It was a very interesting day today traveling with the Village Clinic medical team and the screen team. This morning (Sunday) we left around 7:30am for a very small, remote village named Chunox. We were traveling in an old school bus and 2 passenger vans. While the village is only about 20 miles southwest from where we're staying, it took about almost 90 minutes to get there. The roads are unpaved, dirt/rock roads and are extremely rough.
We had to cross 2 rivers, each about 200ft across, to get there. The catch--there are no bridges! Each had a small, floating ferry to get you (and your car or van) across. Even more interesting, you have to crank a pully by hand to move the ferry which is attached to a cable secured on each side.
In between the two ferries, one of the vans broke down! So we had to rig a tow cable from the other van so we could all make it to
the village.
In the village, we setup a medical clinic in a small building and saw 165 patients. One needed surgery on his face so we drove him to the hospital (about 1 hour away) where the surgical team met with him.
It is now 10pm in Belize. We've finished dinner and have shared events of the day. The surgical team has not yet returned. They should arrive any minute after a very long day. Look for another update shortly with details about their day.
We had to cross 2 rivers, each about 200ft across, to get there. The catch--there are no bridges! Each had a small, floating ferry to get you (and your car or van) across. Even more interesting, you have to crank a pully by hand to move the ferry which is attached to a cable secured on each side.In between the two ferries, one of the vans broke down! So we had to rig a tow cable from the other van so we could all make it to
the village.In the village, we setup a medical clinic in a small building and saw 165 patients. One needed surgery on his face so we drove him to the hospital (about 1 hour away) where the surgical team met with him.
It is now 10pm in Belize. We've finished dinner and have shared events of the day. The surgical team has not yet returned. They should arrive any minute after a very long day. Look for another update shortly with details about their day.
1 comment:
Hey! Things are going well. The house hasn't burned down and the kids are still alive. I was walking in my sleep two nights ago and I woke up with the car keys in my hand next to the car. I thought Jill's roof was about to fall on the car. I didn't drive though :)
-Courtenay
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