This past week was Semana Santa, a Latin American holiday more widely celebrated than Christmas that honors the week of Good Friday and Easter. Consequently, Dr. Charles informed me that the clinic would be closed this week. However, on Monday Dr. Charles received a message from the hospital that the clinic would be open Tuesday, and immediately informed me and the new resident, Jamie, of the situation. But, all in all, this week has been relatively relaxing, especially with Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday off in addition to the weekend.
On Sunday I met Peggy Stranges, the public health guru of the island and landlord of the house I’m staying at. What surprised me most about being in her company was the number of people she is connected with. Whenever she drives down West End, Sandy Bay, West Bay, Flowers Bay, etc., people always stop to greet her. What also surprised me about Peggy was the level of Spanish she knew—she told me that even with working on the island for five years, her Spanish had not improved all that much. This actually gave me tremendous hope for myself, as I had previously thought that language would be my greatest barrier, but I realized language competence is not as important if people know you really care about them. That is Peggy’s drive, exhibited ever so subtly and grounded by her incredible sense of humanity, giving her so much strength in her work. It seems that because people see her deep desire to care for others, miracles happen—funding appears at the most crucial moment, donations flood in out of nowhere, help comes unexpectedly. Peggy is more concerned with how she can help people at the moment, seemingly disregarding logistics at first, a characteristic that I admire.
These past few days I have been getting to know Peggy and Kenfor and enjoying the vacation I have by reading and writing. Peggy recommended a book to me, Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder, a story of Dr. Paul Farmer and his work in Haiti. In the novel, Farmer exhibits the same sort of passion that Peggy does, more or less, in his struggle to equalize the world. Peggy said the book changed her life, and little by little I am also beginning to realize the urgency of my life, that each day I am idle in action the poor are getting poorer and the sick sicker. Sometimes I feel helpless in the general hopelessness of the situation, but both Peggy’s and Farmer’s work has given me much inspiration in becoming more proactive with the opportunities I’ve been given. After all, I am lucky enough to have been born in a caring environment, and the least I can do is to give back to the world and try to normalize the grace that has been bestowed on me.
My family has never been wealthy, so I once held the notion that we were a part of the poor, that the rich were exhibiting their evils upon us. But how humbling it is to live here! I am ashamed to miss the comforts of home, that when I turn on the lights in the evening a flock of winged ants would not hover over me, that I would not wake up each morning to the ululation of rooster croons and dog barks, that I have a dryer to dry my clothes!
Each day I meander on the island my heart goes out to the community, in realizing the complexity of medicine. Medicine is not simply the mere science of physiological regeneration; medicine is everything, from the sciences to the social sciences to the humanities—all disciplines are ultimately concerned with healing the world, reconstructing a Utopia on earth. The interdisciplinary science of medicine is what makes medicine so exciting and difficult at the same time. Here, corrupt politicians stifle the economy and effective health care, discouraging entrepreneurial startups to compete with the wealthy and eliminating a cost-effective means to transport medications to health care providers, which results in a vicious cycle of impoverishment and debilitation for the islanders. The educational system provides only a sixth grade education to most of the locals, and English, the language essential for higher educational pursuits, is not taught in the schools even though a third of the population speaks it. Combine low-quality education with cultural differences among the black slave descents and the Hispanic immigrants—we have a difficult means for providing health care appropriate to the Hondurans, as we are lacking in trained professionals that are familiar with the sociology of the island. There is a great need for public health specialists to continue to work in this place. And I, for one, know already that being here will forever change my perspective on medicine, on public health, on humanity.
