in between....

Dear friends and family,

This will be a different post. It is the one I promised myself I was never going to write.  But life changes and emotions don't follow many rules.  I have decided that my blogs would have lots of pictures and less "talking". Yeah!!! things definitely changed.

This last weekend Bob and I had the great surprise to receive our supplies that we have shipped from the USA in December.  Great, because I had giving up on them coming at all to the way here to Beira. However much to my dismay they came and  and indeed, intact.  We were so anxious waiting and even had forgotten what we had shipped.
Much to my surprise some of the stuff were well needed here but most was just a waist of money.  We do not need all the clothes we sent down. It was nice to see also the small gadgets we got that we cannot even use here because the electricity is 220 Volts and it costs a lot of money to buy devices to change from 110 to 220V. At least it is nice to know that our 13 year old alarm clock made safely......

What I was not prepared was for all the emotions that came together with the boxes.  The items that came felt my heart with nostalgia and a strong desire to be back with family and friends in Texas.  Bob and I had a bless reading the farewell books and picture card we got from you all. Thanks so much Pat, Yvonne, Patty Young and all the Women's Clinic friends for this wonderful "recuerdo".  It means a lot to us.
We closed our eyes and made believe that we still lived in the States ant that we were going out to eat at our friends Pat  and Yvonne' house as we did many times. That the next day I was going to work back to the Women's Clinic and visit and see all my patients, friends and co-workers . You cannot even imagine how much we miss all of you.

 Then I remember why we came here. Not to have fun, not to make money but just to follow our dream to help the poorest of the poor. I remember some of the patients that have died on their postpartum period and left behind a family with no mother, no guidance and no love. I remember Lydia Esmeralda a HIV patient, sweat as could be, trying very hard to take her medication to keep herself alive to take care of her daughters. However after a bad infection following a cesarean section she died in one week at the hospital. I still cry when I think about all the mothers in this country that put their lives in danger every time they get pregnant. The odds that they will die from their pregnancy is so much higher than our women in the USA.  I told myself that we are very blessed to have such wonderful friends and family that support us in our dreams.  In my mind that moment I could see all the students that are learning from me and I had the hopes that I can pass to them the love for my profession and the love I have for my patients.  I want to pass to them the importance of caring, the knowledge that a patient is not a bed number but a human being with feelings and a life outside the hospital grounds.  If I can succeed at least 50% of the time I will be happy and will never feel that Bob and I are here for nothing.  But I need all of your help there from home to give us the strength, the love and the moral support to keep going.  Later I will also need some material stuff to help here. You cannot even imagine the lack of supplies.  It is hard to believe that one can even practice medicine without all the lab work and studies and medication  we have available in the USA.  It has been a great challenge but I have faith that we will get there one way or another. I miss all of you but I am happy with myself for the decision Bob and I made to be here and help empower destitute women.

Love and miss all of you a lot

Thanks for always been there for Bob and me.

Your forever friend
FH

When it rains it pours

Some pictures for you to have an idea about the rainy season in Beira...

 After living in Texas for so long we were not used to see that much rain

....We though that this was very unusual but with time we discover that when it rains in Beira it pours...

Even though is very hot you better wear boots otherwise you may get stuck in the mud. This is part of my way from my apartment to the Medical School. 

If the inside was just like the outside.....

The reality of life in Mozambique is very different. Here you do what you are able to do  pending on the donations you get.  If the donation is to fix the outside you better do it otherwise you will loose the money. The Hospital Central da Beira faces multiple challenges and it is hard to see the outside improve so much when the inside suffers a lot with lack of equipment, medication, personnel and million more...

 This is the hospital entrance by January in the rainy season when I first got here

You had to be pretty good to not get wet or fall in the puddle

Now the entrance has pavement, but the hospital has no Pitocin in L&D...

You can even park your car closer to the main entrance if you are a physician otherwise why bother  to have parking slots if most of the people do not have cars any way

We live in a palace!

Compare to people that live in the country.....

 We took these pictures during our trip from Maputo to Beira.

This is the architecture style that predominates in the country!

Luck guys here! Their " machanba" is in front of their house. Some of the Mozambicans have to walk kilometers to reach their cultivated plot of land. Subsistence farming is the most common in the country.

.... BOB AND I LIVE IN A PALACE!!!

 The veranda of your palace. We live in an apartment on the second floor to the left. There are 4 apartments per building.

 The guest room decorated in Guatemalan style is just waiting for visitors. It has  air conditioning and mosquito net. First class in Beira. You would probably paid some couple of hundred dollars a day for a place like this in a hotel.

A view of the dinning room and part of the living room. Pay attention to the beautiful wooden floors.

We do not have a washing machine or a dryer and much less a dishwasher. However, we do have Fatima the best maid ever. She keeps this place spotless despite all the dust and humidity around here.

I found a perfect place to have my plants in the entrance hall. I must be careful to not overfill the vases because I do not want mosquitos around. Malaria is a very common malady here and kills more children than anything else.