It was only a one lane road... so you can't pretend you didn't see it and leave it for the next guy. There is no GDOT (Guatemala Dept of Transportation) that will come to cut it move it and clean the road. It became our problem and our responsibility to fix it.
Out of the truck we came. There were 5 of us and we tried to move it but it became clear rather quickly that the size and weight of it would make it impossible to pull it down and then rotate it to the side of the road. Our driver had a machete- but then the second vehicle in our group caught up to us and stopped. He had a rope and his truck. We were able to move the tree to a position so that he could attach a rope and swing it around and off the road. A few high fives and several pictures and we were off again. On to clinic.
Thursday. Today was the day. It had to be. The birthing kits have been sitting in the duffel bag all week. It was suggested to me on Monday that we can give the whole bag (500 of them) to Williams at Fundinor on Friday and he will see to it they were distributed to the community midwives in the clinics his organization serves. That would have been fine- Fundinor is a small group of very dedicated, hands on, on the ground people and I knew the kits would not get "lost in any shuffle"- but I was told that within these 13 communities there were approx 100 midwives.. there had to be some coming for care at our clinics, and I wanted to talk with them. Earlier in the week Williams said he would try to get some together and bring them to me but so far it hasn't happened. Today I moved it up on my priority list and was determined to seek at least one out.
We started the clinic like we do every morning with a group prayer.. our team, the interpreters, medical students and those in the community and then proceeded to our posts.
I was getting my equipment out of my bag when 5 women, 1 man and 4 of our interpreters along with one of the fundinor girls came into clinic. These were the midwives and they were here to see me. I choked up at the timely coincidence of their arrival and my "plan for the day"-
So we got to work.. we sat in a circle and I explained how my husbands mom and a group of women from the United States assembled these kits for them to use when delivering babies. I passed out one kit to each of them and they immediately opened them up. They were talking to each other- opening the plastic sheet, looking over the other items. They were very careful. They asked questions and so did I. They liked that they were small. This group told me they had 1-2 deliveries a month, though I'm skeptical this question/answer was lost in translation because there were LOTS of children everywhere.
They asked for scissors to cut the cord- but didn't know about the razor blade that was included- once we showed them what it was they seemed satisfied. What struck me was how similar they were to me. We all were there to take care of others. They asked thoughtful questions. They knew their job and took it seriously. They were already doing a good job, but I was giving them the means to assist in a safer, cleaner delivery.
They were neighbors helping neighbors and if we all did a little more of that how much better would our world be?
The rest of the clinic day proceeded with loving contentment. I was comfortable now with my role on the team, I was more familiar with the the challenges of the communities and what we had to offer them both in medications and in instruction. My heart was happy.
We ended the clinic day and as we were packing up the trucks to head back, I felt a twinge in my gut. We only had one more day.
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