San Blas, Sinaloa, Mexico March Clinic

     Pictures from our most recent trip down to San Blas, Mexico where we volunteer with doctors from all over the United States in a clinic providing free healthcare to the peoples of central Mexico.  Our organization is called LIGA International, The Flying Doctors of Mercy. www.ligainternational.org

My Aunt Laura and I, These were our sleeping quarters.

Injections for Arthritis Patients

Foot Surgery with my uncle, the Podiatrist, Dave.

Went out at night, the small town of El Fuerte was having a Fiesta.

Doctor's planes we flew in on.

I got to pet these massive creatures, Whale Watching was amazing.

My family of Volunteers.

Like A Spanish Sunday...But Mexican

      I'm leaving on another adventure tonight.  I've been looking forward to this trip for a few months now.  I'm going with LIGA International Flying Doctors of Mercy  on another escapade in El Fuerte and San Blas, Mexico to work in a weekend clinic shadowing all kinds of doctors. I'm extra excited for this one for a number of reasons.

1. There's going to be a Neurosurgeon on this trip.  Why is this special? Well, how it works is different doctors choose to fly their own planes down and so every trip (they do about 7 a year) there's a different array of professions to choose from to shadow  And Neurosurgery is my favorite but there's never been a neurosurgeon on the same trip as I before.  I hope they have a brain surgery.  I've been dying to see one let alone be able to participate in one.  So I'm stoked. 

 2. My dearest friend Tori Paws is coming. I've never taken a friend with me before and I know she will love it.

3. My Mom is coming. She's basically one of the greatest humans I know and the most fun to be around..  Here is her name used in a sentence: "Of course the trip is going to be exciting, Shannon Lynch is going."

4. My lovely, Spanish speaking aunt is coming as well.  Laura, I love her. 

5. My Uncle, Mr. Dr. Podiatrist who also speaks Spanish and initially introduced us to LIGA after working with them for several years.  Dave.

6.  After all the work is done, in El Fuerte, we're flying elsewhere to go Whale watching. 

So like I said, I'm extra excited. If you're excited too, then maybe you start thinking about coming with me next time. 

Uganda

Click here to view this photo book larger

THE BOOK

To see the book better, click on the link directly under the book where it says 'click here to view this photo book larger'. From there, click 'view photo book'. Then, before you push play, in the top right corner of the screen click the one page mode, and then click on the 'options' button. Adjust to a slower speed, change the background color to black (it helps when reading the text), then close out of the options, put it on fullscreen mode, push 'play' and enjoy!!

Yay for fast internet!! I'm now able to update on my entire trip!!

I'm now home. It's a bittersweet feeling. I was ready for a warm shower, for a pancake breakfast, and perhaps for a porcelain toilet but I was not ready to leave the people and life I had there in Lugazi.

Oh The Love

I've been so wonderfully and excitingly busy these past couple of weeks. Lately, the Town Council here in Lugazi threw our crew of 12 HELP International volunteers a small celebration to thank us for all we have done for their town. We have been so lucky to have the Town Council as a strong support in every project we've done. They gave a few speeches, brought in some drinks and food, and then we all jumped on the dance floor; including the mayor who was hilarious to dance with. Why are Africans so incredible at dancing?
Also, I've been working on helping some local women with minor disabilities to create a soap business. It's been such a good experience for me to learn all of the technicalities of building a business. We only have 9 days left to finalize it, get a building, perfect the soap, create a design, establish management, and to throw an opening celebration in the marketplace to make it known. No worries, it'll be done. Melissa and the town council are helping.
My disabilities class went soooo well this week! They are becoming so hopeful and are improving in their speech and agility. I've been doing home visits all morning with some local teenage girls who are so funny and awesome. We've designed goals with the parents for them and their children and are bringing in another organization from Kampala to give medical examinations and build us equipment that we need for the children on Thursday. Some of these parents don't even know what disability their child has. So I'm really excited for that event.
Also, we finished building a stove at the hospital yesterday. Yet another mud fight. While I was stomping clay, I stepped on something sharp and found a small pocket knife sized blade in my foot. I pulled it out-and it wasn't bad, I think my callouses saved my life. Thank goodness for walking tons. Then I joined some nurses for some delicious passion fruit juice that one of them made. I love these people, they are such hard workers with a desire to help their community. And I love their culture--they value relationships to the fullest extent. I have so many best friends here already! Enjoy the picts--there are plenty more to come!
P.S. oh and Please donate! Your money is already helping me make a huge difference here, I'm so grateful to be able to serve with the help of your generosity! I'm doing all I can to make every penny count. THANKS SO MUCH!! donate at www.help-international.org

Oh Rwanda

I'm in Rwanda for the weekend for a small break. Today we visited a few memorials from the genocide that occured here in 1994-it's so crazy to see the recovery that Rwanda and it's people has made in such a short time. I was at a restaurant here last night and began talking to one of the servers there. He's 18 years old and only spoke French and a tiny bit of English. So it was pretty interesting and fun to use my French, after spending a while talking I asked him how many brothers and sisters he has. It was hard to understand, but he said something like "ehh...j'ai une tante et un oncle..." "I have an aunt and an uncle..." So I asked him again about brothers and sisters. He was really hesitant, but then he asked me if I know about the genocide that happened. And then he told me that both of his brothers were killed by their neighbors who they used to be friends with until the huge political uproar between the hutoos and tutsi tribes. He also said that his mother was killed, and he didn't tell me about his father. He was only 3 years old, but he remembers. He didn't want to talk about it anymore, and I asked him if he has told many people his story. He said that he doesn't ever talk about it because everyone else has been through the same things so people talking to each other only brings back the pain that they are trying to forget. And he said it's especially hard to forget because the Hutoos that killed so many of their friends, neighbors, and even family members are still here. It's pretty hard on both ends; those asking for forgiveness, those trying to forgive, and those still holding on to hate.
He's such a cool kid. I can't help but look around me and know there are probably many of those people involved with the genocide. So so so many were killed in horrible ways.
Well, on that happy note....I'm having an awesome time, learning new things everyday, and am grateful for more and more things everyday. We are so lucky to live in America.