Alan Goes to the Mayor

Tuesday February 2nd 2010 8:30pm

Last night, Marisela called me to let me know that we would be going to Talanga to meet with Oscar, and travel to some remote community where we are planning to take a Medical Brigade in a couple of weeks. She told me that Nancy would be driving, and we were aiming to leave around 7:00 so that we could get back at a decent hour. I asked here where she wanted to pick me up, or if she just wanted to pick me up at my apartment, and she told me that she thought it might be easiest if I waited on the "side of that road across from the buildings, with the trees next to it. You know, across from Teleton." I tried to explain that I had no idea what Teleton even was let alone where it was, or even if it was possible for me to walk there, but Marisela was sure that I didn't know what I was talking about, and knew right where to wait.

Not surprisingly, this morning, I got a call around 8:00 letting me know that I should head out to our meeting spot. Also not surprisingly, I was at the wrong "side of that road across from the buildings, with the trees next to it." When I caught up to the car, Marisela was evidently a little perturbed with me for not understanding her instructions and pointed to a brick wall across the street and said, "That is Teleton, now do you remember?"

"That brick wall? That is Teleton? No, I don't remember, I'm sorry."

"Ugh! Teleton is on the other side of that wall."

"You mean, where I have never driven past it, and can't possibly see it?"

"Yes, finally we are on the same page!"

Nancy drove us to Talanga, and I was happy to check in on the projects that the group from Memphis had worked on a couple of weeks ago. It was nice to see that the storage building for the chicken coup was almost done.

From Talanga, Oscar drove us an hour away to a village called El Porvenir, which literally means "The For To Come." It was a small village with dirt roads, and more traffic due to herding livestock than due to cars or bicycles.

We poked around the village trying to figure out sleeping arrangements, eating arrangements, and where the doctors could set up shop at within the village. We met with the medical staff at the local clinic, which consisted of a few rooms staffed by one doctor, one dentist, and two nurses. Through a questionairre, we found out that most of the people in El Porvenir have no access to clean water, due in part to what is becoming a drought here in Honduras. We also found out that the outlying communities and municipalities have even less water and more problems due to the drought.

The nearest hospital is two hours away in Tegucigalpa, and if there is an emergency after 4pm, the nearest doctor is also two hours away in Tegucigalpa. Most women give birth in their homes without medication, and the infant mortality rate is roughly 2.8%, which is pretty high. There is a lack of proper education regarding public health. Perhaps most importantly, the medical brigade that will be coming is going to be the first opportunity for medical attention that the thousands of people in the outlying communities in about five years.

When we had finished talking with the staff at the clinic, we headed straight to the mayor's office to try and work out some logistics with him. I'm not sure, but I don't believe I've ever met a mayor before. I felt very important. Then I felt awkwardly important when the mayor insisted that I sit directly across from him during our meeting, and directed every answer towards me as if I had been asking all of the questions, or were perhaps in charge of the coming medical brigade.

I explained to him at the beginning of the meeting that I was an intern who was very much still in the learning stages, and he let me know that his door, and the doors to his village were always open to me. He then took note of the other people in the room, and assured them that his door was open to them too, if they wanted.

When Nancy asked if he was going to try and use this brigade as political leverage in an upcoming election, the mayor assured me that he was not running for office again, and would not need any political leverage in any upcoming elections.

When Oscar asked if we could try and get a group rate at a local hotel, the mayor gave me his word that he would be able to talk the owners into a reasonable rate for such a blessed group coming to help out the people.

When Marisela asked if he had any additional information that might be helpful to us or to the brigade, he shook my hand and thanked me for coming to his office, and told me that he would email me any updates he might have as they came to him.

It was a weird day.

We took the long way back to Talanga, in order to drive through some of the poorer outlying communities to get a better idea of the people who would be benefitting from the medical brigade. I was glad we took the long way. From Talanga, we drove to Nancy's house in Tegucigalpa, and then I dropped Marisela off and parked the car outside of my apartment, which means that I will have the liberty of driving to work tomorrow. The radio station will be all mine.