Ready to Go!

Our team is ready to go! Laurie, Laine and Maureen are seasoned volunteers. Emily, Kristi and I are new to this endeavor. We will leave tomorrow morning (6 am!) and arrive in San Pedro Sula. But for now we must pack thousands of toothbrushes, vitamins, bandages, acetaminophen, ibuprofen, allergy and gastrointestinal meds, ointments and surgical gloves. It's all got to fit in 12 duffel bags. MAMA's medical director has ordered more which will be waiting for us there. The MAMA Project is the organization who, along with the Red Cross, is helping us coordinate our efforts. You can go to their website at: Mamaproject.org

Saturday we'll be picked up at the airport by the local MAMA center director. We'll shop in San Pedro Sula before we head to the nutrition center in San Francisco de Yoja. We want to pick up some things to donate to each school we visit, plus we want to get a variety of playground activities. One of my jobs will be to keep the kids busy while they wait to see the medical team. Maureen, Emily, Lainie and I will be teaching them to brush their teeth with puppets and songs and playing typical playground games. I am practicing "Pato, pato, ganso." (For those of you who need the translation, it's "Duck. duck, goose.")

Saturday night we'll stay in the dorm at the nutrition center and Sunday morning we'll have some time for a tour of the center and maybe meet some of the kids. Sunday we'll travel to Las Vegas. The hotel we'll stay at Sunday through Thursday night is in Las Vegas, a small city that is the capital of Santa Barbara state in the north central part of the country. It's very mountainous -- we'll actually drive through Santa Barbara National Forest going to and from the villages we'll visit.

I can't explain how terrific it feels to be a part of this thing. I am part of an amazing team and I am getting a chance to have a totally new and different experience. I am nervous that my teaching ability won't live up to my cousin's estimations. I hope I can excite and motivate the kids to brush their teeth and develop good dental habits despite the language barrier and poor conditions. We'll know soon enough I suppose. Love to all, Donna