Honduras

I am now back from Honduras! This was truly a life changing experience. We visited two villages and provided medical and dental care to over a thousand people. It is hard to explain what I saw in words. It was truly amazing to see the country and have the opportunity to interact with the people. Right when we got off the plane I saw the huge difference from the US to Honduras. The streets were crammed with cars and people. Everywhere I looked I saw armed military patrolling. We stopped at a gas station to get snacks and drinks,  because we had a 2.5 hour drive to our "hotel" Once we got off the bus we saw two police offers walking around with large rifles and everyone was staring at the gringas (white people). It was awesome driving through the mountains and seeing the local people and towns. Our hotel would have been less than a half a star in the US but was like a five star to the Honduran people.

The first day we had the opportunity to travel to a beach and play with some local village kids. I have never met happier kids in my life, totally different from the kids in the US. They feel blessed each day just to wake up or have food. We had to travel about 2 hours every day to the village where we were working. It was humbling to see the way these people live, some had shacks some don't have any shelter. I spent most of my days in the dentist. The first person of the week had 5 teeth extracted and was just given 30 ibuprofen for the pain. NOTE these patients were just given a couple shots of Novocaine and some had wisdom teeth extracted. It took a while to understand the concept that these people come in with so much pain, and having the teeth extracted means they will eventually be pain free. By the third day I pulled teeth and gave anesthetic  shots by MYSELF.

Me assisting the dentist

Words can not describe what I saw and pictures do not do it justice. Honduras is an absolutely beautiful country with the mountains and ocean. This was an extremely humbling experience that I wish everyone could have the opportunity to do. It truly put everything into perspective and makes me realize how lucky we are to live in the US.

The beach with the kids

The Honduran dentist we worked with

El Salvador to the left Nicaragua to the right 

My new best friend! happiest girl ever to receive a glove as a balloon

If you would like to hear more about my trip please feel free to email me at jhaury16@gmail.com I would love to share more but it hard to post everything from my week in a short post!

I leave for Ireland on this upcoming Thursday, and I am still trying to get all of my bags packed and everything in order!