Day 13: Public Health Brigade

July 10, 2010

First day of Public Health Brigades in the town of Encinal

Man, talk about manual labor in a tropical storm! I never mixed and patted down so much cement in my life. One day when I have kids I will tell them about the time I worked super hard in a third world country…Mixing sand, gravel, and cement with my bare hands...Building a cement floor…Making a stove…And doing it all in the rain storm.

Mixing concrete

laying down the cement

2 parts cement, 10 parts dirt, 15 parts tiny rocks, 1000 parts hardcore strength

We embarked on our first public health brigade where we built cement floors and a stove for a family in the village of Encinal. The family we met had a small mud house with three rooms inside. There are currently 11 people living in the house. The house only had dirt floors. You see this very often in Honduran homes and most of the skin infections, digestive problems, and parasitic infections we see in clinic are associated with these poor living conditions. Even though today was a physically demanding day, it was well worth it. When the family found out that we were coming to lay down cement flooring they were so appreciative. The father of the house is 55 years old and he was so excited that his home would be transformed. He also helped us mix the cement and to be quite honest, he was faster than most of the guys in our group (no offense!).

The inside floor of the house. We created cement floors for 3 rooms.

The owner of the house

We were able to finish a big part of the flooring but will be coming back again tomorrow to lay down the 2nd layer of cement. After leaving the home, we had a lot of time to spare so we visited the boy’s orphanage that Global Brigades helps support. The compound is called Flor Azul, translated as Blue Flower. Some of the children entered the orphanage because their parents were either deceased, unable to support them, or incarcerated. There are about 61 children living at Flor Azul. Through this orphanage, the boys are able to go to eat, sleep, play outside, and go to school onsite. On their free time, some of the boys make beaded and weaved bracelets for the visitors who come by. In order to get funding, some of the bracelets are sold along with other items in a store in Nuevo Pariso. All of the funds get donated to the orphanage. On top of that, at our compound in Rapaco, there is a small shop that is set up every evening selling t-shirts, drinks, and memorabilia. All of the money collected here also goes to the orphanage, specifically the college fund for the boys. Moses, one of our public health brigade staff members used to live at Flor Azul.

Learning how to make a bracelet

Dayanthi taught him French while he taught her Spanish