Health • Inspiration • Life
Ambaro, Madagascar
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Our village specialized in ‘bageda’…sweet potatoes.
After harvesting, we would bring them to the market and trade them for maize.
Although only Hanitra and Puppydoc are pictured above…
…the entire family worked very hard.
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When Puppydoc wasn’t working, she would step right next door to her home…the hospital guesthouse.
There, waiting for her, would be the afternoon tea…fully prepared and served by her host sister, little Esterita…
…and together, they would then chat about their busy day while they took their tea…with two lumps of sugar, of course.
😉
Meet the Aguado household. A place where love runs deep…simple are the joys…and wide are the smiles that shield the scars aching to heal beneath.
Here we see one of the effects of inaccessible health care. Where fathers lose their lives to otherwise treatable diseases, leaving two mothers and seven children with little more than the lingering fragrance of memories.
Here we also see a strength undeniable. Where the youngest to the eldest come together to care for one another…encourage one another…support one another.
And finally, we see ‘little Juan,’ whose palpable nonchalance tells you really all that you need to know:
He is now the man of the family.
🙂
Elise is no average girl. Brought to the children’s home at the age of five, she was a carer of two siblings through her nights on the streets, had always been a fighter and a leader, and is now a pattern for many at her home.
She also wants to be a doctor when she grows up and is already a highly skilled blood pressure taker.
😀
One of our tasks was to visit the residents in Western Belize. While our purpose was to conduct epidemiologic study and to raise disease awareness, it was just a pleasure getting to know the community.
Also, we made sure to always take time to admire the pet turkeys.
😀
My dwelling place during a medical trip…a lovely hospital with even lovelier people.
🙂
Quillacollo, Bolivia
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Meet Angelica.
She pretends to be shy.
But don’t let that look fool you.
She is the queen of cuddles, princess of silliness…
and she does a mean frog impression.
😀
Quillacollo, Bolivia
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Back at the children’s home, Gabriel was quite the fighter.
He and his twin sister had been found beside a river.
He made it, but tragically his sister didn’t.
Kumasi, Ghana
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On my first day of walking to work at the hospital,
I met a group of children who would end up becoming my daily escorts.
This was a moment captured while the vigilant residents
inspected my suspicious-looking digital device.
😉
Quillacollo, Bolivia
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Back at the orphanage,
Juan mourns over his friend,
who had recently passed away.
Vinto, Bolivia
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As a volunteer, Puppydoc made it one of her duties
to make all the little people smile.
Sometimes it worked.
Sometimes…not so much.
😉
Ambaro, Madagascar
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Although this family treasured life and found joy in the simple things…
(Papa with little Mialy)
…it is no lie that each day was still a struggle.
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Faux Cap, Southern Madagascar
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When Puppydoc first arrived at her new home,
the villagers were a tad bashful…
…but this issue resolved itself rather quickly.
😀
Libanona Beach
Fort Dauphin, Madagascar
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While studying in the southern region,
these nine boys never failed to keep
Puppydoc company as she walked to work.
🙂
Cochabamba, Bolivia
Every week, over fifty street children would line up at the city plaza
for the ‘Kid Washing’…where we would bathe, clothe, and
feed them. The girls would then get pretty braids.
🙂
Cuddle time with Gabriel at his home in
Quillacollo, Bolivia.
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“…Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them,
for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.”
-Matthew 19:14
If I could give the world a gift,
in a form simple, pure- a trifling shift-
some comfort to the day, a smile to your heart,
wisdom for your soul, warmth to every part.
If I could give a gift that’s real,
each bruising stab, its wound would heal.
The scar resulting, to remain no more,
but a closure true, stilled to the core.
But if I could give a gift of mine,
what would it be but a drop in the Rhine?
A carbon in diamond, an atom of a stone-
What difference would it make, if made alone?
If I could give the world a gift,
true and honest, though slight, a lift-
to share my love ’til love’s no more.
May we flow this gift together…a drip into a pour.
