And the blind shall see...

Last Saturday a medical team made up of doctors and nurses from all over the US came to Volcan to set up a week long clinic. There has been two clinic locations. One for general medicine which has been mostly mom's and kids. The other clinic was strictly for pulling teeth and two eye surgeries: cataract and another I can't remember the name of. There were so many people needing surgeries that the screening team had to only take patients with two bad eyes so they could fix one. The idea was, if they couldn't fix every eye, they wanted everyone to at least have one good eye. The clinic has been open for 3 days so far and they've been averaging about 30 surgeries a day...that's 90 practically blind people seeing again!

The doctors allowed us to go in a watch a few cataract surgeries. I'll spare you the details, but Dr. Burcham was a great teacher explaining each step to us, and continually reminding us that if we felt hot or weird to go sit down. We actually saw him pull out a cataract that was about a centimeter in diameter. It was crazy.

As Kyle mentioned, I have been in charge of cooking, helping with laundry, cleaning, etc. at Joy's house for patients that have come from out of town to rest overnight after the surgery and a handful of translators. We've had the pleasure to get to know a few peace corps workers in their 20's who have been in Panama anywhere from 6 months to 2 years. It was great hearing their stories and projects they have helped on.

I have truly enjoyed cooking for everyone. I was a little intimidated at first because I'm cooking for Panamanians and an American from the South. As you know, I am from the north so I have no idea how to make pork chops and bbq beans. I suggested just heating up the beans, but I was dead wrong. There is a whole process of things added and then they are slow cooked forever. However, after proving I can cook Southern, I had a few Panamanian tests: Pollo Guisado (poy-yo geesaldo) and Hojaldras (o-hal-drrrras). Luckily Aunt Lisa made Pollo Guisado for us in the states so I had a good recipe to go by. Hojaldras is a fried bread made from lots and lots of kneading (see video)

It was a blessing to be able to serve and love people like that: through food and hospitality. I really enjoy my job this week! One lady that stayed with us had to be led around the house by her daughter because her left eye was totally blind and her right had a very bad cataract. After the surgery she was able to walk all by herself. She was able to see our faces and say thank you for taking care of them and feeding them. It was a beautiful moment.

Being at the house was great because I could practice the little bit of Spanish I have and when I got stuck I could type in into Spanishdict.com for quick and easy translation. I actually had an hour conversation with a man named Baldilio like this about hydroponics. I know 5 Spanish verbs, numbers up to 10, a few family member words, and the word allergic. This makes for a boring very short conversation, but with the online translator to help me find the words for grow, water pump, soil, fertilizer, I was able to teach someone a very easy way for him to grow organically where he lives with bad soil and no land space.