Monday February 17, 2014

Monday, February 17

Week Two Team is finally all together and starting a new week of work here at Holy Cross! Sunday morning brought a relaxed casual breakfast on the beach at Estelle's.Sun was shining on a beautiful day. Kathy did not make breakfast, she woke up with an allergic reaction to ?? that left her eyes as red as tomatoes  and so swollen that she could not see. After a day of ice on the eyes and some miracle ointment, the eyes returned to normal. Everyone headed off in different directions for the day. Dr. Jim went fishing and the kitchen staff at Red Ginger cooked up some yummy dishes with the snapper and mackerel he caught, nice treat! A stop at Dandee's was a must. Before heading to bed, Scott took some lovely pictures of the moon from the deck at Ruby's, our exotic hotel as many of you know!

Bob and Ginny have a tough decision at breakfast

Pam, Adam and Joyce enjoying their coffee

Stephanie, Ginny and John getting ready for Belize breakfast

Kathy icing her eyeballs while the others eat and play!

Heading to Red Ginger for dinner, note the much improved red eyes!

Sharing Jim's catch at Red Ginger

Moonlight over Ruby's

Bright and early Monday morning brought our first day at Holy Cross as a team.I guess that our biggest event for the day is the grand opening of the Atwell /Chapman Bicycle Repair Shop. Their first two projects were repairing and performing maintenance on bicycles for two of the teachers. Now a long waiting list for kids bicycles is forming. The climate, sand and poor roads are a real problem here for keeping a bicycle in any kind of decent shape. I think that Bob and Scott will be pretty popular people with the kids who can get their bike repaired while we are here!

The Atwell Chapman Bicycle Repair Shop

The guys begin their work 

Dr. Jim and Kristen made a trip into San Mateo this morning making a few house calls and meeting with the Community Heath Worker for San Mateo. While they were checking on patients, Lydia the Holy Cross Volunteer coordinator, took John, Pam and Stephanie on a tour of both the school and the San Mateo community.Those working in the classrooms went to assist for the morning, Adam went to work on playground equipment with Mr. Freddie, Mike helped Mr. Aaron in the computer lab and Ginny and Kathy helped out in the sewing room.  It was a very busy morning for the entire group.

Improvements to San Mateo are taking place, but some things remain

Glenda Rancharan, Community Health Worker for San Mateo

Destiny is living with her Grandmother now in this home

Adam working on the playground equipment

Mike helping Mr. Aaron in the computer lab

Ginny and Kathy in the sewing room

The afternoon brought patient visits with some of the school children with Dr.Jim, helped out by Kristen and Joyce. More bicycle work and lots going on in the computer lab. So glad that the Lord was watching over Sandra, she was involved in a hit and run accident. A man on a bicycle ran into her, knocked her down from behind and pedaled away. She had a laceration on her leg and her arm was pretty beat up as that was where the bike hit her really hard. He came from behind so she had no inkling of what was about to hit her. Fortunately, Mike was walking with her and at least was able to help her up. More ice for our team! She had ice bags on her leg and her arm last evening. Dinner at Elvie's last night and sadly no Dandees since they were closed. Pam was helping Sandra with her trauma and they shared a few glasses of "expensive wine', turned that even bad wine cost more than expected. Back to Ruby's for bed, tomorrow is another full day!

Dr. Jim with a student

The kids love Dr. Jim