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Last week Doctora Turcios and I went to Tegucigalpa to collaborate with on the process of fabricating AFOS (Ankle Foot Orthopedic shoes) for patients that had an orthopedic surgery in January. The shoes are important to improve the way the patients use their body to walk, and in that make it more efficient for the recovery process.

In Tegucigalpa right now there are groups of teachers protesting under the maintenance of the Leaders of the Teachers affiliate to the public System. They are protesting because the government wants to change the way the salary is calculated. Every year the salary increases but right now in Honduras the government is struggling to pay, and in the future there is the possibility of not being able to pay the teachers. But in a Honduran society there is an eternal fight between the rich and the poor.

Thursday Dr. Turcios and I were having lunch at a restaurant, and in that time the manifestation of the teachers protesting got to the point where the police needed it to step in and react. The teachers had blocked the free traffic in the street, so the police used water tanks to spray water and also used gas to calm the protestors down. The water and gas only made the protestors more aggravated and more enraged. They started throwing rocks at the police officers, nearby offices, restaurants, and even street signs. The restaurant that Dr. Turcios and I were eating at was about 25 meters away from all of the action. The rocks that the protestors were throwing were hitting the glass of the restaurant, with the idea that the owners could afford to replace the damaged property.

The environment inside the restaurant was filled with incredible fear and in some cases hysteria. Some of the people hid in the restrooms or behind concrete walls, while others watched in shock as the events unfolded right in front of our eyes. Once the craziness calmed down outside and things seemed to be less dangerous, an excited discussion started between the people inside the restaurant. Of course there are always two sides to every story, one side in favor of the protesting teachers and others in favor against. Both having seen the same events take place and both having different opinions based on what was seen. Later on that day the news on the T.V. had the same two sides of the story and interpretation. Show after show was different even thought they have the same videos and pictures. There were some shows that were more neutral on the situation because they don’t want confrontation with their viewers and lose their audience. Some are afraid to say or think against the network they work for in fear for their jobs or because they have nothing more to express about what was going on.

To be honest the same story happens in most of the situations here in our country or around the world. In decades the society has been feed the idea that if someone does not help us or things the way we want, they are then converted into our enemies. This creates a hostile enviroment for organizations like Providence that try to change the way we help others. We believe that we can make a impact in others life’s by changing the way they act and face situations based on economic status. We encourage them to act in a way that can help themselves and then promote helping others in that way. Leading by example teaching a person how to help themselves and giving them the tools to succeed and lead by example, not just by giving a handout.

It was nice to see the contrast of the people that are a little more aware about the future. Out of the group of families that came for the AFOS, 2 of them have kids with special needs. The amount of work that they do with them is unbelievable; they volunteer or try to help others with the same disabilities. To quote one of my teachers from the school “We call them special kids, because they have special parents” and to be honest that is very true. I was able to see how these couples spend the time trying to make their kids comfortable, while enjoying the time with them. Even one of the 2 couples is divorced but they spend a lot of time together because of their love for their child. I wonder kind of life these kids would have without this quality of parents, or if their parents would think the same way of others and say that this happened to their children because of the poverty. The truth is that it’s not because of poverty what so ever, but Because God in his immense wisdom set things to happen for his Glory. He has a plan for each and every one of the families and there is a reason for children being born a certain way and in this moment we might not know why but God will reveal his plans to us on his time.

La Providencia Polaroid

These is the story of Pedrito in his surgery process, before pedrito went into surgery he was full of energy, running around the building, jumping off of chairs and full of laughter. When he came out of surgery, it was like he was a whole different person. He woke up angry, violent and in a lot of pain. During his recovery process he seemed to behave the same very aggressive and non-cooperative. After 6 weeks of recovery whit his feet in casts, he returned to have a checkup. I was afraid of how to control him thought the process of taking off the old cast, removing the pins in his feet and resetting a new cast.

When the doctor first saw him he suggested that we sedate him, it was the best idea ever. He was calm and very relaxed and didn’t give us any Hassel. We removed the cast and the pins and pedrito left the clinic pain free and not afraid of doctors. He was excited to look at his feet and as he left he said “take care, I love you!!”