the noise level – giggles, squeals, bickering, scraping chairs, thundering footsteps, bouncing basketballs, sing-song voices counting in unison in Spanish, all bouncing off the concrete walls and floors and echoing out the open louvered windows into the hallways. Sounds of progress were heard – banging hammers, scraping saws, clinking block, voices of men in both English and Spanish working alongside each other to build new classrooms where more learning will happen in the near future.

Those with medical training on the team joined Christina, Palo Blanco’s school nurse, in assessing the children. Grade by grade the children were brought to the clinic where Erin, Rachel, Catherine, and Verray methodically weighed and measured them, checked their heads for lice and ringworm, and gave them medication to kill any parasites they may have acquired from the water. Those children who were deemed malnourished by their percentiles on the growth chart were given peanut butter and vitamins and added to a list to receive regular extra nutrition and have their homes assessed.

 

                                            

(Catherine weighing FanFan)

 

The nurses heard many heartbreaking stories of poverty, struggle, hope, and despair as we assessed the children. A young mother brought her 3 year old son in to have a rash evaluated. Christina shared with us that she loves working with this mother because of the devotion and love she shows to her sons. This mother is unable to pay the 400 peso tuition for her children – the equivalent of less than $3.00/month – and so she signs up to do service hours at the school. A short time ago she had stopped showing up to do her service hours and when the school staff checked on her it was discovered that she had sold her last pair of shoes to feed her children. Palo Blanco was able to meet this seemingly simple need for her and allow her to continue to work diligently to provide as best she can for her children.

(Erickson - the son of the women in the above story.)

 

A young girl of approximately 8 years old, Mayori, came in to be assessed and we learned a small piece of her heartbreaking story. Mayori’s mother had abandoned her and her younger sister several years before. They were left to be cared for by their father who works nearly all daylight hours which means they were left alone most of the time. Both Mayori and her sister have lice - which by our assessment ~40% of the children at Palo Blanco have. Her father tried to kill their lice by spraying their heads with cockroach spray. The spray coated their scalps and dripped down their backs. It had been on them for over 24 hours when the girls showed up to school crying and in pain. They had severe chemical burns on their heads and down their backs. They staff at Palo Blanco worked quickly to provide them with appropriate medical care. They are healing well and their father is receiving education on proper care.

Finally, we learned of a four year old boy who came back to school on a Monday. His teacher brought him out of the classroom to the nurse saying that he couldn’t stay awake and “can you just watch him for a little bit?”.  Christina quickly realized that something was very wrong – this child was barely conscious. She quickly got him to drink some Gatorade and rushed him to the medical clinic. The doctor there had lost his stethoscope so this young boy’s heart sounds and breathing could not be appropriately evaluated. There was no glucometer – a device to check blood sugar levels with results given in seconds, so a blood draw was done and sent out to a lab where it would take 2 hours for results. When blood sugar levels drop to a critical level organs shut down, the person loses consciousness, and can very quickly die. Thankfully Christina recognized the signs of low blood sugar and worked to treat it. When the blood test results finally came back, the level was 34 – a level not far from death if it had not quickly been treated. God provided Palo Blanco and Christina to save this boy’s life. The heart wrenching truth in all of this is that the only reason this child was in this position was because there was no food in his home all weekend – the prevention for this problem was simply food.

Luke, Erin, Neil, and Duane were able to go on a home visit to Luke’s sponsored child’s home. The home was partially wooden slats and partially concrete block. As the family was able to afford to be a few more blocks they would add to the home making it more secure and weatherproof. Yaily (prounounced Jie –lee) was proud to show his home to his padrino (sponsor) and his parents were very hospitable. The team learned of some of Yaily’s struggles, health problems, with no diagnosis that left him intermittently in severe pain. This young boy would go from laughing and playing to debilitating pain in a matter of moments. Though he had been evaluated many times by several clinics a definitive diagnosis has not been found. The current diagnosis is kidney stones. The Kid’s Alive staff is working with the family to receive appropriate medical care and find a cure for Yaily.

                                                 (Luke with Yaily and his family at their home.)

Each of these stories is hard. Each of these stories is full of pain. Unimaginable circumstances to most of us. However, each of these stories is also full of hope – thanks to God’s presence through Kid’s alive, through Palo Blanco, through you….